Young Writers Society

Someone told me if you put things on a forum or RP with characters, it voids your copyright and makes you unpublishable because the work has already been 'published'. Is this true?

Did you make up the characters or are the characters based on something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Also, can you give me a link to an example?

As I understand it:

It does, but it shouldn't matter. Well, it'll matter if it's a short story you're trying to publish in a magazine, but if it's a novel the publisher probably won't care.

If you're feeling uneasy about it, just delete the story, and don't tell the publisher about it, I guess.

scd250 wrote:Someone told me if you put things on a forum or RP with characters, it voids your copyright and makes you unpublishable because the work has already been 'published'. Is this true?

If you're roleplaying in someone else's world, with someone else's characters, you don't have copyright anyway.

When you put original work in a permanent form, eg by writing it down or typing it up, you automatically own the copyright. You can't void copyright just by posting your work on a forum. I think the person you were talking to was thinking of first publication rights - the right to be the first person/company to publish your work - which is what you (hypothetical you) are trying to sell to publishers. Some publishers consider work that's been put on the internet to be published already, so the only rights you still have are less valuable reprint rights.

Not all publishers think this, and losing your first publication rights can be dependent on the amount of the final novel you post online. If the forum is passworded or otherwise inaccessible (to the public or google spiders or whatever), that's better than if the work is open to public view.

Personally, I'm wary of posting original work on public critique forums for this reason.

I'm not entirely clear on your question, but I will say this:

Most publishers will only void a story if it's published on a "locked" site, meaning that the user/poster has no ability to delete the work; if you post something on YWS, you can easily hit the Edit button, delete the text and change the story.

Another reason for this is proof that you wrote the story. YWS advises against posting your name on here, but if you could provide a publisher proof that it's your own account posting work and such.

Publishers usually don't consider forums like this as publishing sites, since these sites are catered towards improving your work; it's basically just like using an editor. Using an editor doesn't void your work.

With that said, it varies by publisher. But remember, when you post on here, you're not voiding the rights to your work.

YWS Copyright Policy

I can't speak for RP forums, because those may have different terms of use. I would just suggest checking the site you intend to post on for any statements that declare you can't use your own work. It's yours, so it should always be yours unless you transfer the rights.

Remember with Roleplaying, if you are using another author's characters, you can't publish the work without permission from the original creator to use the author's characters.


Any other questions? Post them here.

Nate wrote:Did you make up the characters or are the characters based on something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Also, can you give me a link to an example?

They're mine; Ive RPed with them a little to get a sense of backstory and personality in 'characters all got dumped in a world unknown to all' type setting. There are other published authors on there but I just wanted to check. Thanks for quelling my fears!

scd250 wrote:

Nate wrote:Did you make up the characters or are the characters based on something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Also, can you give me a link to an example?

They're mine; Ive RPed with them a little to get a sense of backstory and personality in 'characters all got dumped in a world unknown to all' type setting. There are other published authors on there but I just wanted to check. Thanks for quelling my fears!

I still need a link to completely understand what you're saying as it could mean any number of things. So just generally speaking...

A copyright can only protect your intellectual property. If it's not your intellectual property, then you can't copyright it. Thus, if your RP uses situations, scenarios, characters, etc. from another author, then you can't copyright it.

However, the reverse is also true. If someone uses characters, scenarios, etc. that you created, you cannot copyright their work even though it's based on your intellectual property.

In any case, it only matters if you intend to profit. As long as you don't intend to profit, you're fine.

By the way, if you're planning on publishing something uses characters you created but other people may have used as well, you're copyright isn't voided. That's ridiculous if you think about it; it would mean JK Rowling doesn't own Harry Potter just because some 12 year old wrote a story with Harry Potter in it.

Oh, then I should be fine

I didn't use any of the situations of another person. I RP purely for character development. One of my settings is SIMILAR TO but not the SAME AS the one from the book, and this is purposeful. Pretty much the only things they have in common are both are deserts...and I created the desert setting. Someone just freaked me out. Like I said there are published authors on the site who RP with their characters...I just needed a little extra peace of mind. Thanks