In his short manifesto, “A Brief Guide to World Domination,” Chris
Gillebau says that the two most important questions are, “What do you really
want out of life?” and “What can you offer the world that no one else can?”
For many reading this, your second answer will have something to do with your writing. However, it’s all too easy (as I noticed during my years in Hollywood), for this question to turn into, “What can I write that is similar to what somebody else has written and had a big success with?”
Leaving aside any issues of selling out, personal integrity, etc., it’s the wrong question even on the commercial level. Generally, the people who do make a lot of money do so by offering something that is in some way new or different. And most of the time they (like J. K. Rowling) choose that topic because somehow it has chosen them.
The question for the day: What can you write that only you can write?
(You can get the manifesto here .)
