Examples You Can Learn From

I've been asked a number of times. What's the best way to write a book using material from the public domain?

Kinda thought I've made that clear but let me show you some examples.

Go to FairyTaleMania.com. That's one of my websites. Take a look at the books listed on the site. Those are my books and you can probably tell they are written using fairy tales that are in the public domain.

Buy a book or two. Seriously. You want to learn? My books sell for a few bucks and they are an education if you want to do the same thing. Read them. Compare them to the tales you are familiar with. Learn from them and, if I say so myself, you'll get a kick out of reading them.

But be careful. Don't watch a Disney movie, for instance, that has taken a work from the public domain and redone it. Snow White is an example. Read the original tale and use that information and you're safe. Write a new tale using Disney's version and . . .  well . . . good luck.

If I was to recommend one of my books for you to use like you would use a schoolbook, I would recommend my Snow White story. Lots of characters from the public domain are mixed in and tales are woven throughout.

Here's another lesson for you. That book and the others I've written are copyright to me. Even though they use public domain material it's been changed considerably and is mine. You would not be able to use my material or new characters from it but you can still read the book and learn how to do the same thing yourself.