Beth Barany's Blog, page 21
August 9, 2022
Seven Things to Know About the Copyright Small Claims Court by Kelley Way
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Kelley Way as she shares with us “Seven Things to Know About the Copyright Small Claims Court by Kelley Way.” Enjoy!
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The Copyright Small Claims Court is Now Open!
It’s been a long time coming, but the Copyright Claims Board is finally up and running, and copyright owners with small claims can now file them for consideration.
For those who missed my previous article on the subject, Congress passed a law in 2020 allowing the Copyright Office to create a small claims court.
The purpose of the Copyright Small Claims Court is to help copyright owners who either can’t afford the expense of a full lawsuit or whose claims are so small it’s not worth the time and expense of a trial.
Here’s what you need to know about how it works:
Attorneys are not requiredThe system is user-friendly, so while attorneys are allowed, you don’t have to have an attorney to participate.
All proceedings are onlineNo travel is required to have your case heard, and the process of submitting evidence is much more streamlined than in a formal court case.
Monetary damages are capped at $30,000Again, this is a small claims court. Even if you win, the amount of money you can be awarded is limited.
Participation is voluntaryThis could be the biggest drawback of the system– both parties have to agree to participate for the Copyright Claims Board to hear the case.
If you file a claim and the other party refuses to participate or doesn’t respond, then your claim will not be heard, and you’ll have to go to federal court.
The Board will only hear certain types of claimsThe point is to resolve copyright disputes, which is all the Copyright Claims Board will rule on.
If you have an infringement case, want them to decide if an activity would be infringing, or wish to dispute a DMCA take-down notice, then this is the right place for you.
If you have additional grievances against the other party, you may want to consider filing in federal court.
You can’t file the same case in federal court before the Copyright Claims BoardThe point is for this to be an alternative to federal court. You can’t have your cake and eat it too – you have to choose one.
You could switch from a federal case to the Copyright Claims Board, or vice versa, while proceedings are ongoing, but you can’t have both cases going at the same time.
Once a decision has been made in one system, you can’t hop over to the other system in hopes of getting a better ruling.
Options to appeal are limitedTo keep things simple, once the Copyright Claims Board makes a decision, the decision is final.
Therefore, they do not offer an appeals process. The only time they will reconsider is if you can show that there was a clear error of law or fact that affected the outcome of the case.
For more information, please see my previous article here, or look at the Copyright Claims Board website at https://ccb.gov
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ABOUT THE AUTHORKelley Way was born and raised in Walnut Creek, California. She graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in English, followed by a Juris Doctorate. Kelley is a member of the California Bar, and an aspiring writer of young adult fantasy novels. More information at kawaylaw.com.
Also by Kelley Way
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/11/09/3-ways-to-discourage-copyright-infringement-by-kelley-way
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/08/13/how-long-does-copyright-last-by-kelley-way
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/06/08/what-is-copyright-by-kelley-way
The post Seven Things to Know About the Copyright Small Claims Court by Kelley Way appeared first on Writer's Fun Zone.
August 5, 2022
Puzzling Your Plot by Catharine Bramkamp
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Catharine Bramkamp as she shares with us “Puzzling Your Plot.” Enjoy!
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My brother-in-law and his partner like to piece together jigsaw puzzles. They call the activity, puzzling.
After both have spent their work day dealing with the public or more to the point, the entitled public, puzzling is relaxing: not aggravating like the news, not demanding like reading.
PuzzlesPuzzles have a form, rules, and can be finished in a reasonable time frame.
They offered to include me in the grand opening of a new puzzle. With great ceremony they opened a new puzzle box and carefully distributed the detached pieces, picture side up across the table.
The first activity, they explain, is to build the frame.
The second is to spend minutes, or hours, finding the next exact piece to fit into the frame.
Sometimes a person focuses on fitting together all the pieces that have similar colors or patterns, and sets the collection, checking the box lid, into the general area of the still incomplete puzzle.
They are reasonably confident that they will find the linking pieces that will eventually attach and connect those sections into the frame.
Sometimes they work for 15 minutes to find where a specific piece belongs but in the end, they still can’t find a home for it.
At that point, they are allowed to declare that the puzzle is stupid and walk away to watch a favorite Netflix series.
What I appreciate most about puzzling is the nonjudgmental permission to walk away. The pieces are not swept back into the box. The offending piece that refuses to mate is not set on fire.
You don’t give up on the puzzle.
Because the next morning, that puzzle piece will suddenly reveal where it belongs. It will find its place in the frame. You can move on and find the next, then the next piece, always moving towards the goal of the finished picture.
