I was thinking today about the common idea in literature that there are a finite number of plots/stories in the world. I was thinking about it and I realized that the distinctions are all arbitrary. It usually comes out sounding like "there are two things in the universe: matter and space," or "animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

"To Build a Fire" and The Old Man and the Sea may both be "Man against Nature" stories, to borrow from a common list of the limited number of plotlines, but they are very different works nonetheless. What upsets me is the need to limit creativity, or to suggest that true creativity is no longer possible.

Yeah. That's it.