Writing fantasy stories involving history

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Aura

[font face=georgia]Hi I'm new here and I would like to write fantasy and horror stories around historic times like the first or second world war. Does anyone have any advice on this, and also how can i copywrite my work so it's not stolen? Thank you very much.[/font]

:D [link=http://www.salisburylifestyles.tripod.com newwindow]www.salisburylifestyles.tripod.com[/link]
Never give up

 

kevacho

Aura, :D

Welcome.

My advice to you about writing fantasy and horror in and about historical times is to simply do it. There are many, many examples of fictional novels that have either played liberally with historical events, and or, changed them completely. Just start writing and see what happens.

The information you need for copyright is at this website, www.copyright.gov/ The payment to copyright a literary work is 30 bucks, which is only somewhat steep if you're on a budget, and a measly trifle if you happen to be independently wealthy.


Luck writing...

Kevin
www.kevacho.com

"Live to write. Write to live." ;)
 

Jules Hall

The payment to copyright a literary work is 30 bucks, which is only somewhat steep if you're on a budget, and a measly trifle if you happen to be independently wealthy.

That payment is to register the copyright. Copyright is automatic, and you don't need to do anything to make sure you have it. You only need to register your book when it is published, so that if anyone copies it then you can get damages from them. If you're worried about it, talk to a lawyer, but the usual recommendation is not to worry about registering your book. That's something publishers do.

Historical fantasy is an excellent idea. I read one a few years back about Hitler's astrologer, which was a fun story. :)
 

James D Macdonald

Ideas are a dime a dozen. You could hand the same idea to a dozen authors and get a dozen completely different stories (that's why copyright is on the fixed expression, the words themselves, not on the idea).

One example of historical fantasy set in WWII: Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz.

Don't bother with copyrighting your work. Legitimate publishers/agents won't steal it. They don't want just this book -- they want your next book, and the one after this too.

Write your book, then write another.
 

katdad

This is called alternate history. One non-fantasy novel that was pretty well done is "Fatherland", where the Nazis won WW2.

As far as copyright, it's easy. You can download the copyright forms from the US Govt site, send in your manuscript with a check, and you're set!

But understand that anything you write is automatically "copyright". Filing the paperwork just makes it official.

Alternate history stories are very entertaining, especially ones where some major event went the other way, like:

The Axis won WW2 (or, WW2 never happened)
The South won the Civil War

Sounds interesting What specific ideas do you have? And good luck!
 

katdad

>>Don't bother with copyrighting your work. Legitimate publishers/agents won't steal it. They don't want just this book -- they want your next book, and the one after this too.<<

My recommendation is that you copyright your novel when it's finished, and before you start sending it out. But it's cheap and easy anyway.

And yes, legitimate publishers won't try to steal your stuff intentionally. But there is the "Downhill Racer" story...

A screenwriter had a story about an aging ski bum, sent the script to Robert Redford's folks at Sundance. It was rejected.

Several years later, a Sundance writer "thought up" the same plot and they made the movie. The writer had read the submitted script, totally forgotten he had read it, but the plot idea remained in his head, and he subconsciously remembered it.

Of course the original screenwriter sued and she made a huge pot of money for the mistake.

So please copyright your stuff, just don't agonize about it -- when your book is 95% ready and you're going thru the final revisions, send off a copy to the US Copyrights. Even if it's revised, you will be protected.
 

Jamesaritchie

If you write a screenplay, go ahead and register it. You'll probably have to before a legitimate agent or producer will read it, anyway. And then you'll have to sign a release on top of registration.

But for a novel, registering the copyright is nothing but a waste of time and money. No one is going to steal your novel. It just doesn't happen. You already have the work copyrighted the moment you write it, and there's no reason at all to register it, while there are reasons not to. It is just a waste of time and money.

And, of course, if you do register the work, you are then forced by law to place the registration notice and date on the manuscript whenever you send it out, or the registration doesn't protect you, anyway. This alone can cause problems, especially if it takes a couple of years to sell the novel.

And many editors and agents just do not want to see the copyright symbol and registration date on a manuscript, anyway. It smack of amateurism and a lack of trust. Plus a lack of knowledge of how the business works.

The simple truth is no one is going to steal your manuscript because it holds zero value, and even if someone did steal it, there's nothing they could do with it. Unlike a screenplay, a novel manuscript is absolutely worthless until and unless a publisher buys it, and even then it probably won't earn enough money to matter to anyone, and the person will then be certain of being caught.

And when your novel is published, the publisher registers it for you. So unless you plan on self-publishing the novel, forget all about registration. It does you no good at all, and can do you some harm.

And plot ideas can't be stolen. You can't copyright either plot or ideas. There are thusands of novels and screenplays with the same plot and the same ideas. Unless the person uses your words and/or your exact images in expressing the plot or idea, it isn't a crime.

But this is neither here nor there. Novels and screenplays are two very different things. SCreenplays should be registered (And even with screenplays, it's usually more for the protection of the agent/producer than for protection of the writer), but novels not only shouldn't be registered, doing so can cause you some harm.
 

SRHowen

I write alt history. My fav alt author is Harry Turtle Dove, if you haven't read his stuff do so.

Shawn
 

preyer

if you feel the need, you can go the 'poor man's copyright' route, which is basically packaging the ms up and mailing it to yourself. the purpose of that is to have the postmark proving when the ms was sent. just don't open the package up or you've just wasting a lot of money. well, you would have wasted a lot of money to begin with, but if it buys you peace of mind....

what are you guys saying, that the novelization for 'pirates of the caribbean' wasn't a true story? bah! 100% accurate, says i, and i'll have at ye what scurvy dogs don't agree! arh!

this is the only example i can think of at the moment, and it pertains to screenplays, but back when the script for one of the indiana jones movies was written, one of the opening sequence ideas was to have indy ride a motorcycle on the great wall of china, an idea, appropriately enough, completely ripped-off by the second lara croft movie.

if you read ezboard's rules, it says they have 'first rights.' does a publisher now usually ask whether or not your short story or novel has been on the internut circuit?
 

Writing Again

The courts decided not to recognize the "poor man's copyright." I forget the reason off hand,but it is a waste of a stamp nowadays.

Your work is under your copyright from the minute you write it. The only way you can lose it is to publish it without the copyright notice, which shows your intent to keep your rights to the material.

What constitutes publication is sometimes up for debate. Putting it on the open Internet is publication. Putting it on a password protected private forum where only members have access probably is not publication, especially if the members are there for the purpose of critiquing the story.
 

Flawed Creation

also, Katherine Kurtz most excellent Deryni series.

at first they don't seem extraordinary- they are, after all, fantasy set in a medival european setting. too typical, right?


the difference is that the Deryni books are vastly more accurate than your typical fantasy. they actually portray, for instance, the real-world church that dominated europe. bishops and archbishops arew tremendously important. other aspects of medieval european culture are similarlyt represented. even the existence of magic has relatively little effect, because the magic tends to be quite subtle in effect, mainly telepathy and hypnotic suggestion.
 
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