Just like plotting a story or novel.
PlottingWe often start a novel with a clear picture in our head of what the finished novel should look like.
We build the frame intended to contain all the characters and adventures.
We spend hours, days, sometimes months scrutinizing our plot points and pieces and work mightily to make them fit in the frame and contribute to the overall picture.
The only time puzzling does not resemble plotting is during that moment when you realized that all the pretty pieces — all the colors, the butterfly, the antique car, the palm tree — doesn’t fit in the frame.
Sometimes a whole collection, no matter how meticulously worked and no matter how beautiful, doesn’t fit at all.
In a puzzle, this never happens. In a novel, it happens all the time. Sometimes our completed novel doesn’t match the picture in our head, at all.
Don’t be discouraged. Celebrate the completion of a whole novel. Take those beautiful sections that didn’t fit anywhere and save them for another novel, or blog, or short story.
A novel is just like a puzzle. You can leave every piece on the table and walk away.
Stupid puzzle.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORCatharine Bramkamp is a successful writing coach, Chief Storytelling Officer, former co-producer of Newbie Writers Podcast, and author of a dozen books including the Real Estate Diva Mysteries series, and The Future Girls series. She holds two degrees in English and is an adjunct university professor. After fracturing her wrist, she has figured out there is very little she is able to do with one hand tied behind her back.
Also by Catharine Bramkamp
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/07/01/how-to-write-flash-fiction-by-catharine-bramkamp
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/03/08/showing-off-by-catharine-bramkamp
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/10/08/time-to-quit-by-catharine-bramkamp
The post Puzzling Your Plot by Catharine Bramkamp appeared first on Writer's Fun Zone.
July 19, 2022
Five Things I Learned From Ripping Off Agatha Christie by Laurel Osterkamp
Today we welcome a new guest writer to Writer’s Fun Zone, Laurel Osterkamp who is stopping by to chat with us about “Five Things I Learned From Ripping Off Agatha Christie.” Enjoy!
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I ripped off Agatha Christie.
To be fair, her novel, The Mysterious Event at Styles, is in the public domain, which means it’s okay to do whatever with it. It’s like finding a couch in the alley with a “free” sign. If you take the couch, is that considered stealing? Of course not.
Now, I’m not equating Agatha Christie’s work to an abandoned alley couch. I believe Christie’s genius is underappreciated when it comes to literary merit. That said, I learned a few things when I adapted her novel into something that I could call my own– sort of.
In Mysteries, Details Matter. A Lot.Originally, I thought I could go into Christie’s novel, do some gender reversals, change the setting to northern Minnesota, make the characters talk like Midwesterners from 2022, and switch out the handwritten notes and briefcases full of top secret files for cell phones and laptops.
Turns out that Agatha Christie is very detail oriented.
I had to come to terms with her attention to detail and how she masterfully manipulated that into her plot.
This was a challenge for sure, but once I figured it all out, I felt like I’d completed a vigorous workout.
Trust that Your Readers are IntelligentChristie wrote The Mysterious Event at Styles on a dare, and she bet her sister that she wouldn’t be able to guess who the killer was.
I believe Christie won the bet.
Thus, red herrings abound in her novel, and as I worked on my version, I kept asking myself if I should be more obvious.
In the end, I trusted Christie’s judgment. I figured if she could let her readers draw their own conclusions, then so could I.
Let Your Characters Make Terrible MistakesIn my version of the novel, the narrator is Helen (aka Hastings), a traumatized security guard who is helping Perle (aka Poirot) find the murderer.
There’s a scene in the original where Poirot says some very hurtful things to Hastings, and then he makes a mess of the investigation.
I wanted to skip all of that, but I let Helen have her low point, so then she could rebound. That’s essential in any good plot, but I still found it so hard to do.
Transitions Don’t Have to be MessyI sometimes have a hard time getting my characters to move from the living room to the dining room without excess description, or curtailing their conversations so that they don’t ramble.
I have no idea how many revisions Christie made of The Mysterious Event at Styles, but she does a great job of keeping up the pace.
Except for Poirot’s theories and explanations. Then it got long-winded, and I believe modern readers would find some of it tedious.
So, I trimmed her original 50,000 words down to 36,000, and that doesn’t include the original passages I put in. It wasn’t always easy to know what I could get rid of (see #1: Details Matter).
You Can Always Make the Story Your OwnI write character-based novels, where I emphasize relationships, self-discovery and redemption.
That wasn’t really Agatha Christie’s style. And yet, the potential for all that was there, on every page.
