hi im attempting to write a piece based on local folklore. What im wanting to know is whether this is allowed freely or does permission need to be got or whatever to avoid possible future hassles. Please advise. also how closely to the folklore would the story have to be?
If the elements you are using are truly of a folkloric nature, I would have to assume that they fall into the public domain. When you say local.... how local, and how far back in time? Are actual people and places involved where you might have to answer to those individuals in the flesh?
If you were writing about fairies in general then I don't see why you can't just go ahead with whatever you want. If you want to write about local folklore, then I personally would want to stick to the story as it's told and not embellish it too much as that would just dilute the tale as it's supposed to be. Writing about fairies is like writing about frogs; they've been around for years and everybody has a different tale to tell about them. You don't need copyright permission for writing about objects, only when you're using someone else's work. You might want to look up copywriting on folklore for further information, but as folklore is passed down through the years then nobody would know who the original story teller was anyway. I hope that helps.
it's 'copyrighting'... 'copywriting' is the act of writing copy... a 'copyright' is protection of your rights as the author of a piece of writing... as for asking permission, stacie, sayso is right in that 'folklore' has no single author/originator, so there's no one to ask... just be sure you don't use anyone's written version verbatim... for that, you DO need permission... all who want to write should familiarize themselves with the copyright laws... see the us version here: www.copyright.gov any country that's a signatory to the berne convention will have similar laws... love and hugs, maia
