From what I’ve seen, strength of imagination is unimportant—eternal archetypes/tropes call to us in countless voices, asking that they be reiterated over and over, winking in and out of an infinity of soul-brightening incarnations, triggered by phrases that starts as simply as “What if ___” No it’s not the strength of imagination that’s important…
What’s important is the drive to tap it.
I get what you’re saying. However, in my case, I don’t lack the motivation to tap into my imagination. It’s more like it’s always right under the surface, poking at me, waiting to explode out of my chest like some familiar alien.
Yes and No. If you don’t have an imagination, you can’t tap a dad blamed thing. Unless you borrow from someone else. And although Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, outright plagiarism is not cool. You need to have the ability to see inside an experience to find a story. To look at a dead dragonfly and wonder how in the hell it can fly on those cellophane wings and imagine your own flight. Yup, this is a fence post answer. Yes and no.
Plagiarism’s a weird thing; apparently, Tarantino has lifted many of his scenes shot for shot and uses the exact same composition as the obscure movies he loves. But I would argue that this isn’t plagiarism as he’s completely changed the context and he’s delivering a story that’s unrecognizable relative to what inspired him. At the same time, in standup comedy, joke thievery is taken VERY seriously, even to the point where people try to avoid using each others’ premises. I think I see where you’re coming from, and from the perspective you’re speaking from, I definitely agree! We should have the courage and insight to personalize our works of art, and gift the world with a new lens on which to view those age-old universal truths.
Kent Wayne 
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