a couple of questions

[cuteshoes]

First of all, I want to say hi, because I am new.

I have written a 125,000 word manuscript. I am currently in my final stage of revisions with the novel almost near perfect in my mind.

However, no one else is read it. So here are where my questions lie:

1. Copyright: Before I send this to others to read, should I copyright the material? I already researched this and I know it will cost me $35 plus the cost to print it (which could get costly) and ship it. Or can I go the cheap route and burn the entire thing onto a blank cd, mail it to myself, and put it in a vault sealed so the postmark becomes the copy right? Is any of this necessary? I ask because I do not necessarily trust all the people who have volunteered to read the novel. But as long as I copyright the material, trust should not be an issue?

2. Now my second question is in terms of my rights to tell this story. The manuscript originally started out as a memoir. The events that happened in real life were incomplete and this became the basis for the fiction story that has evolved from it. I took many liberties in writing this, changing things around drastically, adding new characters, etc. However, the fact remains that some of this stuff did happen and most of the characters are based off real people. Can I get sued for writing a novel like this, which I call fiction because over 50% of it is now fiction? Do I have the option of trying to appeal to literary agents who specialize in memoirs even if this is no longer a memoir?

3. I have absolutely zero experience in published works. While this is actually the second manuscript I have written, it is the first one that I have revised and revised. I know that most query letters include a bio that shows you are qualified to write the novel you wrote. Aside from living the events myself, I have no qualifications. I took a creative writing class in college but that is it. I've never tried to get published before this. So what do I fill out in that section? My career is a graphic designer, while both jobs use the right side of the brain, it certainly does not give me any credentials to brag about in the bio section.

4. As you may or may not have been aware from this post, I have not been blessed with the talent of exquisite grammar. Sure I studied it in high school but I have since forgotten everything I learned. I assume that once I get a literary agent, they will hook me up with an editor to fix that stuff for me. Is that a correct assumption? Should I hire someone on my own (which would indeed be costly) to edit the grammar before I send out query letters? When I say that my novel is near completion, I mean in the best of my ability. My ability does not include perfect grammar.

thanks for your help!

[Julie Worth]

Here’s my viewpoint, though I’ve never tried to sell a memoir.

1. No. Don’t bother with that. Your work is already copyrighted. But get others to read it. Maybe it’s brilliant. But more likely it needs work.

2. If you’re not famous, or don’t know famous people, then obviously there’s no marketing hook. So it’s got to be really good. If you libel people, then you can get sued. But you can always get sued. Look at Dan Brown.

3. You’re dead as far as the bio goes. Haven’t you written any killer short stories that you could submit to contests? Get cracking.

4. You assumed wrong. Millions want to be published, and hundreds of thousands of queries are making the rounds, trying to squeeze themselves through the bottleneck of a few hundred agents. Make sure your submission is grammatically perfect, for agents are looking for any excuse to reject it. "No one else is read it" suggests that it isn't. Don't worry, though, everyone makes errors in the ms. Still, you don't want the agent to see them. At least not in your first few chapters. (And the best editor is you. Study. Learn to use the tools. Don't depend on others to fix the problems.)

And finally, your ms is too long for a first timer. Think 80,000 words, not much more.

[cuteshoes]

thannk you. yes i know it's too long, which is precisely why i want people to read it. like i said in my post above, it is perfect in my mind, but i know I am only one person.

i doubt i have libeled people. i changed names and all that jazz but i did write about a friend of mine's drug addiction and events that happened because of it. i am no longer in contact with this person. no, the novel is not about famous people. it has a marketing hook.

i don't usually write short stories so I don't have any that I could submit, nor do I have the time to research contests. yes this is an excuse, but i do have a demanding job and I have to squeeze in time to edit my novel instead of sleeping so there isn't another moment I can eke out of the day.

lastly, where can I find someone that will edit my manuscript for me and how much will this cost?

[Julie Worth]

lastly, where can I find someone that will edit my manuscript for me and how much will this cost?

You should really get people to read it before you even consider hiring an editor.

[cuteshoes]

yes i am definately going to do that! i just wanted to get all my questions out in one thread.

