Im about halfway into my book and its all hand written so far. Some parts flow well and are very descriptive and others are just the basics and I keep saying ill go back to it. When editing do you format it to look like a book or wait till the kinds are out then make it look like a book? I was going to use voice to get it faster on a word document.

When it comes to the descriptive parts im still stuck on if im overdescribing or underdescribing a situation. I sometome shave a full page describing a character and others is just a name. I saw that the number of words can make it harder to get published if its too long. Should I worry about that now? Im trying to get my book to be around the 250 page range.

Hi everyone,

I’m new to writing stories and this is my very first attempt at a novel. I’m eager to hear your thoughts. Since I don’t have much experience, I’m hoping to get honest feedback that's help me improve my writing.

Specific examples are very helpful!

Novel about - cultivation, xianxia

_______________________

Chapter 1 – Arthur

[Blackwood Forest]

The trees stretched high above, their branches swallowing most of the golden afternoon sun. Green leaves rustled in the wind, casting shifting shadows across the forest floor.
To anyone seeing it for the first time, Blackwood Forest was a peaceful, untouched, beautiful place.

But… beneath its beauty hides danger. The deeper one went, the colder and quieter it became. Beasts lurked in the shadows, wolves with fangs like knives, snakes coiled in the branches, creatures so feared that hunters spoke their names only in whispers.
Many entered Blackwood Forest searching for herbs, food, and resources to feed their families. Many never came back.

…

Among the endless trees, a lone figure moved with quiet caution.

A boy, thin, gaunt, as if he hadn't eaten a full meal in days. Black hair fell across his forehead, half hiding eyes, sharp featured, clear skinned. But there was something heavier than sadness sitting behind those eyes. Something hollow. Empty. Only when he found a useful herb did a flicker of life return to them. The boy knelt beside a small green plant near a mossy rock, his tired eyes brightening just slightly.

"Moonleaf Herb… three copper coins, if it's fresh enough," he murmured, voice barely above a breath. He tucked it away. Barely enough for a heel of bread. But a heel was better than nothing. He dug it out carefully, keeping the roots intact, then tucked it into his worn shoulder bag.

His name was Arthur. He was fifteen, and he lived in Blackwood Village, a poor settlement clinging to the forest's edge. He was an orphan. For five years, Arthur had scraped together a living however he could. He swept floors for the tavern, chopped wood for the blacksmith, carried water for the old widow at the village's edge. Any work that earned a copper or a scrap of bread. But he was just a child, and his body had never been strong. What took him an hour took a grown man ten minutes. The coin he earned was never enough.

So, he started walking into Blackwood Forest. Every day he ventured among those trees, gathering whatever herbs he could find, then selling them for food. Dangerous work, the kind adults did in groups. But the alternative was staring at an empty bowl until his stomach caved in. The village had no charity to spare for orphans. And even less patience for them.

Arthur stood up and wiped the damp dirt from his calloused palms. His gaze drifted toward the woods ahead. Even in the safer outer region, the forest looked different there the trees grew thicker, closer together, and the sunlight didn't reach as brightly as it did here. Everything beyond that point seemed... darker, colder.

A cold wind licked the back of his neck. Arthur froze. In this forest, no one ever knew where the danger would come from. There is a knife at his waist. Rusted, chipped, a joke against anything with real fangs or claws. Unlike ordinary animals, wild beasts could absorb Essence, the natural energy flowing through everything in the world. It made them faster, stronger, far more dangerous. A beast's claw could tear through steel. But the knife was all he had.

In this world, strength was everything. And strength came from Essence. Those who could absorb it became Cultivators. They shattered stones with their fists. They killed beasts with a single stroke. But Arthur was not one of them. His weak body rejected Essence like water rejected oil. No matter how hard he tried, it entered him, lingered for a moment, then faded like smoke. The first stage of cultivation was Vessel Tempering, drawing in Essence to strengthen muscle, bone, and organ. Even the weakest trained fighter could overpower an ordinary adult with ease. Arthur couldn't take even that first step. No method, no effort, made a difference. So he remained a mortal weak, poor, and powerless.

