The author Thomas Inge in his article, Collaboration and Concepts of Authorship, talks about the emotions and the pressures an author has when writing a piece. There are external pressures such as economics and the social acceptance of the piece and the internal pressures like courage to be unique or different and being able to create a piece that is unique and creative. All these pressures end up altering the writing process and idea in some manner, due to the author trying to juggle all of these influences. However, on the outside view, people assume that the author always is trying to be against the culture, or at least be someone outside the norm. A quote the article brings up is "the romantic myth of the author as a solitary genius". This shows that many people find the idea that an author is striving to be someone unique in the world as an alluring concept. In reality, many authors truly want to be unique and stand out from the rest. However, there are just so many things the author must account for and is limited to what they can be writing about.
This is a fascinating topic, since authors are not the only ones that try to stand out in today's society. It is super easy to just conform to society and do what most people are already doing, such as finishing school and going to join the workforce as soon as they finish their education. These are fine aspiration, as many people enjoy the safety and consistency of finding a job or career that they can comfortably live off of. However, it is also common to find that people want to make their mark on the world, small or big. I believe people want to be different to some degree and society somewhat promotes people to be unique as well. Educational systems do not promote being similar, rather punishes you for being the same, such as copying off others and plagiarism. Being unique in the market is crucial for a company's success, since people like to buy products that are can things tailored to their needs. Most people want to be unique, but it is quite difficult to do so.