Adding Criminal Law and Procedure to Your Fiction: Part III
The Courtroom—Guilty Plea and Trial Welcome to Part III of Adding Criminal Law and Procedure to Your Fiction. See Part I for a discussion of search warrants and exceptions to the warrant requirement, and Part II for stop &...
Cocky: One Writer’s Adjective, Another Writer’s Trademark – For Now
Romance writers lit up social media last week over a recent trademark for the adjective “cocky.” As with any genre, romance novels have a specific set of conventions. Open any romance book and you will find a tone that ranges...
Using Music and Film Clips Without Violating Copyright Law
If you are creating book trailers, audiobooks, or online videos that include preexisting music or film clips, copyright law can be one of your biggest headaches. The first step to avoid copyright violations is to identify who...
Confessions, Trials, and Fiction
A writer this week asked about the use of confessions in the criminal trial process. A character in the writer’s plot has signed a confession admitting facts necessary for conviction of a crime. The writer wanted a short...
Media Liability Insurance – Do Authors Need It?
Most manuscripts are not contentious enough to land an author in court. Some writers, however, do venture into highly controversial topics (like those found in memoirs or biographies). Or their fiction includes real people or...