Drafted

ederyn @ 2:33pm: ( World Building )

ederyn @ 2:31pm: ( Character Building )

ederyn @ 2:28pm: ( How to Avoid Writing a Mary Sue )

cozzybob @ 1:58pm: Copyrights
E brought up an interesting point about copyrights when she was looking to make her own mag, because I was wondering if you could re-print a story if it's already in another copyrighted mag (like, if the mag says it'll take already-published works, is that legal?).

Well, I've been looking for the answer, and Harriet recently let me barrow her Writer's Handbook (1991, but it's still good), and in there, there's a section on copyright law and how it works.

These are the basics I've figured out, which we mostly knew anyway, but:

1) You own your own work, period. You wrote it, it's your baby. The book recommends actually getting a copyright once you hit it big (via the copyright office), but if you're fairly unknown and/or unpublished, don't worry about it.

2) When a magazine won't accept previously published works, it's not looking to copyright your story, it's looking to copyright “first rights” of the story, meaning they desire credit to being the first magazine to publish your work. I'm fairly sure this also means that you can take a story published in this magazine and put it somewhere else, as the next magazine you take it to will obviously not have the “first rights” privilege—they'll have the “second” rights privilege and so on.

3) “A publisher may not buy 'all rights' to your material unless you agree to such a sale and signify it in a signed written statement or 'instrument of conveyance.' In the absence of this signed statement, the publisher owns only first rights, or one-time use of your work.” (In other words, it's yours, period, and don't sign anything stupid. Yay!)

4) The the novelists--“If you're selling a book manuscript, be sure the contract your publisher offers specifically states the terms of the sale and which rights are included. Book contracts are somewhat standardized, though the language and terms will vary. For instance, as author you would declare your work original; that you are granting the publisher the right to publish your work; that you will deliver your manuscript in final form on a specified date; that you will be responsible for obtaining permissions if the manuscript includes copyrighted work. The publisher promises to make timely payment of royalties; to give you as author a specified number of free copies of your published book; to share in the proceeds from sales to book clubs, and so forth. It's important to remember that the time to discuss any terms that are not satisfactory to you, or are at all unclear, is before the contract is signed. In most cases, the terms of book contracts are somewhat negotiable, and you shouldn't shy away from discussing possible changes with your editor.”

5) “Infringement of copyright is a relatively rare occurrence, and although writers should take precautions to protect their work, they should find reassurance not only in the fact that the revised copyright law represents their best interests, but also that reputable publishers will deal fairly and honestly with authors in all matters relating to the publication of their work.”

So! In summary? Yes, I think you can re-publish works without trouble, E, though I'd recommend that everyone publish in a different magazine first (primarily one that requires the first rights, before publishing it either in E's mag or a mag that won't mind previously published works. That way, you can take advantage of the higher-end mags that require first rights. ^^

But it says that as the author, you have sole rights to your work no matter who you send it too (unless you sign something), and therefore, you can put anywhere you want. Yay!


I'll post more about whatever I find in this book—there's a really good article by Steven King on what you need to know to write in ten minutes, but it's a bit wordy, so I'll re-type it later. xD

cozzybob @ 10:17pm: Lots of linkies!
Okay, so I have this filter thingie for my stumbleupon and I was bored the other day without IJ to occupy my brain and I set the filter for "writing" and started clicking around like a maniac. I found some pretty kewl sites:

http://www.authortree.com/About%20AuthorTree
--Seems to be a promotional type site to help you sell your own book. I didn't read much beyond the front page, though. If it's what I think it is, I've heard good things about it--there are sites out there that will help you publish the book, print it, and sell it on demand. The price usually pretty reasonable too, but I have no idea how this one works.

http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/
--List of mags that take poetry submissions. I know that isn't your cup of tea (or at least, I'm sure that's the case for most of you), but if you ever find the need, it looks pretty useful.

http://www.winningwriters.com/
--Seems to be a place for tons of writing contests (both poetry and prose, I think). It says they're free, so I dunno if it's a scam like poetry.com. Best to be wary before joining them, but if it's legit, it could be an interesting site.

