Do I need permission?

Ancient Secrets · Nov 10, 2007

Do I need permission in my fiction novel to describe a public institution, its work and buildings etc..

Also I have a poem at the begin of one of the chapters old but not old enough (1944) I found it in many poem publications and I can't figure out who owns the rights.
It was printed in Beacon Press for instance but I first saw it in one of those Salesian Mission poem books. Neither have answered my request for permission and or information.

Ancient Secrets · Nov 10, 2007

Update: I found out who owns the rights to the poem!! Yea I'm pretty sure I can get permission.

but I still don't know how it works with the public building. It's called BOCES.
BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Educational Services. BOCES is a public organization that was created by the New York State Legislature in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts.

ResearchGuy · Nov 10, 2007

Ancient Secrets said:
Do I need permission in my fiction novel to describe a public institution, its work and buildings etc. . . .

No.

However, it would be prudent to include on the copyright page the usual disclaimer about the book being a work of fiction and all characters being fictitious and locations being fictitious or used fictitiously.

Public places are described all the time in fiction.

BTW, "fiction novel" is a redundancy. It is just "novel," which by definition is fiction. (One sometimes sees the term "nonfiction novel" used to refer to books like In Cold Blood, fictionalized/embellished novelizations of real events, but in the general case, a "novel" IS fiction. No professional novelist would use the phrase "fiction novel.")

--Ken

Ancient Secrets · Nov 10, 2007

Thanks Ken. Is my face red or what? If I was clever I'd make a list right now of common redundancies - make a funny thread, no?
Anyway that's good news I can proceed pretty much as planned then. All the names I care to change have been, and the rest just get that 'thbbbb' on the copyright page.

jamiehall · Nov 10, 2007

awatkins · Nov 10, 2007

I'm going to port this thread over to Novels.

a_sharp · Nov 10, 2007

Just want to add my welcome too. And don't worry about learning the vernacular. We all did and still are learning--that's what AW is for.

P.S. - I'm a fan of homeschooling.

Do I need permission?

Ancient Secrets

Ancient Secrets

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon

Ancient Secrets

jamiehall

Bereaved Snarkling

awatkins

Not harboring illegal parrot

a_sharp

Somebody give me an A