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Using Other People’s Work, Copyright Law for Writers

Use of someone else’s work, such as song lyrics, a quotation, or a character, in your story is subject to copyright law. Copyright protects the expression of an idea from unpermitted copying, modification, publication, or performance (“infringement”). Copyright only protects the expression of the idea, not the idea itself. J.K. …

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Trademark Law for Writers

Using a trademarked product in your fiction can set a scene or tell the reader about a character. Sure, you can have someone drink a soda, but so much more is conveyed to the reader if that soda is described as a Coke, a Pelligrino blood orange, or a Kroger …

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A Word with Spec Fic Writer Bonnie McCune

Welcome to A Word with Spec Fic Writers. This week, we interview Bonnie McCune, who has been writing since age ten, when the Saturday Evening Post rejected a submission, and has been publishing whatever she can for decades since. Bonnie lives in Colorado and is the author of novels, novellas …

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A Word with Spec Fic Writer Matthew Cushing

In our ongoing series A Word with Spec Fic Writers, we sat down with newcomer Matthew Cushing. Mr. Cushing’s passion for writing fiction started in junior high school when he started adding elements of mystery and action to classroom assignments. Short stories soon followed, and he’s been writing speculative fiction …

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