Constant Content

Hi Writers,

I've noticed a lot of the submissions for the inspirational story request are lacking proper introductions.

For a short personal narrative with a message, it is important to introduce the text with an introduction that prepares the reader for what will follow and give him or her incentive to read until the end. Jumping into the narrative without this feature does not make for good reading. If the reader isn't grabbed from the start (a paragraph that says nothing more than, "One day I was doing x, y, and z . . . " is not a good hook), he or she is not going to read further. Good chance your customer won't, either.

Please make sure that these types of articles are framed by introductions and conclusions. They are essential for this type of writing.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi,

No biggie that "Not Today" got rejected for being fiction (as CC doesn't accept fiction) and I had it laying around. However, it fits into the customer's request for stories that inspire etc... I checked their writer's guidelines before subbing and I think this is a good fit for their site.

Would you reconsider? If they don't want it, I'll remove it from the site as I realize this isn't the best place to sell this type of work.

If the requester had said that fiction was okay in the request, I would, of course, accept it. However, I do not want authors to suddenly start submitting fiction unless the requests specifically ask for fiction. The nonfiction personal narratives are difficult enough to review (and I do not accept them unless there has been a request for them) - it seems as though authors feel this is an "easy" request, and don't understand that it may, in fact, be more difficult and require more thought than even researched articles. Fiction tends to be even less carefully written.

While I'm sure your story is a quality one, I am trying to avoid setting the precedent that fiction is okay. Another consideration is the fact that, if I accept yours, others might feel this is preferential treatment if I reject future fiction stories.

See my dilemma?

Ed

Sure, thing. No problem. I had mixed feelings subbing it here in the first place. I completely understand.

Thanks for understanding, Celeste.

Anytime!

Besides, I have to write about exciting things like HPV and staph infections today... who has time for that inspirational stuff when there's STD facts and hygiene issues to be considered?

Ok, here's a question I haven't seen yet. I just submitted another story for the "inspirational" request. This one is a true story about a mockingbird of all things. Anyhow, this mockingbird affected my entire family. My mom has written a short story about it using her POV on the story (as the mom of the family) and I have written a children's book manuscript loosely based on the tale (from the POV of one of the kids - me). Both are completely different and original. Just tonight, I decided, that this story would fit in nicely with this request and created a completely new piece using a whole new approach.

None of the stories have been published yet and all are unique though they do tell the same true story using various approaches. None plagierize the other as far as the text goes.

At any point, does a unique story become the "property" of the buyer. For example, if I were to sell this version which is more of a "how my life was affected by this event" to a buyer, would I still be entitled to retell this same story as a children's book or animated movie etc... The characters/setting/basic premise are the same but the manner in which telling the story are completely different. Just curious...

That's a good question. I have no idea, to be honest. I am sure some Writers Digest or Writers Market has the answer - or one of our own writers.

Let's see if anyone else chimes in. If not, I'll see if I can't find the answer, or we can investigate together and corroborate evidence.

Ed

The key principle is that copy rights protect the owner’s right to benefit commercially from a work.

The story is yours because it is your personal experience. But, once you put it in written form you’ve created a “work.” If you sell full rights, the buyer owns the content and can put his own name on it, essentially claiming the experience as his own, although this is probably unlikely.

More importantly you might be giving up the right to sell your personal story.

Any future work you write based on the story would be a derivative of the original work, in the strictest sense of the word. Under U.S. copy right law, you’d probably have to get permission from the full-rights owner to create derivatives.

Just a disclaimer -- this is my opinion based on my understanding of copy right law. This is not legal advice.

Thanks, Cyndy. I was pretty sure you'd be one to have some insight into this subject.

Hmmmnnnnnnn... on the flip side, it's not like I'm selling all rights to the story on a higher level. For example, if they took that 1000 word article and turned it into a screenplay, that would be bold. This is all hypothetical of course. I'm just curious how this works.

Sometimes I don't think buyers really know why they want full rights, other than to protect themselves against the unknown. Others do know -- like one site that buys personal stories and lets the writers know they intend to compile a book.

We writers sometimes don't see how we might want to use a piece down the road. You have a unique case, Celeste, where you can see possible future uses for the story. Maybe YOU'LL want to make that movie.

There's no right or wrong, just awareness of the choices.

Thanks! Yeah, normally I don't care about full rights on CC as the articles I post here are what they are. In this case, as I do have other plans for the story, these concerns started nagging at me. I removed full rights as an option so that's no longer an issue.