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 &...
Creative Theft – Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement
“Good artists copy; great artists steal.” The quote is widely attributed to Picasso. Most likely, the idea existed before Picasso made it famous. The literature is littered with much older discussions of how artistic theft...
Prose, Plots, and Plagiarism — How To Avoid Literary Theft
Steal a plot. Crib a phrase. Imitate someone’s prose. I often hear this advice in my writing communities. And every time, that old high school taboo stored in the rafters of my brain screeches, “That’s plagiarism!” I understand...
Pilfering News Events For Your Fiction – Is it Legal?
Over the holiday, Kristin from Florida asked if she could use a current news story in her fiction without being sued. This question arises often and in various permutations, like writing about relatives, celebrities, politicians,...
Plots, Prose And Plagiarism In Fiction – Four Things Every Writer Should Know About Literary Theft
In my writing circles over the years, I often heard advice encouraging writers to steal a plot, use a phrase, or mimic someone’s prose. And every time, that taboo I learned in high school and stored in the rafters of my brain...