[ComicBent]

Cuteshoes,

I basically skimmed your post, but my impression was that your writing was pretty good, certainly better than a lot of stuff that I see on writing boards. You had a couple of things that were oversights, probably, like:

*When I say that my novel is near completion, I mean in the best of my ability.*

which ought to be:

When I say that my novel is near completion, I mean to the best of my ability.

It helps if you read your text out loud. You will catch things like that.

I am not sure that you need to pay an editor at this point. I do not think you do. As Julie suggested, see if you can get some people to read the manuscript first. Pick people, obviously, who are discerning in their critical abilities.

Now, as for your other questions ...

Your manuscript is copyrighted automatically under law just by the fact that you wrote it. However, having said that, I will now hasten to add that you still ought to go through the formal copyright process. It is not expensive; it is simple; and it provides irrefutable proof of your ownership. There are some other legal considerations here also, but I will not go into them, since I am not a lawyer. But I have seen this question asked and answered many times. Get a copyright from the Library of Congress.

You should then put on the title page that the work is copyrighted in your name. You know what it looks like; you have seen it a zillion times. (Putting the copyright on the title page is considered gauche in screenwriting, but for a novel I would do it.) The old ploy of mailing a copy to yourself is condemned by every authority that I have heard offer an opinion on this. Hercule Poirot machinations like that do not fly well in law courts, it seems.

And what were your other questions?... Oh, yeah, the matter of basing characters on real people.

It is not an easy question to answer. All sorts of legal issues can be involved. However, authors base characters on real people all the time. The key thing is that the characters get changed enough that the "real" characters cannot claim that they have been libeled or had their privacy invaded or had their "life rights" stolen. Only you know how much you have changed the characters. Personally, I do not think that an author should worry about this matter a whole lot as long as some things are changed and no blatant libel is involved.

My own philosophy about this issue, and I really believe it, is that unless you are truly just chronicling the biographical events in people's lives, the characters ALWAYS turn out different from their real-life models. In fiction they end up having different relationships, saying things that they never said, behaving differently than the "real" character would have behaved, etc.

Many, many authors have written fictional works in which real-life people have recognized themselves. In general, that does not create a legal problem. Again, you just have to change some things, and that is almost certainly going to happen if you are writing fiction.

Literary creation does not take place in a vacuum devoid of experience with people who function as inspirations for your work.

Hope that helped a little. :o

[Sage]

Not published so everything comes w/ a grain of salt for you to take as you see fit.

1. There is no need to copywrite as the chances of someone stealing a novel from an unpublished author are very low. The poor man's copyright of mailing it to yourself does not actually work (from what I have heard).

2. Are these characters closely resembling the actual people, or just initially based on them? Is the person going to pick up the book & go, "That's me!"? If not, you don't have to worry.

3. This is not non-fiction about a subject you are teaching the reader about, therefore you have no need to sell yourself rather than your novel. I wouldn't bring up your lack of being published at all. I don't plan to for me. (Writing a short story is not the same as a novel anyway, so even if you did submit some & get published, it wouldn't necessarily suggest you could write a novel.)

4. As Julie said, the best way to get the grammar in your novel right is to learn it (Strunk & White's Elements of Style is about $7-8 I believe). Having others crit it will help you catch the kind of mistakes you tend to make. Don't give the agent or publisher a reason to reject it (& huge grammar or spelling mistakes is something that they can reject easily). Little things occasionally sprinkled through your novel will be corrected by an editor later, but many mistakes, especially in those first few pages/chapters that they use for the early decisions will put you in that easy-to-reject 80%. You can choose to get a professional editor, but, as you already know, that costs money, & money should flow towards the author, not away (remember that when you start looking at agents/publishers too).

If you want, you can add a chapter here in the Share Your Work section, & people here will take a look & give you suggestions. That will get you started in the right direction at least. You can find a crit group online or in person (you will be expected to return the favor of critiquing, of course). If you have specific grammar questions, you can ask them in the Grammar for Grasshoppers section on this site as well.

Oh, yeah, & regarding the length (which will likely change after you've received critiques), you can try cutting it, or seek out agents/publishers who are open to longer books. Sci-fi & fantasy, for example, tend to be more accepting of longer books. Since yours is very likely not in one of those categories (as it's loosely based on your life), I'd take a look at the standard lengths of that kind of novel & see how yours compares (remember to look specifically at first-time authors, not famous ones, as they can get away w/ stuff first-timers can't).

