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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 24, 2007 15:44:18 GMT -6
If you wish to retain your first rights you need to post your works on the workshop board. You're thinking: "But it's just fanfic, it isn't publishable." Well, it is if it's called a 'Work for Hire' or a 'Tie-in,' and you are able to get permission from the creators to have it published. (Your chances are slim, unless you're already a published author with clout and have a good following, so don't hold your breath.) Anything you write will have to go by their guidelines as well, so you'd most likely have to make a _lot_ of changes. Better to get their permission before you write it. That is, if you truly wish to have it published. Otherwise, write it and publish it freely on this open board, or on a website/blog somewhere. It's good practice for when you write your own works. And if you find a way to rework it into an original piece, you might be able to sell it. Ya never know. Still, don't hold your breath.
And really, if you're going to practice your craft by writing fanfic of works that are copyrighted, make it uber. Uber doesn't have to mention the television show/movie your characters are reincarnated from. And it's chances of getting published are much greater. Just edit out any stuff that connects your characters to their past lives as TV/movie characters, and you should be okay. You can recreate a new back history. You can even change their appearance a bit so that they don't resemble those characters as closely. (Not that that would make your original work unpublishable. There's only a limited number of eye/hair/skin color, etc.) Just don't give them identical details: scars, moles, tattoos, etc.
Mythology has been around for eons, so you can use that all you want, just give them your own unique twist, and don't copycat them from copyrighted books/television shows/movies you've read/seen. You can, however, copycat them from the original stories from eons ago. They're public domain. In fact, anything in the public domain can be used without a problem. And you can publish your works based on them. For example: Ella Enchanted (book & movie) and Ever After (movie) are retellings of Cinderella (and there have been many more retellings over the years). Both Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine have books that retell stories/tales that are in the public domain. So, if you're going to write fanfic, uber or otherwise, make it of characters/stories that you can use freely, and even might get published someday. And if you do that and post those works here for feedback, be sure to post them on The Sacred Nine workshop board to protect your first rights.
You can do internet searches on "Work for Hire" & "Tie-ins" to see what you can find. Such as these sites I found:
How I Ended up Writing a Tie-in Book for a Soap Opera!
I Am a Tie-in Writer
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers
Search: Work For Hire
By all means, share the links to informative sites on "Work for Hire" & "Tie-ins" you found during your searches in this thread.
And thanks.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 24, 2007 16:59:22 GMT -6
By the way: You can retell the story of Cinderella with no problems, since it's in the public domain. However, you can't retell Ella Enchanted or Ever After as they are protected by copyright. You can't use any part of them in your retelling (without written permission from the writers). Well, you can, but you'd be sued and your reputation would be ruined.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 25, 2007 16:14:36 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 28, 2007 21:42:38 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 30, 2007 21:39:26 GMT -6
Guest Blogger: Jane Espenson
. . . in television, almost always, you’re writing for pre-existing characters while emulating someone else’s writing style. I adore doing this. My favorite writing assignments in school were always of the form, “Rewrite a fairy tale as if written by Robert Penn Warren.” Lovvved it! It’s not bad to want to create your own characters and develop your own style, but if you can have fun manipulating characters and voices that are already in place, then TV writing will be really fun for you. I call it chameleonship. ~~ Jane Espenson
Mini-Mia:
So . . . it would seem that writing fanfic is good practice for those who might have an interest in going into TV writing vs. novel writing. Good to know.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 3, 2007 18:25:39 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 3, 2007 18:37:20 GMT -6
Page 42; The Top Twenty Ways To Get Hundreds Of Plot Ideas, (# 8. Stealing From the Best); Write Great Fiction By James Scott Bell
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 19, 2008 21:07:59 GMT -6
The third book of the May Bird Trilogy caught my eye. It made me wonder if the writer had seen Xena, or was a fan. Or perhaps she came across Lucia's Little Xena artwork. If so, this is a good example of how to use someone else's creative work to jumpstart your own.
By creating your own character/s and working them into a preexisting story (book, movie, TV show), you can learn a lot about your original character by their actions and back story in your fanfic and by their interactions with the copyrighted characters. You can then drag the copyrighted characters and your original character/s into a new original world (or story) you create, and then when you have it figured out, you remove the characters that don't belong to you and create original characters to fill in the empty places. Rework their back stories, change their names and appearances, etc. until you have a completely original work that in no way resembles the story (book, movie, TV show) you borrowed from. Make sure you don't leave anything in your story that is copyrighted to someone else.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. So if you're having a hard time coming up with something out of thin air, build on someone else's work/s until a spark ignites and sets you on fire. Then toss out what you borrowed from the other work/s and keep what is yours to build on to form your own original work. Unless the work is in the public domain. You can keep those characters and build around them. Let your agent/publisher know though . . . or you could even put a disclaimer in your book to let readers know.
Gail Carson Levine
Robin McKinley
There are other writers besides the two listed above who rework stories that are in the public domain. There isn't anything new about doing it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 29, 2008 21:58:20 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 26, 2008 17:22:01 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 28, 2008 15:41:02 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 28, 2008 17:12:57 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 10, 2009 16:13:10 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 9, 2009 15:44:51 GMT -6
The question was about what rights does a fanfic writer have? Does the original creations (plot, characters, etc.) of their fanfic belong to the fanfic writer, or do all rights of the fanfic belong to the creators of the characters/show/etc. ... even though the fanfic writer created the plot, other characters, etc.
Before you read AndrewCrossett's answer, read his warning:
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 12, 2009 20:30:10 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 12, 2009 23:24:57 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 14, 2009 17:53:04 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 15, 2009 20:55:52 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 9, 2009 0:00:10 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 12, 2009 1:26:41 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 15, 2009 20:52:22 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 22, 2009 2:47:39 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 24, 2010 22:29:13 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 14, 2010 23:02:22 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 8, 2011 0:06:13 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 26, 2011 0:24:05 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 13, 2012 16:16:39 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 10, 2012 19:23:32 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 4, 2014 15:23:43 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 26, 2020 18:14:18 GMT -6
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