How secretive are you with your works?

af_thefragile

Lately i've been working on a graphic novel/comic and i really don't let out much info on what its about. Just scared that if i let out too much of it, someone could possibly steal the story and all my hard work of creating and developing the story would be ruined.

So just curious how much do you guys tell your mates and such about your unfinished works?

Also pretty soon i'll be looking for an artist to put the screen play into pictures and i'm not pretty sure how to go about it. I don't know anyone close to me who's a good artist and I'm not sure if I could trust someone I'm not familiar with letting out my story to. So ye guys have any ideas about how i could deal with this dilemma?

Cheers!

Pauric

:cool: One thing you could do is copyright your work. Just simply post it to yourself and DON'T open it when it arrives back to you.
As for getting an artist, I would suggest looking for someone who has done it before rather than a mate. Friends don't generally give good feed back ie 'yeah, thats great man' and then the first professional sees it and totally rips it apart showing the holes in your work and leaving you to wonder why your friend etc wasn't totally honest with you... With my first book I didn't hide any of the story, granted no one saw the manuscript so they didn't have the full story.
I wouldn't worry about hiding away your story because sooner or later someone will have to look at it. Get feed back from fans of graphics, try and find some one in the industry who'll chat to you about the story and see where you can improve it. It maybe your baby but stepping back from it and seeking advice from those in the know only HELPS.
Good luck with it.

af_thefragile

^Thanks for the advice.

The story is just in its infancy right now. Over the past month i was just trying to figure out the plot of the story rather than taking at jab at the screenplay of a lose plot. So lately i managed to figure out the plots for 3 parts of the story (its probably gonna be a trilogy) and i wrote it down as a very rough draft in my workbook. The plots are fairly simple i'ld say but there are key moments in the plots that shape the story and i really doubt i've seen such a story before. And as the matter is quite sensitive, i also wouldn't wanna let too much out cuz the way the plot is planned out is to keep the people guessing where exactly the story is going till the end of part one when certain key moments happen which differentiates this story from "just another comic book". If i give these key moments away, i'm pretty much giving the whole story away and without these key moments, there is no story! Hence why i'm being so secretive about it.

Anyway, so right now i've just got this elaborate skeleton framework consisting of some key moments to fill in with the actual screenplay. I was thinking of developing the screenplay while working with the artist as the artist could give me constructive criticism over the story and maybe even help with developing the screenplay. As i'm not very good myself at developing screenplay, shaping dialogues and such. Though i'ld probably have a rough draft for the 1st part ready by the time i start approaching artists.

Right now i don't really have anything proper to copyright and that's my main concern. I just have bits of the plot written down randomly in my workbook and i really doubt that'ld be worth copyrighting. Though maybe i guess for now what i could do is write down the plot properly and get that copyrighted.

I'm scared if i'm working with an artist i don't know too well, if we don't get along or maybe the artist himself could suddenly bail out on me, taking my story with him which i've worked so hard on.

claire h

It's not the story, it's what you do with it that matters. Obsessing over whether someone will steal it or not is only going to hurt you and your work in the long run.

EileenG

Honestly, people can't steal your idea. I'm writing a story right now about a space vampire, a bodybuilder, an ex-marine, a vampire hunter and a cowardly bank teller. I bet that anyone who tries to put those elements into a story will come up with a totally different story to what I've written.

Go to a writing class. The teacher will often give a starting sentence like "The hospital corridor was dimly lit" and everyone in the class will come up with a completely different take on it.

For what it's worth, I often discuss plot twists with other writers.

I keep hearing about that posting to yourself thing, but I've never heard of a case where it was actually a factor. You can't copywrite ideas, just words and combinations of words.

silverwater

I do get pretty protective of ideas and stories/scripts/whatnot, although it is difficult for anyone to take your story.
Technically, you can only copyright a started work, an idea can't be copyrighted.

As per your dilemma, I would advise you to continue with the development of the story, don't wait for someone to come along.
Also, network. Try to find that one person who's got the talent and yet you feel comfortable with them. And you won't find them without jumping in and getting in contact with as many potential collaborators as possible.

Larkenn

Im extremely secretive with my writing and ideas. Copyright is so easy to get around. You cant borrow someone elses work ie their writing, but you can borrow their ideas. Someone else can just use the plots of your story and write their own version. Technically they havent broken any copyright law. You can sue but you'd probably lose.

lmtduffy

you havent even finished it yet, honestly start worrying about copyright when you have a publisher interested, otherwise your diverting energies your gonna need if you want to make it happen.

pauline fayne

I agree with Imtduffy , eileeng and claire h . , you dont have anything to copyright yet
so why worry about it ? You need to concentrate on the work itself. Good luck with it !