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  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by susieangela at 18:38 on 17 July 2008
    Hello SunriseSunset and welcome
    Hope you decide to join - it's a great place and you learn so much, as well as getting a lot of support and empathy.
    Can't answer the question about copyrighting, though I look at it that anyone can steal an idea, but no-one can write it the way you wrote it, and if you've written it you're ahead of the game anyway, if you see what I mean!
    Like you, I also waded through every page of the Getting Published Forum, which is v. addictive!
    As to your word count, I'd say yes, you need considerably longer than 21,000 words for a thriller. Though the crime writers here will have a better idea. The 'average' word counts for adult fiction begin at about 80,000 and go up to 150,000 for saga type work. Naomi M might be able to say whether your work would count as a long short story? I think even novellas tend to be about 50,000 words - but again, see what others say, as I'm writing Women's Fiction.
    Anyway, well done for writing as much as you have, and hope you join us.
    Susiex
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by NMott at 19:30 on 17 July 2008
    Hi SunriseSunset, and welcome to Writewords.

    With regard to copyright, you own the copyright to your own work from the moment you commit it to paper or PC. If anyone tried to pass off your writing as their own, then you would need to prove that you worte it before they claim that they did. There are several ways you can do that:
    Print it out and send it to yourself by registered mail, and leave the letter unopened somewhere safe - but who's to know if you've just reused an old envelope?
    Send it to yourself by email.
    Upload it onto a writers site like this one.
    In practice, however, it is totally un-necessary. No one is going to try to pinch your work, and ideas and plots are not copyrightable anyway, so someone could just re-write it in their own words.

    As for Word Count. If you were writing a childrens story then 20-30K would be ok (40K is better). But if you are writing for Adults you should aim for at least 80K, and preferably more. you may find that a lot of stuff you have written is 'Tell', rather than 'Show'. 'Show' is a lot more wordy and you can bulk out the manuscript by changing it over. There should be old threads on Write Words explaining the difference.


    - NaomiM
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by NMott at 23:38 on 17 July 2008
    I'm pretty sure Paypal is straight away.


    - NaomiM
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by Dee at 14:31 on 18 July 2008
    Hi Sunrise, and welcome to WW. You seem to be finding your way round already, but feel free to give me a shout if you get stuck. When you sign up, your membership will start straight away. If you have problems getting access to the members-only areas after that, just log out and then back in again, and that should sort it.

    Best wishes

    Dee
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by Dee at 14:49 on 18 July 2008
    Sunrise, I've forwarded your questions to David, the admin guy, as he is the one who knows how the finances work. He'll contact you direct.

    Cheers

    Dee
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by ShellyH at 23:35 on 18 July 2008
    Hi SunriseSunset, I'm fairly new to the site too but I'm so glad I joined. There is so much advice on here, and its great to know that other writers are here to give you advice if you need it.
    Michelle
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by Nik Perring at 17:17 on 22 July 2008
    Hello - warm welcome from me as well!

    Nik
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by Dee at 08:49 on 23 July 2008
    YAY!!!
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by saraya at 14:13 on 13 February 2014
    I also had a similar question regarding copyrighting/posting on the internet. I live outside of the US so the postmail option won't work for me. But it's nice to know that emailing it to myself will suffice as well. YAY smiley
  • Re: Hi! New trial member.
    by AlanH at 10:28 on 20 February 2014
    Wow, a 6-year old thread. The OP will be 25 now. Wonder if she joined?
    Saraya, we're mostly based in the UK. (But I'm in the Philippines)