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/chadvce.htm
--A resource to help you write with a stronger voice. Seemed pretty interesting, I read some of it. If you're looking to improve or just really bored, it's a nice page to check out.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/fifty-50-tools-which-can-help-you-in-writing.html
--A list of links with fifty tools to help you write stronger. Like the last one, only this one is more extensive, and the links go by topic, so it's easier to navigate what you want to work on. I'll be going back to this one, it seems useful (a lot of the topics are things I've read before by other writers and editors, and they seem to be fairly true, so, yay, learning!).

http://wordsmiths.net/Maygra/RTG.htm
--A random title generator!! It's so fun!! A friend of mine use to have a comm on LJ where he would post random titles like this and you'd write a story for them, like the way you would prompts... I think this would be useful if you're stuck for ideas, and you find a title you like. It's interesting working backwards like that--I've done it before, several times, and it's fun. Try it!

http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/RTC.shtml
--I haven't actually read this yet, but it's an essay titled "Research, Track and Conquer:
How to Research Short Fiction Markets, Track Submissions, and Ultimately Get Published" so it should be useful for ALL of us if it's, well, useful. ^^


And finally, the poetry sites! I always work better with a poem in mind, or a quotation, especially with longer stories (I've done this for SFH, E, as well as a few of the oneshots and their sequels), so when these sites popped up, I figured they might be useful for inspiration or just general browsing. ^^

http://www.geocities.com/phaith_99/eecindex.html
--Poetry by EE Cummings

http://www.um-hi.com/hootch/jack.html
--A random Jack Kerouac quote generator (fun!)

http://www.gotterdammerung.org/japan/literature/ono-no-komachi/
--Ono No Komachi, a legendary poet of ancient times. Some of her poetry, a little about her; interesting page.

http://poetry.eserver.org/
--A general page with LOTS of the world's most famous poems, everything from William Blake to Beowulf (seriously!)

http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/
--A page about haiku writing and tons of other people's haiku's. Great if you're bored.

And that's it! For now. xDD *kishies and dashes*

cozzybob @ 9:43am: Yet Another One
Throughout the month, I've been sticking to the theme and trying desperately to get a better grip on my protagonist. Me and Jesse are getting along, but he/she's VERY confusing, and not a little strange. Hee! It got especially annoying when I found out that not only has Topi had her characters planned for several years, but so had Ederyn and Princess. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Ralphie's had them too, the way this is going. ^^

So we got talking and somehow this evolved into me doing a rip-off of RP!Duo. I blame E, I'm pretty sure this is her fault... That said, Jesse hasn't bit the dust just yet, because I may add him to this story, or bring this version of Duo to that one. Why waste all that hard work? xD

Things You Should Know:
The name is Hayden Marie Foster. It's a combination of two RP plots--Hayden Marie is Princess's fault, and Foster is sort of E's. I've decided that this version of Duo is a girl--no really, she really is, I swear. Hee! And yes, she has a braid--think Lara Croft as far a looks go. The rest is fairly similar. xD


...By the way, anyone who actually finds the willpower to *read* this gets a cookie! Bahahahaha!

( The Mary Sue Questions Topi Made )

( the character building questions )

writers_cafe added more questions to their questionnaire, so I thought I'd do them too.

( Friends, Love Interests and Children )

cozzybob @ 4:05pm: [NaNo scene] and a [Character Interview]
This came out of nowhere. It's the first scene to my NaNo, I'm thinking. Tim is very obviously modeled after my dad, and he will kill me if/when he finds out about it. Especially because of this scene. xD

( The First Scene Thingie )


Anyway, Topi suggested that I do what she did with Julian and start a character interview. This means if you're reading this you HAVE to ask Jesse a question and I will answer in IC. And when I mean that you have to, I mean that you'll do it or I'll get the hammer! *wields threateningly* Mwahhahahahahahha!

*ahem*

Jesse:

My life is wonderful. I mean, people usually run away once they get to know me, but that's to be expected. I'm used to it. I can be happy regardless. I mean, how can I help what I am? I didn't ask for it, I was born this way. God made a mistake, is all. It's just a thing, you know, like... being born a minority, or having an ugly birthmark on your face. Everybody's got problems, we learn to deal. I can deal. I'm always dealing. That's not denial, by the way, it's just life.

And anyway, my life is wonderful. I have friends, and they enjoy my company. I don't need family when I have friends like these. And wasn't there something about making your own family? No... well, no, I don't want family, but I love my friends. They don't care about what I am, and they don't know about what I do. You know what I mean?

No? Well, no one really knows what I do so it doesn't matter. People don't know what I mean half the time anyway. I mean, you tell them that you slaughtered a succubus in the 7/11 on Rawling Street at three in the morning, so you're a bit tired, and they just roll their eyes. Life's not a comic book, things aren't that entertaining, you know? There are no commercial breaks, things aren't always politically correct. But I'm still alive, so that's good, isn't it? Wonderful. And better than most people, I might add. If they don't believe me, well, that's their problem.

This is the part where you comment and ask a question. Yes, I do love to babble.