We are all Unique. Yeah I can finally admit it.

You know how when you listen to a popular song, you recognize (on some level) the structure of the song…verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse variant, chorus? And you know when something varies from that structure widely that somehow it is no longer “fits” the pop music genre anymore? In fact, you might even call it experimental music.

Here, you can listen to some background music while you read the rest:

Let’s apply this concept to writing, specifically, modern journalism and blog entries. There’s a pattern to popular articles also.

It typically starts with a personal story, either about the author or about some other relatable figure. Let’s imagine a person named Mary Smith, with two small children. They live near a nuclear waste dump and Mary is concerned about the effects of the waste on her children. So after we’ve been sucked into the article via this tactic, the author broadens the scope of the article. He gives us the background and history, and interviews people from “both sides” of the situation. And eventually at the end of the article, he gets back to Mary and her situation. Recognize the pattern?

Ok. So what happens with articles that don’t fit the pattern? Are they still “good” articles that are worth your time? Or do you think the writer doesn’t know what he or she is doing?

Let’s take this article for example. I sucked you in not with a personal story about myself or some other named individual. I just talked about music song structures, with the idea that it would help you understand the article pattern concept when I got around to writing about it. Then I “failed” to provide you with history. Who was the first person to write articles with the pattern I’m describing? Heck, I don’t know, and I’m too lazy to research that. And so far, I have also failed to provide you with a conflicting viewpoint, so that you can feel like you’ve gotten a balanced perspective. Instead I’m going to rant.

It upsets me that I live in a time and place where the offerings of our people’s artists, musicians and writers are commoditized and usually only appreciated fully by large numbers of people if they fit into a recognizable pattern. In tribal cultures, you don’t get the option to “like” the dance that the Shaman is doing to heal the boil on your ass. You don’t get to write an Amazon review on the drum circle that is putting your Bokor in a voodoo trance or Yelp about the packet of healing herbs you just received from your witch doctor. Why we can’t just appreciate non-standard writing, music and art without people thinking we are weird for liking it is rather irritating. And our creative notions must apparently be condensed into a brief LOLcat style internet meme, or risk being ignored.

I like my seven year-old’s opinion on this, which she explained after belting out one of her own off-key compositions. She basically said, “If it's your own song, you can do it however you want.”

One of my favorite off-key singers:

Which brings me to the argument I usually get from people when I complain about this sort of thing, which goes along the lines of “People do art/music/writing/etc for themselves because they enjoy it or feel compelled to do it, and a real artist doesn’t care what people think about it.” But that’s not what I’m really getting at here. I’m not talking about making the art. That’s the easy part. The problem comes when you share it. If your core motivation for sharing your art is to connect with other people, then suddenly what other people think (and whether or not they deem your missives worthy of their time) is of utmost importance. Your child might make dozens of drawings, but the one she shows you is the one you need to regard carefully, asking yourself: “Why does she think I need to see this? What is she hoping I will get from this?” You may scoff and think that all a child wants is attention and praise (and think the same of any adult who tries to share their art or writing with you), but look deeper. If every time my child hands me a drawing it shows the two of us together with a heart shape between us, I can see she is trying to express her love. So…might not the rest of the people in the world be trying to do something similar? The person singing, playing guitar and selling his CD down at Pike Place Market…is he just looking for attention and money? Or might he be trying to find like-minded people who appreciate what he has to offer, and in a roundabout way, showing his love for his audience by performing the best he can?

If you ask anyone to examine their deepest goals and motivations, the vast majority would likely tell you that they want to love and be loved, and share whatever unique gifts they have with the world while they are here. The key word there is unique. We are all different. We don’t fit into a boilerplate pattern and our creative output should not be expected to fit a formula either.

Now if you’ve got the counterpoint, I’d love to hear it.

P.S. One thing I hinted at but didn’t explore fully was the connection between healing and creativity. Maybe another article.