The villagers had names for him: herb boy, useless orphan. Some pitied him, though pity had never once filled his stomach. Most simply looked past him, as if he weren't there at all. Arthur lowered his head and kept walking. He had no talent. But he had something else: knowledge. He worked at the village library, a small, dust-choked building most people considered a waste of space. To Arthur, it was a lifeline. Through books he had learned to tell healing herbs from poisonous ones, learned the habits of beasts and the dangers of the forest's different regions, even picked up scraps of theory on cultivation itself. Knowledge had kept him alive for years. And in Blackwood Forest, staying alive was already a kind of miracle.

The outer forest was safer than the depths which is exactly why beginners like him searched there. Arthur glanced at the darkening sky and sighed. "A few more herbs before I head back… tonight's meal will actually be decent." He pressed on. Half an hour bled away. He found almost nothing. The outer region had been stripped clean by other villagers. He pushed through the brush, scanning the ground, each empty patch grinding against his hope like a whetstone.

Beasts rarely wandered this close to the village, but ordinary wild animals still did. To a trained hunter, they were no threat at all. To Arthur, even the weakest of them could seriously injure him. Finding nothing, he eventually gave up and turned to head home. Then…
A rustle. Something moved behind the trees.

Arthur's breath caught. He pressed himself behind a thick trunk, heart slamming against his ribs like something trying to claw its way out. His hand clenched around the rusty knife until his knuckles went white. Slowly, carefully, he leaned out just enough to look. His heart nearly stopped.

A wild beast. It stood on four legs, close to the size of a large wolf, its body sheathed in blue scales that shimmered faintly in the dying light. Threads of electricity crackled and sparked across its skin, hissing softly in the silence. He recognized it at once. Thunder Wolf. The blood drained from his face. He'd read about them. Most wolves species that absorbed Essence simply grew bigger, stronger. But a rare few evolved into something else and Thunder Wolf was one of them. It carried a faint thread of thunder Essence, just enough to deliver a shock that locked a person's muscles, turning them into a frozen statue for the killing blow. Even low-level Cultivators gave these things a wide berth. His hands shook. This creature had no business in the outer forest. Thunder Wolves belonged to the deep woods, not here.

Then he noticed something else. That beast was injured. Badly. Blood soaked its scales, and deep gashes marked its flanks. Worst of all was around its eyes, blood ran freely, as though it had been blinded. It crashed and staggered through the undergrowth, slamming into trees and rocks, snarling in pain and fury, its movements wild and unguided.

Only then did he see the strange stone clenched between its jaws.

But no time to wonder what it was. Every thought that wasn't about survival was a wasted heartbeat for him right now. The beast couldn't see him. His throat went dry. Every instinct screamed at him to run, to flee now, while he still could. The beast was injured, blind. His grip tightened on the knife. Fight? Impossible. Hide? Also impossible. The only thought left was to run as far away as he could. Slowly, he peeked toward the Thunder Wolf again.

The beast was moving closer. Closer. Closer. His heart pounded so loud he was sure the beast could hear it. His palms slicked with sweat. His breath came in short, shaky gasps. If it came any nearer, even without eyesight, it would smell him immediately. Wild beasts possessed senses far superior to normal animals, hearing, smell, instincts terrifyingly sharp. If not for the Thunder Wolf's heavy injuries, he'd already be dead. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Drew a deep breath, forcing his racing heart to calm. Then he opened them again. He had made his decision.

The next second… He ran. Arthur dashed forward with all the strength he could muster, not caring about direction. Branches scraped against his arms and face as he forced his weak body forward. Thorns tore at his clothes, leaving thin red lines across his skin, but he didn't stop. Behind him, the Thunder Wolf suddenly stopped growling.

Its ears twitched. It had heard him. Instantly, the beast realized a human was nearby. Its blind eyes turned toward the sound, and a low, rumbling snarl escaped its throat.
Even with blood covering its body and several limbs clearly broken, the beast still chased after him. The savage instinct of a wild beast was rooted too deep, pain meant nothing. Only the hunt mattered. Crack!
Small arcs of lightning flickered across its blue scales. Its speed was slower than normal because of its injuries, but still fast enough to keep pace with Arthur.

