1) I don't think there is an official copyright holder on Slenderman because of how he was created. In the same way the SCPs don't really have a copyright because of the whole... internet collective thing...

But you can't copyright a name. So even if someone wrote a character named Slenderman, if their Slenderman was not obviously some same version, there would be no copyright infringement had.

Right, I understand

should I specify the difference between the lich kings in an author's note before the main text in case blizzard/the thrash metal band try to claim it as infringement?

If your book is completely unrelated to either of those, I don't think an author's note will do anything but draw attention where authors wouldn't have had it in the first place

Ok, that makes sense

And I say all this after my debut novel was inspired by a board game so there was a lot of research in where copyright and trademark lines could cross.

You can always still choose to change it if you feel uncomfortable closer to publication, but... if your story has nothing to do with it... then...

Think of these two scenarios: You can copyright specific content or character design, but not a premise or an arch type (the wise wizard, the reluctant hero, the cocky rebel, the bad cook).

You can also avoid copyright by directly ripping something off, but changing the names so it no longer relates to the source. This is a practice called scrubbing off the serials and it's what stuff like E.L. James 50 Shades of Gray did -- starting with copyrighted materials (Twilight Fanfic), but then removing anything that identified it as such to publish it commercially without infringement.

oh I see

If I think of a better name, I will change it but Lich King just fits so well

@Lich King Lich sovereign / Lich monarch / Lich prince / Lich crown / Lich overlord

Those are some alternative ones.... Aside from copyright, u dont want ur readers to associate ur work with another imo

More or less why I mentioned the bigger issue is search results. lmao

I have a friend who started an original comic called Dirty Laundry... so many people showed up to the comic thinking it was related to some fairly popular fanfiction by the same name, but he'd never heard of it.

Oof

That's tough

gonna do a sprint

_sprint

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@Evelyn S. 🇺🇸

I always see it when you already started

Damn

is it bad that my chapters aren't consistent in their length?

There's some that are only 8-10 pages and then there's a huge one that's 40 pages

Uh 40 pages might be a little long XD

it's still all the same topic though, same batch of events

Can you split the events into three chapter?

Most chapters range from 6 - 14 pages

I can split it in two

I think that will work

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Question for anyone:
What would your response be if your cousin disappeared one day wearing a certain outfit and you found his body four days later badly mutilated by dragons (you can't recognize his face) but wearing a completely different outfit and when you go check his room you don't find either one of those outfits in his closet but some of his other things are missing, namely spellbooks. No one has gone in that room besides his mother and she didn't take anything out. Note: there would be no feasible reason for your cousin to have hidden clothes in the woods, and nobody saw him come back to change. Both outfits were indeed his.

What would you assume happened?

asking because I'm trying to figure out a reasonable reaction for a character who experiences this and I want to see how easy it is for anyone to piece together and if I should make what happened a little more obvious

To be honest, I'd say he snuck back in for a change of clothes because his first set got stolen

Tbf, I wouldnt assume anything. I would be like we need to get to the bottom of wtf is going on here.

Because frankly wtf