All I had to do was relax, find my openings, and have fun.
In the end, Murder at Styles Resort differs from anything else I’ve written. Actually, I’m saying that I adapted it, as opposed to writing it.
I feel like I found a great exercise to grow as a writer, and now I look forward to writing my own mystery from scratch. Also, now I have my “reader magnet”, which means I’m offering Murder at Styles Resort as a free download in exchange for signing up for my mailing list.
I hope the connection to Agatha Christie will pique readers’ interest, and that when they read it, they’ll also enjoy my author’s voice enough to come back and read my original novels.
If you’d like to know more about my Christie adaptation, Murder at Styles Resort, please visit my website, laurellit.com
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About the AuthorLaurel Osterkamp is from Minneapolis, where she teaches and writes like it’s going out of style. Her short fiction has been featured in Tangled Locks Literary Journal, Bright Flash Literary Journal, and Metawoker Lit, among other places. Her latest novel Favorite Daughters will be released August 25th.
Social Media:
Website – https://laurellit.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurelosterkamp
BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/profile/laurel-osterkamp
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July 15, 2022
Inspiration From a New Direction by LA Bourgeois
Let’s welcome back LA Bourgeois as she shares with us “Inspiration From a New Direction.” Enjoy!
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Are you looking for inspiration? An idea for a story? Confused by a character?
Take a hike in a new direction!
I’d say take a drive, but we’ve all seen the gas prices.
Where to Look for InspirationGetting outside and taking a walk is a great way to give your inspiration the little punch up it needs.
When you participate in any sort of physical activity, you give your brain the movement and the silence it needs to make connections flow.
What to do When You’re StuckWe all get stuck in ruts.
We walk around the block the same way, wander the same streets, take the same hiking trails. And that’s fine for your exercise routine. The same number of calories get burned, the same miles get logged, the same steps show up on your pedometer.
Seeing the same route in the opposite direction gives you a new perspective.
You’ll be amazed at how different Mrs. Rundleberry’s rose garden looks when you approach from the west instead of the east.
You might notice the marigolds that pop out of the bottom of that fence you usually hurry by because the dog always barks at you. Your surprise, when you arrive from the north side of his yard– no time for woof!.
If you’re a hiker, you probably know all about how trails can look different from the other direction.
Experienced hikers recommend turning around at each branch of the trail to look back to see what that branch looks like from the other direction.
What you think will be a quick glance turns into an in-depth study.
The same trail heading the other way can look strange and alien. If you don’t follow this one important trick, you can find yourself puzzled as to which way to go in the wilderness.
Make the wrong choice and you end up at an entirely different trailhead, hiking even further to get back to where you left your car.
Why You Should Make a ChangeThat change in perspective can inspire your writing muse!
Our brains are always looking for patterns.
When you go for your regular walk, your brain knows that pattern. It recognizes all of the usual sights and sounds, and that allows your brain to keep thinking the same thoughts.
By making any change to your routine, you jostle that lazy little beast. Your mind begins to forge new connections as it searches for patterns in this unusual world.
And when those new connections begin forming, look out! New ideas begin to pop up, plot points become clear, unforeseen words emerge for your consideration. Make sure to have your journal or a voice recorder app ready to take notes.
So, if you’re stuck, change your scenery! Inspiration lies the other way around the block.
Stay safe with this walking tipIf you are walking on a road that doesn’t have a sidewalk available, make sure to walk against the traffic.
If the cars drive on the right side of the road, walk on the left.
This tactic allows you to see any cars coming your way and gives you a chance to avoid distracted drivers.
If you walk with the traffic, a car could hit you from behind before you hear it. Give yourself a fighting chance and walk against the traffic!
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ABOUT THE BOOK REVIEWERLA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois supports writers, makers, and other creatives in growing their creative businesses and breaking away from their day jobs.
As a creativity & business coach, she believes that exploring your creativity invites joy into your life, embracing your creativity infuses your life with joy, and manifesting your creativity gives you a joyous purpose. Writing and knitting are her non-negotiable mediums, and she can usually be found with a pen or knitting needles in her hands.
Find her free guide, Tricking Yourself into a Creative Habit online at labourgeois.biz and start writing those words today. She can’t wait to read them!
The post Inspiration From a New Direction by LA Bourgeois appeared first on Writer's Fun Zone.
July 1, 2022
How to Write Flash Fiction by Catharine Bramkamp
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June 28, 2022
5 Writing-Related Jobs for Authors: What to Do While Working on Your Book by Thao Nguyen
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Thao Nguyen as she shares with us “5 Writing-Related Jobs for Authors: What to Do While Working on Your Book.” Enjoy!