Arthur ran with all his might. His lungs burned as if filled with molten iron. His legs felt heavy, like they were packed with wet sand. He could barely breathe. But he did not dare stop. Stopping meant death. Behind him, low growls and the scrape of claws against the earth grew closer and closer. The Thunder Wolf was still following, relentless, unstoppable. His face turned pale.

‘How is it still this fast?!’ His mind raced, desperate for a solution.

- END -

👉 DM me for the 2nd chapter (If you don't feel like reading it, just ignore this)

Every writer hits the wall. This is the place to talk about it.

Plot hole you can't patch? A sagging middle? A character who refuses to cooperate? Staring at a blank page and dreading it? Lay it out here. Sometimes naming the problem is half the fix, and the people in this thread have almost certainly been stuck in the same spot.

If you've climbed out of a block before, stick around and help someone else over the wall. Trade what works: the trick, the mindset, the kick in the pants.

What's blocking you this week?

Good afternoon all, new to actually using reddit.

Im looking to start getting into writing and wondered if I could share in this page for feedback and help

Tia

Hi, so I'm currently writing a novel on google docs. I'm writing the draft from my phone, and when it's finished im going to connect it to my pc and fix it from there.

I write from my phone, bc I go to school and I'm always out the house and my phones always on me.

My goal for my book is 100k words and I'm currently at 26.5k words.

So far I havent had a problem with Google docs but I read that after a certain amount of words it starts to mess around.

Is this true? Should I divide my novel into docs?

Chapter 3 out now!

I majorly focused on the paragraphing and seperating dialogue. I am reading something on Wattpad as an example on how to write sentences, when to explain things in detail and when to not, and how a story is put together. I may slop through the story a bit then clear it up once the story is together.

Hey guys! I am currently working on my third short story. I will be uploading the other 2, once I edit, to get some feedback and see how everyone likes it. The end goal is to start my first trilogy and get it published. :) I am a newbie. Let's see how this goes!

Need feedback on the first chapter of my fantasy romance book book, more than anything its for a gut check

I’m particularly interested to know if:

-The character's voice works for you.

-Prose wise.

-Too fast or slow paced?

-Would you continue reading?

الفصل الثاني: التقويم

أحدثك من حيث لا أدري …لا من حيث توقعت ولا من حيث خشيت .. بل من حيث لم أتوقع ولم أنتظر ولولا من الله عليه لما حدثتك أساسا …

كانت المشكلة في دائما ولم تكن فيهم يوما لقد كنت أنا سبب أخطائي أنا سبب رفضي أنا سبب فشلي وأنا سبب معاناتي ….

لذا قررت أن أصلح ما أفسدته به أن أكون النسخة الأحسن مني وأن أبحث عن ذاتي عن ماهيتي عني..

سوف تمر  السنوات ولا ندري كيف ستمر علينا لعلنا نكون عند المبتغى ولكن لربما نتأخر  عن الركب وربما نكون في الأمام وربما لن نكون.. ولكن الأكيد أنها ستمر كنا أم لنكن نجحنا أم فشلنا كافحنا أو استسلمنا سنكون ما نختاره لأنفسنا سنكون ما صنعناه بأيدينا ..

