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.