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Being an author is like a long investment.
It takes time to write your manuscript, edit it, and then submit it to publishers— or polish the book and self-publish it.
And while you probably want to put all of your time toward this project, it’s simply not affordable to write and work only with the hopes of reaping the rewards years later.
Luckily, there are jobs out there that come with a flexible schedule and also let you further hone your writerly skills while earning you some extra income.
Here Are Five Popular Options For You To ConsiderProofreadingOne of the best side hustles for writers and word lovers is proofreading.
The job requires a good grasp on grammar and text formatting, as well as an exceptional eye for detail, but it’s often faster to do than other kinds of editing.
This is because a proofreader provides the final check of a text only, and is responsible for fixing any mistakes that slipped past previous editors, rather than making major changes.
Like all of the jobs mentioned in this post, proofreading is flexible — most proofreaders are hired on a freelance basis.
If you’re just starting out, you might want to focus on getting a lot of customers, and you may work more regularly.
Once you’ve established a client base or a reputation in the field, you have more liberty to choose your projects and organize your schedule to allow plenty of time to write your own book.
Flexibility also applies to the type of project you work on.
If you’re up for long-form content (which can be quite enjoyable since it’s not so different from reading), then book proofreading is a good choice.
If not, you can proofread shorter pieces like blog content, leaflets, website copy, CVs — just about any kind of text, really.
If this sounds like something you want to do, check out this post I wrote a while back about what it’s like to be a proofreader.
EditingIf you want to dive deeper into pieces of writing than you would while proofreading and give advice on story structure or writing style, then you might enjoy being an editor.
Editing jobs come in many shapes and sizes — not only are the types of content you can work on diverse, but you can also focus on a specific type of editing.
For instance, if you enjoy looking at the plot, structure, or theme of a text, you can become a development editor.
If you like to work on the language of writing more, then you might want to go for the copy editor path.
While qualifications are not required, studying for an editing certificate can be beneficial.
A certificate can assure authors that you can provide good editing services, and in studying for it you get to learn technical things about the writing craft you might not have known before.
This not only helps you become a better editor, it can also improve your own work!
That said, since you will be editing for someone else, it is important while working as an editor to drop your writer persona to focus on your client’s goals, intentions, and style.
Make sure to give suggestions that suit them and their project, not your personal preferences.
CopywritingFor those who are not yet weary of writing and are in fact looking forward to more of it, perhaps you’d like to switch things up with a bit of copywriting.
Copywriters work on a variety of material, from web content to brochures to emails — basically anything that can be used for marketing purposes.
These types of content are much shorter, which means that can be a refreshing break from your book. You still have to think of structure and flow as you would with long-form content, but it’s much less likely to cause headaches than having to figure out plot points.
Style-wise, you would probably work with something more eye-catching and conversational than what you’d use in novels.
Copywriting also involves shorter sentences, simpler words, and sometimes keyword-based writing. But these standards are not very hard to adapt to, and they can be fun to work with in between novel writing sessions.
Who knows, they might earn you a way out of writer’s block alongside some extra money!
BloggingWant to work for yourself and not for a client?
Why not create your own blog? Simply adding a page to your author website could allow you to build your brand while working on this side gig.
You can earn money by letting advertisers run ads on your blog, or by becoming an affiliate for companies or organizations.
You will have to take some time to build your blog’s audience if you decide to take this route.
The greater your audience, the more impressions you can offer advertisers, and the more money you can make.
Picking a theme for your blog is a good first step, so that you have a specific audience to target — it’s much easier to build your following that way– especially if you know a bit of SEO.
This is similar to how you’re more likely to succeed when marketing your book to a specific target audience, rather than saying everyone will enjoy it.
Focus on something you care about, or know a lot about– like writing books, for example, and start researching to see what topics within that theme appeals to readers.
You can share your blog with your existing readers as well, through social media or an announcement to your mailing list.
TranslatingThis final one might not apply to everyone, but if you know another language in addition to English, translating could be a fun side hustle to have.
Again, you have a lot of choices when it comes to material — you can translate articles, communications, or even books.
If you choose to work on literary translations, you will get a lot of room to ruminate on words in both languages and how they can conjure such specific images or feelings in certain situations.
It’s a beautiful process that can help you gain an even more nuanced understanding of both languages, which can only enrich you as a writer.
You might want to practice your translation on your own first, just to get used to the work and brush up on your skills.
