Pinar Tarhan, Author at Addicted to Writing

Essential Copyright Basics for (Fiction) Writers: 4 Things You Need to Know

Posted on November 16, 2013 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I mentioned in my previous post that I was cheating on non-fiction with fiction. And when I say I got a bit immersed in my fiction, it wasn’t just writing. A lot of time goes into research, including checking the plausibility of story events, looking into the credibility of competitions, exercising logline writing skills and more.

One of the first areas you need to be savvy about to is copyright basics and I’m happy to share my findings. If you are already familiar with these, great. If not, let’s go through the points together:

– Your created work is automatically copyrighted and it’s yours. And in theory, even the date of document on your computer can prove your ownership, should you ever have to go to court. That said, this gives me (and many other writers, I can assume) as much peace of mind as pushing the save button repeatedly on the word processor during writing.

In addition to abusing the save button, I tend to email myself copies of my updated stories as frequently as possible, keep copies on USB drives and print them out. I don’t mind the extra “work” as it helps me sleep better at night.

So copyrighting your baby for 20 or 35 bucks doesn’t seem too big a price to pay. However I do recommend copyrighting the finished work.

– Most recommended registry options are WGA and US Copyright Office. Writers Guild of America allows you to register fully developed concepts and treatments and such, in addition to manuscripts and screenplays. It’s very easy, doable online and it costs 20 bucks. It protects copyrights for 5 years, and than it’s up to you to renew it (as well as to remember when the copyright registration expires.)

– US Copyright Office protects it for your lifetime, plus several more decades so it makes more sense to shed the extra bucks. I registered my synopsis for a story with the WGA, but I’ll probably register the full script with the US Copyright Office.

– As long as your country has signed a copyright treaty with the US, your copyright is protected internationally once you register with WGA or US Copyright office. If you are planning to publish internationally, or in the States, registering here makes a lot of sense.

– It’s not OK to put your registration number or a copyright mark or anything like that on your manuscripts when you are submitting to agents, publishers and editors. It comes off as amateurish and they don’t appreciate it. They’ll have enough areas to critique you. Don’t make sure you make a negative impression from the get-go.

So this is it. I hope it was helpful. If you have any questions, fire away in the comments. And happy writing!

P.S. The title says “fiction” because I happened to be writing fiction at the time, but obviously same tips apply for non-fiction writers when it comes to their manuscripts.

Cheating on Non-Fiction with Fiction, Going AWOL on the Blog & Writers Being Sued by Celebrities

Posted on November 11, 2013 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Forgive me, readers for I’ve sinned. And it’s not my first time. I haven’t posted in a long time. I got a bit lost in competition deadlines and the frustrating efforts to write compelling loglines and synopses and researching what kinds of real life celebrity-related information can/can’t be used in fiction. I’ll get to it in a bit. Again, I apologize for my absence and I’ll try not to be a repeat offender.

Writers Being Sued by Celebrities: Scarlett Johansson Sues French Writer

How long can you go during a day without mentioning a famous person’s name? Or something they were involved in? Without referring to a favorite song or a musician?

It’s only natural conversational flow to mention the name of someone popular that you admire/dislike/respect. So it’s again natural when you mention celebrity names in your stories, given that it’s relevant.

It makes the jokes funnier, too. Some of my favorite lines from TV shows include references or topics about famous works.

Love this line form Friends, from TV show Friends:

Joey: Why do you call him Gandalf?

Ross: Gandalf, the Wizard.

(Joey stares at him blankly)

Ross: Hello, didn’t you read Lord of the Rings in high school?

Joey: No, I had sex in high school. (Season 4, Episode 9)

Omit all the celebrity mentions from the sitcom Will and Grace, and you’ll likely remain with 4 seasons instead of 8. Hell, some celebrities are so comfortable in their own skin, they play a funnier, more exaggerated versions of themselves in films and series. The Kevin Bacon episode of Will and Grace is one of my favorites:

Will: I loved you in Footloose.

Kevin Bacon: You saw that? (Season 5, Episode 2)

With Supernatural, I wouldn’t know where to start. Their banter often includes rockers and sometimes actors. Surely if Mel Gibson can handle the “He’s possessed. Think about it,” joke, it’s no big deal?

I mean no one is suing Ricky Gervais for his Golden Globes jokes, right? Or wait- maybe they don’t want to risk it because Gervais might be richer than the plaintiff?

I have book examples too, but hey I’m scared of mentioning them here. What if those actors want to pull a Scarlett Johansson and sue the authors?

In case you haven’t heard, French author Gregoire Delacourt got sued by Johansson because he described his character as looking like Scarlett. Scarlett is pissed because he didn’t ask her permission first. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know there was a celebrity phone line where I could reach any celebrity of my choice and ask whether or not I could use their name in a certain fictional context.

Freaked out, I did a lot of research and found out it basically comes down to your luck, and the personality of the celebrity whose name you dropped. I’d think comparing a character’s beauty to a living person would get you a basket of muffins, if anything. Definitely not a lawsuit. You live, you learn.