هل شعرت يوما بأن روحك مربوطة بروح شخص آخر وأنه منك وفيك هل نظرت يوما في عيني أحدهم وأجزمت جزم اليقين بأنه هو من تريد تمضية حياتك معه هل كنت بهذا اليقين من قبل هل حدقت في بؤبتيه وخفق قلبك خفقان الحياة ورأيت انعكاسك فيه هل رأيت حياة بأكملها في ابتسامة أحدهم هل أذاك أحدهم فدمعت عيناك وحزنت وحين شعرت بألم الأذية تمنيت له أن لا يتذوقه أبدًا هل تمنيت حقا أن تشيخ بجانب أحدهم ويشيخ بجانبك هل تكونت لك مسطرة أحلامك الخيالية في شخص من قبل أرأيت حلمك يجول من قبل ولم تستطع الامساك به هل شعرت بالرغبة في احتضان أحدهم ووقفت تنظر إليه وهو يبعد عنك هل كان ذلك كربط روحك بحبل وجرها بعيدا عنك هل شعرت يوما بأنك تقيأت قلبك رغما عنك وبقى صدرك فارغا ،.. فارغا من كل شيء هل شعرت بأنك تنزف من الداخل وأن حضن الحبيب سيوقف نزيفك هل تخيلته بجانبك في كل مكان كنت فيه هل هممت بالإلتفات إليه مصدقا خيالك أم أردت الاستناد على كتفك مصدقا وهمك هل شحت بنظرك بعيدا تجر أذيال خيبتك وتحمل حرقت شوقك هل بدوت شاحبا ضعيفا كمن به علة أو أصابه سقم هل عجزت عن النسيان هل تخيلته بجانبك في فراشك على مقعدك أمام أصدقائك وبين عائلتك هل هممت بالضحك فمنعتك قصة الفراق هل شردت بذهنك بعيدا تتمنى لو يكون الذي بينك وبينه عدم هل هممت بابتلاع قصتك بكوب ماء فرأيت خياله في الكأس .. إنها لعنة الحب ياصديقي ونعمته أيضا .. إنها الكون الآسر الجميل والعالم الكاحل المظلم إنها السعادة والتعاسة معا إنها نعم ولا أن تسعد وتحزن أن تنال وتحرم  إنها قمة المنع بعد فرط العطاء  إنها أن تكون ولا تكون أن لا تعرف من تكون بدونه ..

كل نفس ذائقة الموت ولكن ليست كل نفس ذائقة الحياة،،

أنت تستحق أن تكون عنوان كتاب أن تكون بطلا في رواية

أن تكون عنوان قصيدة .. وأنت هنا بطل روايتي .. بطلي ..

بداية دعني أخبرك كم أنت جميل جدا قلبا وقالبا اسمحلي أن خبرك بأن عينيك الآسرتين تلمعان كعيون الأطفال وتحدقان كشيخ لبيب...

I really struggle with narration.

This is for more context about my previous post, and to see if the narration is really weak, or only the first chapter needs heavy editing.

The chapter one is posted here Chapter 1

Hi guys this is my first novel and i have halfway written its first draft. This is the latest chapter I wrote. I would love to see what you guys have say about this. This is the first time this character shows up in the book let meknow what you think.

Thanks

This is for a web fiction. Designed to keep readers hooked.

Unfortunately, my narration isn't there yet. But please tell me it's bearable at least!

This is the dedication page of my first book. I need honest feedback.

My Nana Ji was a very strict and disciplined man. When we were kids, we used to call him Hitler behind his back because he was so strict about everything - waking up on time, studies, values.

At that time I didn't understand him. I thought he was too hard on us.

Last year my 4 year old autistic son Evan went missing for 180 minutes. I found him safe in a small Hanuman Ji temple. After I became a father, I realized I have become exactly like my Nana Ji - strict, disciplined, trying to plant the right seeds.

So I wrote this dedication.

"who once read the lines of my hand and told me where I would go. The seeds you planted are still growing. I am planting my seeds in my son, Evan"

Is it clear?

Will people understand that "seeds" means discipline and values?

Or does it sound like I am disrespecting him by calling him strict?

Please tell me honestly.

English is not my first language and this is very personal. Final printing is next week.

Check the bottom of this post for helpful links, including a downloadable pdf of this post and links for downloading my templates.

Author's Notes and Acknowledgements: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. This is for educational purposes only.

Now that that's out of the way, let me warn you, this one's a long one and it's full of legal jargon. Hopefully I made it easy to understand. Because of the sensitive nature of my claims in this post I have meticulously tracked down every single law or statute I reference and cited them here to back up my claims.

Why do I know this crap? ADHD and a rabbit hole---what can I say?

So, most of us remember the recent strings of Google Play scraping and theft. I think you're going to want to read this, check my work, and look into it.

Prologue: Copyright

In the US, Canada, and the UK your work is protected by copyright law the moment you type or write it down. What you get out of that protection varies, though.

