Where does inspiration come from? And, Yes, Virginia. You do own your own stories.
I'm re-posting here a response to a question that Chlarks_cupid asked in her blog.
Where do you get your ideas? How do you come up with something Original?
I attend a lot of Science Fiction conventions to network and promote my books, and at one of the panels I attended I was told this. Once, there was an editor who classified everythign he read as either Cinderella or snow white. He bought the cinderella stories, and rejected the snow white stories. (I may have simplified this story a bit)
Remember Romeo and Juliet? Based on a greek story. Pyramus and Thisbe. Wicked? Based on the Wizard of Oz.
After centuries of storytelling, there really isn't an original story. It's the way in which you tell the story that makes it fresh and new. Try to look for a new angle on an old story.
For inspiration, I read. Folklore from other cultures, books on writing, other books and short stories in my genre. Even research for other stories that I'm writing can get recycled into a new story.
I know of several writers who based their original characters on characters that they once invented for role playing games, and then they 'filed the serial numbers' off the character (in other words, changed the character enough to make them less recognizably based on that particular universe or role playing games)
also i ahve like a batch of poems that i have written over the past few years and i was wondering how i would get them copyrighted?
The way copywrite in the US works is thus: You don't have to copywrite something. If you created it, if it's an original work, And it's not work-for-hire (where someone else hired you to create the work) then you automatically own the rights to it.
If you sell the work (for an anthology or literary magazine or such) then you are actually selling a portion of your rights for a period of time. depending on the contract you sign, the rights revert back to you.
After you've been dead for a period of time, the rights pass out of the hands of your decendants and into public domain. That's why Shakespeare can be put on by anyone. But if you want to put on a Neil Simon play, you have to pay for the rights to do so.
If you publish your work on the internet, then it's considered 'published.' Which is why I dont' put my original fiction up for people to read, because most magainzes want to buy first rights, not reprint rights. They don't want something that's been 'published' on the internet.
And a side note on fanfiction. Yes, you own your rights to your own fanfiction. However, that would be considered a derivitive work. In other words, you don't own the basic building blocks (the other person's characters). All you own is the plot (and any original characters you may have created.) And you won't be able to make money off that. Don't even try.
The other thing is that a reason a lot of fiction authors used to discourage fanfiction was that they were afraid that they would loose the rights to their own work because the legal implication was that if they knew the derivitive work was out there, and didn't do anything to stop it, then it could be implied that they gave the work away.
Which is why, if you ever write fanfiction based on my original fiction, for heaven's sake, don't tell me.
Copywrite right now is the same for artwork, but there's some legislation in Congress right now that might change that. (which I do not support, and am writing my congressman about.)
More on that here:
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=3605&page=1
Where do you get your ideas? How do you come up with something Original?
I attend a lot of Science Fiction conventions to network and promote my books, and at one of the panels I attended I was told this. Once, there was an editor who classified everythign he read as either Cinderella or snow white. He bought the cinderella stories, and rejected the snow white stories. (I may have simplified this story a bit)
Remember Romeo and Juliet? Based on a greek story. Pyramus and Thisbe. Wicked? Based on the Wizard of Oz.
After centuries of storytelling, there really isn't an original story. It's the way in which you tell the story that makes it fresh and new. Try to look for a new angle on an old story.
For inspiration, I read. Folklore from other cultures, books on writing, other books and short stories in my genre. Even research for other stories that I'm writing can get recycled into a new story.
I know of several writers who based their original characters on characters that they once invented for role playing games, and then they 'filed the serial numbers' off the character (in other words, changed the character enough to make them less recognizably based on that particular universe or role playing games)
also i ahve like a batch of poems that i have written over the past few years and i was wondering how i would get them copyrighted?
The way copywrite in the US works is thus: You don't have to copywrite something. If you created it, if it's an original work, And it's not work-for-hire (where someone else hired you to create the work) then you automatically own the rights to it.
If you sell the work (for an anthology or literary magazine or such) then you are actually selling a portion of your rights for a period of time. depending on the contract you sign, the rights revert back to you.
After you've been dead for a period of time, the rights pass out of the hands of your decendants and into public domain. That's why Shakespeare can be put on by anyone. But if you want to put on a Neil Simon play, you have to pay for the rights to do so.
If you publish your work on the internet, then it's considered 'published.' Which is why I dont' put my original fiction up for people to read, because most magainzes want to buy first rights, not reprint rights. They don't want something that's been 'published' on the internet.
And a side note on fanfiction. Yes, you own your rights to your own fanfiction. However, that would be considered a derivitive work. In other words, you don't own the basic building blocks (the other person's characters). All you own is the plot (and any original characters you may have created.) And you won't be able to make money off that. Don't even try.
The other thing is that a reason a lot of fiction authors used to discourage fanfiction was that they were afraid that they would loose the rights to their own work because the legal implication was that if they knew the derivitive work was out there, and didn't do anything to stop it, then it could be implied that they gave the work away.
Which is why, if you ever write fanfiction based on my original fiction, for heaven's sake, don't tell me.
Copywrite right now is the same for artwork, but there's some legislation in Congress right now that might change that. (which I do not support, and am writing my congressman about.)
More on that here:
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=3605&page=1