So I decided to try my chance with Gerard Butler. I tweeted him, asking if he would be OK if I were to mention his name in my novel. I even managed to squeeze in my greetings and the context in 140 characters. He hasn’t gotten back to me. Yes, I really tweeted Butler. And no, I wasn’t expecting a tweet back. With all the attention from fans and his busy life, where on earth would he find the time to read my tweet and tweet me back? But from what I saw in his overall reaction to his fans and his attitude in interviews, he is a sweet guy who probably wouldn’t try to take me to court if my book got published.

How did I mention him? A famous, gorgeous actress (fictional) is assumed to have dated a lot of hot men, including Gerard Butler.

It’s not fair or logical to expect actors to lead their lives according to our expectations. We can protest all we want, but in the end, if we tried to protest every actor/celebrity for every behavior we don’t approve of, we’d be left with only a handful of actors and movies.

That said, it’s hard not to be taken aback when a celebrity goes and does something like this. And frankly, I can live without Johansson’s movies. And she doesn’t need me as a fan.

Worry not on my behalf. I never have and never will mention her in any of my stories. But I do have a movie blog where I – drum roll- review movies. Will she try to sue bloggers too? Should I take those posts down? Or as long as it is not a book, and it is real life, we’re fine?

So my dear readers and fellow writers, think twice before writing about a celebrity in your stories. And if you do have a way you use to reach celebrities to ask for their permission, do share.:)

Writing Fun and Inspiration Post 3

Posted on September 12, 2013 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I can’t resist saving funny and inspirational writing-related images whenever I run across them, and I love sharing them with you. So let’s have some laughs and smiles:

Much funnier if you have also seen the Friends episode where Ross and Rachel sing “I like big butts and I cannot lie…” to their baby daughter Emma.

This just might be my favorite.

Found this gem via the Facebook page of Page Writing Awards.

I have to admit it’s not exactly writing related. But it’s strangely motivating:)

This is all for today. If you want more funny and inspirational stuff, you can check out the other two posts on the blog:

–-Favorite Cartoons and Images on Writing: The Funny and The Inspiring

–Plain Old Writing Fun: My Favorite Cartoons on Writing

2 Types of Rejection You Should Love (or At Least Appreciate)

Posted on September 7, 2013 Written by Pinar Tarhan

No, I haven’t gone all psycho or masochistic on you. Obviously you don’t want to get rejected. You don’t write to get rejected. At least I hope you don’t.

But when you are a writer, in addition to death and taxes, you can also count on being rejected. It just comes with the territory.

However not all rejections carry the same value, and they definitely don’t have the same effect.

Now, I think we can agree on the types of rejection that suck:

1) The “no-reply” rejection

Days pass. Weeks go by. Nothing from the editor/publisher. Nada.

Did your query get lost in the inbox? Did the editor see it, and file it to check it out later? Did it get in the spam folder? Or it was seen, read and rejected?

There’s no way to know, so you have 2 options: Follow up, or forget.

Frankly, so far I’ve not really gained anything from a follow-up apart from a short thanks-but-no-thanks reply in one case. Other times my short, polite and to-the-point follow-up emails were never returned.

Carol Tice makes a valid point in the post she explains her follow-up strategy: She just doesn’t do it. Because it’s better to move on than spend time chasing one idea.

However sometimes the idea is too good, too timely to miss, so you want to get your reply as soon as possible.

So I appreciate publications that include their response time in their guidelines while advising to pitch elsewhere if you don’t hear from them in that period.

2) The ever-late thanks but no thanks reply

It’s indeed a case of “better late than never”. Because at least you know you have to move on, and you don’t need to waste time following up.

But it’s still a rejection, and it involves no specifics on why your idea wasn’t good enough. And while there’s no obligation on the editor’s part to explain (or frankly any expectation from me to hear the why), it leaves you guessing on what didn’t work.

The idea? The timing? The language? A combination of several factors?

But of course I’ll take this one over no reply any day.

3) The cruel reply.

I haven’t received this, and I’m hoping I won’t. But some horror stories from other writers did let me believe that some people might get too creative in their rejection emails when they detail their reasons. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Attacks aren’t.

Now on the good stuff: 2 Types of Rejection to Love

1) The fast rejection:

Some editors are very quick (as in they reply in a week or two) in responding, whether they like your pitch or not.

Most of the time these fast-answering editors are also writers, and they know (and not just remember) what it is like to be querying.

Of course my initial reaction is disappointment, but soon it’s replaced by genuine gratitude. It feels great knowing that you can move on with the idea.

2) The personalized rejection, preferably with an invitation to pitch again.

I once got rejected by an editor who didn’t find my piece (on spec) lively enough. But she went on to say that she liked my writing in general, even naming a piece that she liked from this blog, and invited me to pitch again. That was the best rejection ever.

I could go back to review what went wrong with my style, and manage not to remake those mistakes again. I also felt flattered and encouraged, as opposed to down and disappointed.

We all get rejected at one point ot another. So it’s just better when we know for sure, and we know why.

Do you have problems dealing with rejection? These posts will help. They might even make you smile:

How to Handle Rejection (and When It Might Be A Good Thing)

How to Manage the Evil Three: Rejection, Depression & Procrastination

A Unique Way of Dealing with Romantic Rejection