Todd,

I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction regarding copyrighting material.

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to copyrighting material prior to publishing and how would that subsequently affect a publisher.

Particularly, this would be regarding logo’s and graphic images (illustrations?) created for and or tied to a fictional work, for example, a graphic image for a tatoo worn by one of my characters.

Thanks.
David

David,

I think the first question is why do you believe that your described tattoo should be copyrighted. Are you planning to make money licensing the tattoo?

My understanding is that you actually have some limited form of copyight on anything you put down on paper. The limitations are pretty significant. I believe that unless the work is registered with the Library of Congress while you have the right to sue for copyright, you don’t have the right to recoup lawyers’ fees.

Anyway, all this is beyond the norm for me and I haven’t researched it much. My advice would be to use the internet and see what you can learn.

— Todd

Dear Todd,

What is your favorite Anne McCaffrey novel/story and why?

Has your mother ever based or modeled a character on you?

Any chance there will be a “Holder” series along the lines of the “Harper Hall Trilogy”?

Thank you for replying to your fans!

Chad,

I don’t have a particular favorite of my mother’s works. Clearly, the Dragonriders of Pern is a major series and a lot of fun to read. However, the Freedom series is nice, so is the Tower and the Hive, the Crystal Singer series, and so on.

Mum has modeled two characters on me — Todd in “Decision at Doona” and Jaxom in “The White Dragon” (and on).

If by “Holder” you mean continued stories after Dragon’s Kin, then the answer is yes, we’re hoping to write more.

Cheers,
Todd