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This week: Edited by: archgargoyle
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Authorship
n 1: the act of creating written works; "writing was a form of therapy for him"; "it was a matter of disputed authorship" [syn: writing, composition, penning] 2: the act of initiating a new idea or theory or writing; "the authorship of the theory is disputed" [syn: paternity] |
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Defining Authorship
There's a few sides to defining authorship. One is the definition that I posted in the About This Newsletter section above.
All of us here is considered an author because we write. We compose our ideas and theories, where other people may read them. Then a piece of writing may either provoke entertainment value and satisfaction, or provoke thought, understanding, and an opinion.
Many people write for therapy because of the way life dealt a person their cards. It's easier to write thoughts out sometimes so we may deal with any given situation. Then there are those authors who write just because there's so much passion about creating a story, or trying to get someone to see their point of view. But in the end, no matter for the reasons we write, we're authors. It's something that has happened since the beginning of human kind. Either through hieroglyphics, the start of written words like what we use today, or the spoken word, people have been authors with the stories they bring back from the hunt or journey.
Now, being published doesn't make one an author, but it does make an author a recognized author. The challenge is making sure that your thoughts, ideas, and imagery are that of your own and have not been copied from another source. In today's society, it's hard to come up with a story topic that hasn't been thought up in one way or another. However, learning how to add your own twists and turns is what makes the story yours and you the author of it.
After some discovery, I found an excerpt from one of those "For Dummies" books. This one in particular is called "Patents, Copywrites & Trademarks For Dummies."
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0764525514.html
What I found interesting is that when I googled Defining Authorship, the following 3 pages came up in the results.
http://www.allbusiness.com/business_advice/articles/8194.html
In here, it tells what constitutes copywrite protection and what doesn't. Like, did you know that bumper stickers aren't copywrite protected? Things like game coding wasn't at first held under copywrite protection because there was too much interaction from the person playing the game. But it was later recognized that the programming took a lot of creativity in getting the characters and objects to do what the game player may want it to do. It's all recorded actions.
It's also amazing that recipes for cooking aren't held under copywrite protection sometimes. Maybe that's why granny protects those family cooking secrets so well?
When it comes down to actually defining who the author of a piece of writing is in the eyes of American law, it's a little more complex than just writing something and calling it your own. It needs to be documented and proven that the author didn't copy, or was influenced by another piece of work. If other work has been used, then permission to use some information from the original author must be obtained and then they need to be recognized in your own writing. This needs to happen if the article is not to be used in an educational manner and is to be published.
As we write, just remember to make it your own. Make your story believable, full of original imagery, and don't cheat by looking at what your fellow author has already done. 
archgargoyle |
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If you could ask a publisher one question, what would it be?
Comments From Last Month:
Duckster,
You'd be amazed at all the different things I use to jot down ideas on. I even wrote a story about it called..."Invalid Item" ~ billwilcox
There's not much that surprises me about you anymore Bill, lol.
I use a digital voice recorder as well to capture my ideas when a pen and paper are not convenient. It not only works great in the car, but I carry it with me when I do my morning walks. Some of my biggest and best ideas have happened during those walks!
Thanks,
rogerc
That's a great idea! I'm going to start walking more often around the neighborhood to help lose weight and get myself more active. Now if I can only remember to take it with me, lol.
Often times while I'm driving I have ideas for stories or a character. To make sure I don't lose the thought, I call myself. i dial the voicemail at my desk and leave myself messages. Recently I've taken to carrying a small tape recorder also. When I get back to my office I simply transfer the ideas from phone/recorder to an email that... you guessed it I send myself at home. i keep all these emails in one folder and when looking for a story, I start there. Rasputin 
Wow, now I had never thought of leaving a voice mail to myself about writing thoughts and ideas, lol. Great suggestion and idea! |
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For Authors: January 04, 2006 Issue [#809]
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