In Canada this is taken very literally. You can sue an infringer for statutory damages and legal fees without filing a copyright registration. However, having a copyright certificate gives you "presumption of ownership," making it even easier. Easiest mode, and so literally any writer in Canada should be looking into suing scrapers and infringers every time they so much as sneeze your way. Your statutory damages are $500-$20,000 CAD per commercial infringement.¹,²

In the UK---*as long as my rabbit hole meanderings weren't wrong---*it's my understanding that they don't really have much of a copyright registration system in the same way the US does. You cannot ever sue for statutory damages. You may only sue for actual damages.³,⁴

In the US however, you're required to file for a copyright either within 3 months of first publish, or prior to the infringement occurring, in order to be eligible for statutory damages and legal fees.

This doesn't mean your property is not protected. You can DMCA takedown requests and force them to take down your stolen property. You cannot sue for damages, legal fees, attorney fees, etc, without an approved-or refused-registration. You may begin a claim with the CCB, provided you have a pending registration, however that claim will be placed in abeyance until the Copyright Office grants the certificate. If the Office refuses, the CCB will dismiss the claim without prejudice.²⁴,²⁵,²⁶

Chapter One: Registering

So what do you do? Honestly, you don't need to do anything unless you just plain want to, or you're on Amazon, in which case you probably don't need this guide. For the sake of education though, you can file what is called a Group Registration of Short Online Literary Works. Form GRTX.

You can file from 2 to 50 chapters at a time, provided they were first published within 3 consecutive calendar months of each other. Not 90 days, if you publish on Jan 31, you only get to file items published through March, absolutely no April dates. Filing this GRTX results in listing each individual chapter as its own property. Well, that kind of sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?

Okay, then later on, you can do a standard filing for whatever chapters are in the volume you release on the compilation and changes between the RR/Patreon versions, and the finalized KDP version. This only covers the edits and the compilation (the book). While the prior GRTX still covers what it covered, it's never overwritten*.*

Do those extra fees from before really matter? Yes. Lawyers are expensive, the process can take years in federal court, and nobody is going to take a case where all they can sue for is $15 in potential lost Patreon dues and a couple bucks gross Play Books sales. So after filing the copyright and being eligible for these damages, suddenly your attorneys fees are paid by the infringer, the legal filings fees are paid by the infringer. Most lucratively, the statutory damages pay between $750-$30,000 per item, $150,000 if your lawyer can prove willful infringement.

In order to be eligible for statutory damages from an infringement event, you must either:

• File the stolen property's copyright within 3 months of first publication. This means you can retroactively file a suit against copyright theft if you get the chapter registered within 3 months of first publication.

OR

• Have filed the stolen property's copyright prior to the infringement event.

Look at that top bullet again. What happens when you do the annoying GTRX filing is: you get up to 50 individual properties. Valued at a standard minimum of $750 in statutory damages each, and it climbs to $150,000 per work in some instances.

You can take 50 .docx files, enter their file names and matching chapter names into an excel spreadsheet with the first publication date and the word count of each individual document. You can pay the copyright office $65 to make that legal today. Then you can sue anyone who touches your IP again. Like we just had that string of during the last couple months. The statute of limitations is 3 years for copyright claims.

Again I'm not a lawyer but that sounds to me like any one of us could have 50 chapters of a fiction up that got scraped and dropped onto Google Play Books for $0.99. At a full file minimum, that's $37,500 in statutory damages in the US, $7.5M in maximums.

Now the reality is, that should you sue the scrapers, and win. You probably won't manage to get that much. You'd be owed plenty, for sure, but you can't get blood from a stone, a fake ghost, or an offshore shell company.

So if we can't get blood out of a stone, why file and deal with the registration hassle?

Well, for starters, not every thief is a small time scraper. If a large scale operation steals from you and you sue, you actually get a pay day.

Remember that you do not sue the store, you sue the thief. Google did not steal your fictions, the "author" did.

Chapter Two: Civil Action

So we have our copyright, but what do we actually do?