[AncientEagle]

1. There is no need to copywrite as the chances of someone stealing a novel from an unpublished author are very low. The poor man's copyright of mailing it to yourself does not actually work (from what I have heard).

Sage is correct. Why would someone steal an unpublished novel and then face the agony, and possibly the years, of trying to get it published in their own name? To worry about this faint possibility is a waste of time.

The myth of the "poor man's copyright" is just that, a myth. Doesn't work, isn't needed, and marks you as a novice. So does submitting a manuscript to a publisher or agent with the copyright registration already showing. Not that there's anything wrong with being a novice, but why trumpet it to the world? In any case, the publisher who accepts your novel for publication will register the copyright, after all the changes have been made and the novel is in final form.

I agree with someone earlier who said you seem to write quite well. The little glitches need to be combed out, just as they do with everyone's work. That doesn't take an editor. It just takes you.

Good luck.

[Julie Worth]

You should then put on the title page that the work is copyrighted in your name. You know what it looks like; you have seen it a zillion times. (Putting the copyright on the title page is considered gauche in screenwriting, but for a novel I would do it.)

No, please don't do this. To an agent this is not a copyright, it's the mark of an amateur.

[maestrowork]

We should have a sticky with really LARGE FONT that says: POOR MAN'S COPYRIGHT doesn't work!

:)

Cuteshoes, my best advice is get a few of your trusted friends who you know would give you honest opinions (and not empty praises) to read your ms. You need to develop thick skin because the road to publication is full of rejections. I am concerned when you said your ms. was just about *perfect*. There's no such thing as "perfect."

Also, read a lot. Take some writing classes. Go to writers' conference. Read about the publishing business. A lot of what you asked could be researched simply by googling or reading books on writing and publishing. If you want to make this into a career and not just a hobby, you need to learn the business.

Good luck!

p.s. I agree. No need for putting copyright on the ms. Your title page should look like:



Real Name Word Count
Address
Phone
E-mail







TITLE (ALL CAPS, half-page down, centered)
SUBTITLE
by
Name

[janetbellinger]

If it were me, and I was writing about somebody's life, even if I changed the names and events, I would talk to that person and get their permission first.

[Julie Worth]

If it were me, and I was writing about somebody's life, even if I changed the names and events, I would talk to that person and get their permission first.

Assuming it gets published, you might send them an advance copy, but what good does it do to let them know you've got a bomb with their name on it if the bomb never goes off?

[janetbellinger]

Maybe I'm overly cautious. I'd want them to know about it, even if it never got published.

[Julie Worth]

Maybe I'm overly cautious. I'd want them to know about it, even if it never got published.



I think you may have an idea for getting beta readers.

“Hey, I wrote this tell-all, and I put you in it. You mind?”
“You did what!”
“You can read it if you want.”
“Damn straight I’ll read it.”

[maestrowork]

It's FICTION. You don't have to tell anyone that it's based on real people. It's FICTION.

Usually there's a line on the copyright page, something like: "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance blah blah blah blah... are entirely coincidental..." Something like that.

People can always sue you for any reason, but as long as you change their names and identities and location, etc., it's really okay. Remember, it is FICTION.

[cuteshoes]

Thanks you guys really helped a lot and gave me some confidence!

I am really worried about my antagonist character, because he isn't very likeable and he dabbles in addictions such as drugs and alcohol. I have changed his identity, events that happened, names, etc. but there are still some scenes that he may read and he will instantly know that I based the character off of him. I haven't spoken to this person in over 5 years now so I have no way of contacting him.

[Jamesaritchie]

If it were me, and I was writing about somebody's life, even if I changed the names and events, I would talk to that person and get their permission first.

Very bad idea. If you're going to do that, why change the names and events? Much fiction is about real people and real events with a few things changed.

It's fiction. This means it's no one else's business. Being cautious means NOT telling anyone it's really about them, and never, ever asking for permission.

Pretty much everyting I've ever written was based on real people, but you can't go through life asking permission to write whatever you want to write.

And what on earth would you do if the person you asked hated what you write and refused to give you permission to use it?

You don't need permission to write whatever you want to write, and even if you did, asking for it would be a straitjacket that would make honesty pretty much impossible.

