Is Your Writing Legal?

Here are four legal issues every writer needs to be aware of

Notes: This article first appeared in Writing Magazine in June 2014. (*= affiliate link: I sometimes use affiliate links in my posts. This won’t cost you anything, but if you go on to buy from a link I may earn a small commission.)

Don’t go to prison! Stay the right side of the writing law. © Simon Whaley

The beauty of writing is that you can make things up. You can come home from a hard day’s work and tootle off to your little writing garret and create whole new worlds. Alternatively, you can get your own back on your boss who annoyed you today by killing him off in a fictional murderous frenzy. Many writers kill off their annoying spouses, family members and friends in their written work on a regular basis. Apparently.

However, like every other profession, all writers have to work within the law. That’s part of the business of writing. There are laws that writers must obey that protect others, such as defamation, and then there are laws designed to protect writers, such as copyright. Whilst it isn’t necessary to know every clause of every law before you pick up a pen, it’s sensible to have a basic understanding of the laws that affect us as writers.

Libel

The Oxford English Dictionary defines libel as,

‘A published false statement that…