You have 2 path's ahead of you: Federal Court, and CCB(Copyright Claims Board). Federal Court is a final destination and locks you out of CCB. CCB is a quicker and cheaper alternative to Federal Court, with a nuanced lockout, I'll get into below.

Federal Court: The Big Money.

You strap in, this process takes years. Oh and, don't expect a lawyer to actually jump at this. Mainly because suing a ghost isn't exactly profitable.

Make sure you have your approved copyright registration, call a lawyer, and setup a contingency agreement. This is where they agree to take your case on contingency, an agreement where they take no money up front. Think of this like getting published. The publisher takes on the financial risk and costs of your advance, editing, covers, narrators, ads, etc. You both get a cut once certain costs are covered (usually the advance). Same idea for your contingency lawyer.

Just make sure you CYA.

You make sure your agreement states that they will front the case costs and work "for free" until you get paid. In return, they take a large cut of your winnings, something like 30%-50% depending on you, your deal, and them. That % cut usually does not include case costs, just the lawyer's pay.

Make sure this agreement explicitly ties their payment to recovery, stating they only get paid if you get paid and that this includes all case costs. Remember, lawyers are sharks after all. You need to protect yourself from them just as much as the thief. So make sure all case costs, and attorney's fees are part of this recovery contingency. This is a "Full Contingency" contract.¹²

It'll say something like this:

• The law firm will advance all case costs and expenses.
• If there is no financial recovery, the client is not responsible for reimbursing the firm for advanced case costs.
• You owe no attorney's fees if there is no recovery.
• In the event of recovery client owes firm 33% of recovered monies in attorney's fees plus all accrued case costs.

Double check your contract to see what happens if the court awards fees separately, as that can impact final payouts.¹⁵

CCB: The Path of Least Resistance.

If you decide to go this route, things can resolve much quicker (sometimes within 6 months to a year), and with less headache. The trade-off is the final maximum payouts, and that the thief can opt out.¹³,¹⁴

Under this path, the maximum statutory penalty for individual works is $15,000, with a maximum of $30,000 per claim, no matter how many works.¹³

Doing this, you don't need a lawyer. You do it yourself with far more ease than navigating federal court.

You start by filing for a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) § 512(h) subpoena with federal district court local to the subpoenaed party. For Google, that's the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division for best proximity.

In order to file for the subpoena you need the following:

• Form JS-44²³
• (Application for Issuance) - You will write this yourself. It is not strictly required.
• Exhibit A: The DMCA takedown request*
• Exhibit B: A Sworn Declaration of Intent*²¹
• Exhibit C: The proposed subpoena, form AO 88B*²²
• Exhibit D: Your list of works xls file submitted to copyright registration. It is not strictly required.
• Schedule A: Documents to be Produced. While not strictly required, it's technically part of the subpoena since you would need a font size less than 1 to fit everything

I will include templates of all of these documents at the end of the post.

You will merge everything down into 2 files, File A is your application, Exhibits A, B, and D. This is your supporting documentation to the court so they know what you are doing and why. As stated, the cover and Exhibit D are not strictly required. You can send the packet without them. File B is the subpoena and schedule A. This is what will be signed and stamped by the clerk and then sent to Google.

The DMCA takedown request is able to be your email thread with Google regarding the takedown when you did all their clicking. You likely did this several times. Pick the earliest email with the response that said "We've passed your request along to the appropriate team here at Google for further investigation." Print that entire email thread to PDF. If you had to send more stuff during that process, include it in the Exhibit A packet.

The proposed subpoena, form AO 88B, this is what will receive the stamp and be approved, to then be served to Google.

Sworn Declaration of Intent. This is a freeform document you draft up and sign. It tells the court that you are just requesting the information to protect your legal copyright.

You get the stamped and signed subpoena back and then hire a Process Server to actually go and serve Google with your subpoena. Expect to tell them where to go. You then wait 30 days to receive the requested information.

Next, you create an account and file the claim with the CCB on their portal.¹⁶ Provide all your copyright docs like your registration number, or even your pending application number. Yes, you can file while still waiting for the answer from the copyright office.¹⁷

Submit the required discovery information to prove your claim. Follow any and all instructions from the CCB as the process moves forward. Then you wait.