Just write, tell a story, and never, ever ask anyone for permission to do so.

[maestrowork]

Again, it's fiction. They are "fictional characters." Who cares if someone thinks these characters are based on them? Can they prove it? Deniability is something novelists should learn to use. That's why we have those "blah blah coincident blah blah" clauses in all works of fiction, which are most likely based on events, people and places with which the authors are familiar.

[Cathy C]

Most of your questions have already been answered, cuteshoes, but let me add my take:

1. Copyright: Before I send this to others to read, should I copyright the material? I already researched this and I know it will cost me $35 plus the cost to print it (which could get costly) and ship it. Or can I go the cheap route and burn the entire thing onto a blank cd, mail it to myself, and put it in a vault sealed so the postmark becomes the copy right? Is any of this necessary? I ask because I do not necessarily trust all the people who have volunteered to read the novel. But as long as I copyright the material, trust should not be an issue?


Please DO NOT register your copyright. Here's why: You'll just have to do it again later (or actually, the publisher will) so it's a complete waste of money. Only the FINAL version of any work should end up in the Library of Congress, and the publisher will undoubtedly have edits to the book--not just grammar and spelling, but actual content. Point of view, characterization, gaping plot holes, etc. will all need to be worked with on a first novel. Very few writers can make it perfect right out of the box. Wander through this very easy to use site by the U.S. Copyright office. You'll learn everything you need to know: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq

2. Now my second question is in terms of my rights to tell this story. The manuscript originally started out as a memoir. The events that happened in real life were incomplete and this became the basis for the fiction story that has evolved from it. I took many liberties in writing this, changing things around drastically, adding new characters, etc. However, the fact remains that some of this stuff did happen and most of the characters are based off real people. Can I get sued for writing a novel like this, which I call fiction because over 50% of it is now fiction? Do I have the option of trying to appeal to literary agents who specialize in memoirs even if this is no longer a memoir?


Leave it fiction, as the others have said. So you took elements from real life. Lots of writers do. But you put your own twist on the story, your own spin to get things to turn out the way YOU wanted. That's what makes it fiction.

3. I have absolutely zero experience in published works. While this is actually the second manuscript I have written, it is the first one that I have revised and revised. I know that most query letters include a bio that shows you are qualified to write the novel you wrote. Aside from living the events myself, I have no qualifications. I took a creative writing class in college but that is it. I've never tried to get published before this. So what do I fill out in that section? My career is a graphic designer, while both jobs use the right side of the brain, it certainly does not give me any credentials to brag about in the bio section.


It HELPS to have a background. It is not necessary. If you don't have experience, don't worry about it. Just don't list things that the agent/editor doesn't care about. They DON'T care about: 1) winning second through fourth places in a regional contest; 2) writing a column for your church's newsletter; 3) belonging to trade organizations; 4) taking writing classes at your local college. Etc., etc. You're either published, or not. But it's OKAY not to be. Nobody is born published.

4. As you may or may not have been aware from this post, I have not been blessed with the talent of exquisite grammar. Sure I studied it in high school but I have since forgotten everything I learned. I assume that once I get a literary agent, they will hook me up with an editor to fix that stuff for me. Is that a correct assumption? Should I hire someone on my own (which would indeed be costly) to edit the grammar before I send out query letters? When I say that my novel is near completion, I mean in the best of my ability. My ability does not include perfect grammar

Your ability needs to grow. Period. Before you spend money out of your pocket to hire an editor, consider what will happen AFTER you get a publishing contract. When the editor at the publisher wants to make changes to the book, will you once AGAIN have to hire a third party editor to look over those changes? There goes your advance! If you're determined to spend money, spend it on LEARNING grammar--whether by buying books, hiring a tutor, or taking a class. Then, every book in the future will benefit from the same money. Really. Trust me when I say that it's THAT big of a deal to the publisher!

Good luck! :)

[veinglory]

Ones own writing tends to look perfect but you need to get any idea about whether what you have is actually nearly ready to submit or actually only a rought draft. So you need readers.

There are different approaches but you could start with the first chapter and solicite someone, perhaps here, to look at it. Alternatively you might use one of the many groups that use a system where you read x submissions by other writers and they read yours. (I usually recommend critiquecircle.com fo rthis sort of thing ).