Then, you can keep tabs on freelancing sites, online agencies, or even local companies that work in more than one language — you never know who might need some translating.
Hopefully, this list has given you some inspiration for a part-time job to take on while working on your book. Good luck!
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ABOUT THE AUTHORThao Nguyen writes about history, diasporic experiences, and writing. You can find her work in Literally Stories, Anak Sastra, or on Twitter @thao__to
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Editor’s Note: Resources for developing your story and your characters so that you have diversity in your writing:
Plan Your Novel course: https://school.bethbarany.com/p/30daywc Craft Compelling Characters: http://school.bethbarany.com/courses/enrolled/compelling-characters Also by Thao Nguyenhttps://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/09/28/3-ways-to-identify-a-publishing-scam-by-thao-nguyen
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June 24, 2022
Change of Plan: Revising Your Story as You Go by Nevada McPherson
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June 22, 2022
Activate The Body And The Mind With Novelist And Creativity Coach Beth Barany (Podcast Interview)
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June 17, 2022
My Kids Won’t Let Me Write! Now What? Finding Time to Write in your Busy Day by Daniel Rice
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June 14, 2022
Studying In The Airport by LA Bourgeois
Let’s welcome back LA Bourgeois as she shares with us “Studying In The Airport.” Enjoy!
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Recently, I was traveling through airports on my way to a niece’s wedding.
I know, right?!
TRAVELING?
What the what?!
Are you traveling this year too?Frankly, only our eldest niece’s wedding could get us out of the house and on a plane to southern California.
And maybe you’re like me—you love to go to new, cool places but hate the actual “traveling” part of the journey. The part where you get motion sickness, where you get the middle seat in the row, where you get hungry and trapped in airports and hotels and the cheapest thing on the menu is an $18 hamburger.
Bleah! Is there anything worse?!But at least as writers, we can transform these icky situations into wonderful opportunities.
After all, as Philip Roth said, “Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.”
There, in the airport, the hotel bar, the beach or park or supermarket, wherever your current nightmare exists, the easiest way to distract yourself and practice your writing skills is to create character studies.
How do you do that?While in a busy environment, say the gate at the airport or a crowded beach, select a person and watch them.
Get curious but don’t stalk them.
Maybe stalk them just a teeny tiny bit.
Ask questions as you observe Why are they lingering on that particular park bench? Who are they rushing toward as they zip through the terminal? What prompted her to wear a thong bikini with a sparkly gold net cover-up to Trader Joe’s?Let their look, their actions, their belongings build a persona in your head Are they wearing well-made, sturdy clothing or cheap polyester? Do they move with confidence or skitter around? Are they hauling a monster-sized purse or getting by with what’s in their pockets?Select an origin and a destination for their trip Maybe they’re visiting family after being gone for a decade. Perhaps their bank account finally hit the mark and they’re going on their dream vacation to Bora-Bora. Has the boss demanded they travel to Reno for an in-person meeting with a difficult client.Imagine their home Do they live in an apartment? A mcmansion? A witchy cottage on the Georgia coast?What’s their job? Do they push paper at a desk? Plumber? Cook? Influencer?Build a full life for them. Add all of the details you can.
Then tell their stories The woman in the bikini making a dinner of frozen fried rice and Barolo for her girlfriends. The fellow standing at the door of his childhood home and trying to decide if he should knock or just walk inside The person lying on the beach in Bora-Bora with an arm outstretched to brush the skin of their life partner.Build the character in your head and then take a moment to write their story in your journal.
This isn’t just a convenient way to practice your writingThese useful, brief character studies can become characters in your romance, inspire a short sci-fi story, deliver a wonderful secondary plotline for your murder mystery—you name it!
Everything is material.
Enjoy your vacation!***
ABOUT THE BOOK REVIEWERLA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois supports writers, makers, and other creatives in growing their creative businesses and breaking away from their day jobs.
As a creativity & business coach, she believes that exploring your creativity invites joy into your life, embracing your creativity infuses your life with joy, and manifesting your creativity gives you a joyous purpose. Writing and knitting are her non-negotiable mediums, and she can usually be found with a pen or knitting needles in her hands.
Find her free guide, Tricking Yourself into a Creative Habit online at labourgeois.biz and start writing those words today. She can’t wait to read them!
Also on Writer’s Fun Zone by La Bourgeoishttps://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/05/20/inspire-your-comedy-with-old-photos-by-la-bourgeois
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/03/15/the-solid-ground-of-fiction-by-la-bourgeois
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/10/19/the-novel-garden-by-la-bourgeois
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