Q: I’m working on a book that includes several passages from e-mail messages I’ve received—stories, poems, quotes, etc. What obligations do I have when it comes to using the e-mails? Also, is it OK to get anecdotes (relevant experiences for nonfiction article topics) from people online through chat rooms and bulletin boards?—Anonymous

A: According to our legal expert, Amy Cook, original stories, poems and quotes are all copyrighted materials, whether they exist on a piece of paper or a computer screen. If you don’t get permission from the people who hold the rights, then you’re stealing their material.

“E-mails are stored—fleetingly or permanently—on computers, so they meet the copyright law’s requirement to be ‘fixed in any tangible medium of expression,’ ” Cook says.‑“If you don’t know who the authors are and don’t think you can find out, don’t use them.”

Using text from a chat room is risky—it’s hard to determine whether comments made by someone using a screen name are truthful. You don’t know if the person on the other end of the chat is a 43-year-old woman with a background in your topic or an 11-year-old boy repeating something he heard on “Dr. Phil.”

Cook suggests trying to have people contact you privately to be interviewed. “When using a chat room or bulletin board, honesty is the best policy—say something like, ‘I’m gathering research for a book/article on X. Would anyone care to comment on this issue for inclusion in my piece?’ ” she says. “This way, responders understand that their comments may be made public, and you won’t invade their expectation of privacy.”

Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.

Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Tuesday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.

Q: Can I use a minor yet intriguing character from a famous work as the protagonist of my novel? I know it’s been done with novels like Wide Sargasso Sea, using Mrs. Rochester from Jane Eyre, but would a secondary character from a novel published before 1950 (yet still in print) also be allowed?—Anonymous

A: Characters are protected by copyright as long as they’re original and well-defined—the traits that probably make them desirable to use in your own work.

“If a character has a distinctive name and well-defined personality—whether it’s Harry Potter or his sidekicks Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley—they belong to the copyright holder, and you can’t use them without permission,” says our legal expert Amy Cook. “Character names can even become well-known enough to warrant trademark protection.”

Now, just because you can’t use someone else’s work doesn’t mean you can’t be inspired by it. And if the character has a rather common name and isn’t particularly fleshed out, she’s up for grabs (e.g., a perky young college student named Jennifer who used to baby-sit the main character and doesn’t play much of a role in the book).

One other avenue that authors are taking is “fan fiction.” Fan fiction writers take characters and settings from other works and build their own stories around them and, generally, share them online for free. Technically, it’s still copyright infringement. But some authors don’t mind this and, in fact, are flattered—especially if it’s not for profit. Some other creators, however, like horror author Anne Rice, simply won’t stand for their characters and fantasy worlds to be used by others. It’s going to depend on the litigiousness of the creator.

FUN NOTE: Bestselling authors Steve Berry, James Rollins and Brad Thor have been known to write each other's characters into their stories (then again, they are all friends). They talk about it here in this video.

Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.

Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Tuesday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.

Q: Do I need to get a copyright for a pseudonym, or will a copyright for the book under my chosen pen name be sufficient?—Al de Araujo

A: The name H.G. Wells isn’t copyrighted. Neither is Michael Crichton. Why? Under U.S. law you can’t copyright a name, real or fictitious. Copyrights protect authorship, such as short stories, poems or novels.

You can register a manuscript under a pen name at the copyright office ( www.copyright.gov ). You’ll have to provide some information, including your real address. But if you really want to keep your true identity under wraps, set up a post office box and have information from the office sent there.

It’s important to get your pen name on record so the Copyright Office can acknowledge the proper life span of the copyright. Work created by authors not identified by the Copyright Office have a copyright life of only 95 years from publication or 120 years from the work’s creation—whichever comes first. If a writer identifies herself to the copyright office and registers her pen name, the copyright term for the work is the author’s life plus 70 years. Which means if I get hit by a bus tomorrow my work is still protected until 2078.

It’s also important to check with the office first and do online searches to avoid using names of real people or names that have already been taken by other authors. While you can’t copyright a name, you can get sued for identity theft. Also, publishers can get pretty angry if you try to pass yourself off as someone famous like J.K. Rowling or Dean Koontz. Stick with something unique.

Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.

Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Tuesday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.

Q: I got a contract for a magazine story that I’m writing, and it makes reference to a "kill fee." What is a kill fee and why would a publisher and/or writer use one?—Frank

A: A kill fee what you get if your editor decides not to buy your story after all. For example, say you were contracted to write “Don’t Squash ‘em,” a story about spiders for the National Bug Lovers Magazine. The editor agreed to pay you $1,000 for the piece. You send in the completed work, and the editor reads it over but feels your depiction of the little critters is too far off base for the message of the magazine. He also determines that a revise or edit won’t fix the problems with the piece. You, on the other hand, have done a lot of the work and feel you deserve to get your check. This is where the kill fee comes into play.

Most contracts will state a percentage the editor will pay you if the story doesn’t run (Writer’s Digest pays 25% of the original agreed-upon amount). Once your story is officially killed, all rights to your piece revert back to you and you can try to sell it somewhere else. Maybe Insect Today will love your story.

There are any number of reasons why an article will get killed—it doesn’t fit the editorial focus of the magazine, something changes in the world and it negates the timeliness of the article, etc. Don’t take it personally. But go back and look at the original agreement and any comments the editor has supplied, and see what you can learn from the experience.

Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.

Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Tuesday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.

Q: I am writing a memoir and need to know if I can use real names in the book. I am going to write about some terrible experiences and some don’t show people in a favorable light. Can I use their names? Also, how can I be sure to protect myself from any possible litigation? --Anonymous
 
A: Writing about real people in your life is tricky, especially if you cast them in a negative light. Once you put it into print there’s always a possibility of a lawsuit. Augusten Burroughs, rightly or wrongly, was sued by the family of his psychiatrist for Running With Scissors (the family accused him of making up events to make his book more marketable).

According to legal expert (and friend of “WD”) Howard G. Zaharoff, there are two rights you must respect: disclosure and defamation.
 
“The right to avoid disclosure of truthful but embarrassing private facts is the first right,” says Zaharoff. “For example, I am reading John Sandford's latest Prey novel, in which a well-known politician is accused of having sex with an underage woman. She offers proof that she had sex with him by describing two semicolon shaped freckles on his testicles. Unless they are relevant to an important and truthful account you need to tell, I would avoid that kind of disclosure.”

OK, I’ll give you a moment to get that mental picture out of your head. But you get the point. Don’t share negative or embarrassing information unless it’s absolutely necessary to your story. It can only hurt you. Back to Zaharoff:

“Second, U.S. law prohibits defamation, that is, oral or written falsehoods that hold the subject up to scorn or ridicule. Every negative statement you make about a living person must be true and, ideally, supported by evidence.”

Of course, if you say something so awful about a person you will always risk a lawsuit, particularly where your only support is your word. And, Zaharoff notes, that's a costly experience even if you ultimately win, and there is no guarantee you will.
 
So the real question is, How do you tell your story without risking any form of litigation? Disguise the names and biographical data and make sure that no one can identify the subjects from your description. Use a pseudonym if need be. And ALWAYS (it’s in all caps for a reason) talk with a knowledgeable lawyer first. A little cash now can save you a lot of cash in the future.

Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.

Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Friday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.