On Sat, Jul 28, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Raymond Feist <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jul 28, 2012, at 10:52 AM, Paddyjack <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Ray, >> >> A weird idea struck me this morning and I thought you may have some >> ideas about this. Let's say John has this great idea for a book but >> can't even write an Happy Birthday card correctly.... can he sell the >> idea to a publisher, or even directly to a writer so that it would be >> written by someone else who knows how to do it? It seems to happen for >> movies sometimes, and I was wondering if it happens also with books? >> >> Thanks, >> >> PJ >> > > > > You're jamming a lot of stuff into one basket. > > First, ideas can't be copyrighted. Only the unique expression thereof, so > whatever John might dream up, he'd have to be pretty convinced it was > something special. > > OK, so let's say it's a really nifty concept. He could try to find a > co-writer, but the fact is, without front money he's not going to find too > many pros willing to listen. We need ideas like we need our taxes raised. > There are books I want to write I'll never get to, because they'll always be > the third or fourth choice of what to do next. If he found a writer, at that > point it would be as if he wrote it himself, i.e. finding a publisher and all > the rest of that. > > As for movies, you're probably seeing "Story by" followed by "Screenplay by" > someone different. That's a different thing. In screenwriting there's a > stage called the "story pitch." So let's say I have a pitch meeting for my > movie idea, "Really Nifty Stuff," and they like the idea, but don't like my > first draft screenplay. They might buy the idea and hire another writer to > do it. So, in short, John would have to be able at least to write a pitch > and have a story bible (as it's known in the biz). > > Really there are no "good" ideas or "bad" ideas in stories. Only good and > bad executions of storytelling. > > Best, R.E.F. > ---- > www.crydee.com > > Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by > stupidity. > > >
Alright, thanks for the answer. I had an idea there was something wrong with the concept, but this clarify it :) PJ
