Nothing New Under the Sun

This week, we continue our series with writing advice from Professor, and author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. He often corresponded with students and others who sought his advice on writing, so we have a wealth of advice from him on the topic.

This week’s advice from Professor Lewis:

“No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work’s sake, and what men call originality will come through.”

Here Lewis is setting our writerly minds at ease. “Don’t worry about being original,” he says. “Instead, worry about telling the truth.”

Do you ever have the sensation, as you’re writing, that it’s all been said before? Do you feel like you’re just copying some of your favorite writers? If so, you’re not alone! Many writers feel this way as they muddle their way through their work. The internal critic we all have can be deafening at times!

But if what the critic is talking about is originality, then we have a quick reply for him: “There’s no such thing.”

That might be discouraging to you—but hold on, hear me out.

If we believe that God is our creator, and that we are just “sub-creators” doing good work (what Tolkien called creative workers!), then every thought we’re thinking has already been thought by God.

“Every thought we’re thinking has already been thought.”

(I am sorry but not sorry for that sentence.)

But here Professor Lewis wants to remind us: the better goal than originality is truth-telling. If we writers tell the truth faithfully, then we reflect the originality of God, whether it be in people, in nature, or in story. God’s originality is the best originality—and the only originality!

This advice goes hand-in-hand with another piece of advice Lewis once gave:

“A plague on these moderns scrambling for what they call originality—like men trying to live themselves off the earth by pulling at their own braces: as if by shutting their eyes to the work of the masters they were likely to create new things themselves.”

Here he’s saying that there have been many people before us; there have been thinkers and writers and conversations for centuries before, and there will be many more afterward. We may as well settle into our role where we are: speaking truthfully in our own way, for our own readers. If we love them well by reflecting God’s truth, we will be using our words for good.