Disney Did Not Create Peter Pan

All children, except one, grow up.

You read this and you probably automatically think of Peter Pan. And most of us grew up thinking Disney created Peter Pan.

Nope. This is another example of a public domain works that Disney used to build it's empire. They did it the right way and the way works in the public domain should be used. They wrote the story using the same premise but in a way that made it unique to them.

Good for them - - - and bad for them for making it hard for others to do the same. I discuss this in a previous post.

I'm using this as another example of how you can take a story from the public domain and make it your own.

You can even use the original Peter Pan story as long as you don't infringe on the Disney version. Best way to do this is to read the original story and use it for reference.

Get Your Story from Public Domain Comic Books

Here's a good example as to how to get an idea for a story from old public domain comic books.

Let's say you are interested in writing a horror story. You find a horror story comic book and skim through the pages until you find a story you like. Read it and then rewrite it using your own unique spin to the tale.

I did this with a story about a clock that struck thirteen.

Don't limit yourself to horror. There are public domain comics on virtually any genre you could think of.

Public Domain Comics Presented Facts You Likely Never Heard Of

Numerous comic books now in the public domain would present facts most readers never heard of. Not a bad way for kids to learn while they enjoy a good comic. Here is a sample from one of them.

I find this interesting and have used some of the numerous facts I've read while researching the comics to add interesting notes to some of my web pages.

Create Your Cartoon Character Using Free Comic Books from the Public Domain

Cartoons are always popular and if you go to Youtube, you'll see that using a cartoon like character in animatics or animation draws a lot of views.

Why not either use a character that is lost in the public domain comics of long ago? Look at these two characters.

Can you draw them as is or can you use them to create your own unique comic? The answer is yes you can.

Check the stories inside comic books from the public domain. Write a story or create an animation based on the story. I did this with a horror story using a clock that ticked 13.

The place I go to research old comics is ComicBookPlus. These comics are in the public domain. They're free for you to use to turn loose your imagination.

I like this site so much I give them a volunteer donation after I publish a work.

Rewriting Public Domain Stories and Publishing Them as Your Own

Let's take a look at The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.

This is found at Gutenberg and I recommend you spend some time at this site coming up with ideas. Here is the story we'll look at . . .

The Raven

This particular story has some pictures but not all will. I mentioned in another article that I took this story and rewrote it in a manner that we're used to today.

I mean I read The Raven before but never really understood the story. So I sat down to rewrite it without changing the Poe story but making it easier to understand.

You can go to Amazon and check it out. In this book I've rewritten The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Hat. It's 99 cents and it will show you how you can delve into a story in the public domain and rewrite it as your own. Remember, when you rewrite it that story is copyright to yourself even though it comes from the public domain.

This is how I recommend using public domain books. Don't just copy therm and sell them. You can but . . . come on.

Not Archie But Maybe He Was Based on This?

Take a look at the cover of this comic book and tell me who this reminds you of:

This isn't Archie and the Gang but when I go back through some of the old comics, sometimes I have to think maybe they inspired certain characters.

I mean this could be Archie and Betty and Veronica. Am I right?

Many of the cartoon characters you are familiar with could have easily been adapted from comic books that slipped into the public domain.

I'll bring you more of these as I come across them.

What Can I Find in the Public Domain

The public domain offers more than just books and you can search to your hearts content and find:

Fiction and Non-Fiction Books
Collector Paintings
Artwork
Poetry
Scripts
Movies
Cartoons
Comic Books
Music

There is a tremendous opportunity for you to build many different business models using the various public domain material available. I've used public domain material in some of my books and videos.

Others have taken classic art and digitized it and are reselling prints.

Keep coming back. I'll not only show you ways I have used the public domain but also places you can go and search for what you need.

Stickman Dancing

This is an example of one way you can use public domain material in your videos.

I created the dancing stickman on a green screen. I downloaded a free video from http://www.pixabay.com (no restrictions) and music from http://www.stockfootageforfree.com.

Using my free video editor, VSDC, I combined the 3 files and removed the green screen.

Even though I used material from the public domain, this becomes automatically copyrighted to me. That's the power of public domain.

How Do You Know If a Work is Public Domain?

How Do You Know If a Work is Public Domain?

This isn't always easy to decide what is in the public domain but there are some general guidelines that should help you:

Copyright laws vary from country to country. In the United States, there are three general rules that you need to follow to help you assess potential public domain works:

• Published before 1923

• Published between 1923 and 1978 without a valid copyright notice

• Published between 1978 and March 1, 1989, without a notice and registration

• Published between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice but author failed to renew it (According to a report, only 7% of copyrights issued through 1958 were renewed)

However, a work is not public domain if any of the following conditions apply:

• Published between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice, properly renewed before its expiration for the first 23-year protection term

• Published between 1963 and March 1, 1989 with a valid copyright notice

• Published or created any time after March 1, 1989 (Works after this date are deemed automatically under copyright protection)

Bottom line is you need to do research before using material published after 1922.

Listen, if it's too much work for you then don't use it. But the thing is if you find good public domain material and use it correctly, you can make money. Ask Disney.