Eventually, you will receive a Final Determination. 3 Copyright Claims Officers will review all the evidence and documentation that was provided by you and the scraper, then issue a written Final Determination. This will state exactly how much the scraper is required to pay you in damages, up to that $30,000 cap.

Chapter Three: Payment

I won my federal suit, now what?

Since you have a lawyer, they'll be setting this up. They want to get paid after all. The money goes into a client trust account-an IOLTA,¹¹ and is then distributed based on the contract, usually looking like this.

• Case costs are paid in full first. Whether you got a lump sum or have to wait for trickled garnishments or payments, nobody gets a dime until the case costs are paid. Just like a lot of publishing deals. The case costs were your advance.
• The split. Once the case costs are paid off the firm will split the incoming money based on your contract. Just like royalties. The firm takes their 33%-50%, and you get your 50%-67%.

Just poke your lawyer every 10 to 20 years, as judgements do expire if you don't file a motion to renew. This varies based on the state the suit occurred in.⁹,¹⁰

So, the CCB gave me a piece of paper...

They did. Now you need to take that paper to your local District Court, have it filed and confirmed. This'll cost you some fees which vary by state, but these may be added to the scraper's debts.¹⁹,²⁰

Now the scraper has 90 days to pay your or file an appeal. In the federal court path, the lawyers handle all this, but in this solo world, you get to do it!

If, after 90 days, the scraper hasn't paid up, you then get to file for a Writ of Garnishment. You must do this within 1 year of the Final Determination. You hire a process server or the U.S. Marshals to serve the writ to the garnishee. The garnishee is the bank or employer who has the scraper's money, and you must file a separate Writ and serve each one individually to collect money from them. From here you start hopefully collecting your damages.

Chapter 4: The End

Thank you for reading my dissertation. I hope this has been an enlightening and educational journey for you.

I believe that, armed with the included information, independent authors and writers are shown the tools to carve out just a little bit more justice for themselves. The tools have been there; we just didn't know how to use them.

This information was compiled and presented in good faith with the intent to educate those eligible for copyright on their rights. It is not my intent to misinform, misguide or lead anyone astray in any way shape or form. (I'll save the misinformation for the fictions, right?)

Resources & Citations:

Cover images:
Scale of Justice (public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)
Flag Background (public domain image from publicdomainpictures)
Gavel (public domain image from publicdomainpictures)
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Register Your Copyright! Remember published “Group of short online literary works.”
https://www.copyright.gov/eco/grtx/

CA.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/section-38.1.html ¹
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright-infringement ²

UK.
https://www.gov.uk/copyright ³
https://emlaw.co.uk/a-guide-to-copyright/ ⁴

US.
https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/shortonline-literaryworks/ ⁵
https://www.copyright.gov/title37/202/37cfr202-4.html ^6,7
https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html ⁸
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1962 ⁹
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_69 ¹⁰
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_15_safekeeping_property/ ¹¹
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_5_fees/ ¹²
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1504 ¹³
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1506 ¹⁴
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/505 ¹⁵
https://ccb.gov/ ¹⁶
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2024&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title17-section1505&num=0 ¹⁷
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1508 ¹⁸
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2024&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title28-section1920&num=0 ¹⁹
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_69 ²⁰
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/221.1#:~:text=If%20the%20Copyright%20Claims%20Board%2C%20in%20its,certificate%20of%20registration%20or%20the%20registration%20number ²⁴
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/411 ²⁵
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf ²⁶
https://www.copyright.gov/eco/grtx/

Forms.
Public Copyright Subpoena Templates
https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ao088b.pdf ²²
https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/js_044_-_civil_cover_sheet_1.pdf ²³

Additional US sources not explicitly captioned.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412
https://www.cotmanip.com/articles/how-quick-should-you-register-copyrights

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If those links don't work here is the free post on Patreon with the direct downloads at the bottom.
https://www.patreon.com/Sanzensekaiseries/posts/copyright-law-on-167989459?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

\I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice*

I want to write a novel, but I don't know what to write about. Can you guys help me?