Amira
asked
Shannon Messenger:
Dear Shannon Messenger, Are you allowed to say what that legal reason is for not being allowed to read fans' writing samples? (I'm talking about the legal reason, not the fact that you don't have time.) I'm asking because if I ever become a successful writer I'd want to help aspiring writers, and hearing about this "legal reason" kind of scares me. Thank you!
Shannon Messenger
Well, I won't get into too much detail (mostly because a lot of it hurts my brain). But it comes down to an issue of intellectual property.
Let's say--totally hypothetically--that in KEEPER 5 I just wrote a scene where all the characters turn into giant talking pickles. And let's say that by some coincidence, a reader has written a story about giant talking pickles--or perhaps even a fanfiction where they have the Keeper characters going pickle--and they send it to me and I read it, and they know I read it. And then Keeper 5 comes out and they see that there's a talking pickle scene. They might think: SHE STOLE THAT FROM ME. And they might decide to try to sue me because of that.
And while of course in a case like that, I'd be able to have timestamps in the draft to prove that I wrote the pickle scene first--I'd still have to pay my lawyer to "handle that" which...isn't cheap.
And what if the talking pickles were actually for a future book I hadn't started yet, and at the moment were nothing more than a scribble in my idea journal? Then the person could really think I stole it from them.
All of that is very much oversimplifying the problem--and while of course there's no guarantee that anyone would actually end up suing (or that any ideas would ever overlap) it's one of those: "why risk it" kind of situations. So I have warnings on my website not to send me samples of writing and an assistant who sorts my email and deletes anything from readers who didn't heed that warning. And I try not to follow links readers send, since they could lead to posted writing samples. I'd personally rather be safe than sorry.
Let's say--totally hypothetically--that in KEEPER 5 I just wrote a scene where all the characters turn into giant talking pickles. And let's say that by some coincidence, a reader has written a story about giant talking pickles--or perhaps even a fanfiction where they have the Keeper characters going pickle--and they send it to me and I read it, and they know I read it. And then Keeper 5 comes out and they see that there's a talking pickle scene. They might think: SHE STOLE THAT FROM ME. And they might decide to try to sue me because of that.
And while of course in a case like that, I'd be able to have timestamps in the draft to prove that I wrote the pickle scene first--I'd still have to pay my lawyer to "handle that" which...isn't cheap.
And what if the talking pickles were actually for a future book I hadn't started yet, and at the moment were nothing more than a scribble in my idea journal? Then the person could really think I stole it from them.
All of that is very much oversimplifying the problem--and while of course there's no guarantee that anyone would actually end up suing (or that any ideas would ever overlap) it's one of those: "why risk it" kind of situations. So I have warnings on my website not to send me samples of writing and an assistant who sorts my email and deletes anything from readers who didn't heed that warning. And I try not to follow links readers send, since they could lead to posted writing samples. I'd personally rather be safe than sorry.
More Answered Questions
(Liene)
asked
Shannon Messenger:
Will Everblaze come out in audiobook form? If it will, when might that be? :)
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