
Nothing says credibility like a little Literature, with a capital “L.”

One other thought: if you write a novel inspired by or a screenplay adaptation of these works, be sure to make your source the lead when you pitch your story to an agent. If interested in learning more about how to spin off public domain stories and the different approaches you can take to develop these characters, drop me a line in the Comment section here and I’ll develop the concept in a future post.

Take a look and see if there’s anything that suits your fancy. Not only is this a great writing exercise, but it can also be very profitable if you can match your skills with a character the public is still interested in.īelow is just a small list of famous writers and their stories that are in the public domain. That means that any writer can continue to tell the tales of the characters – by writing prequels or sequels to existing stories, adaptations and continuing adventures, or develop entirely new approaches using these characters – without paying for the privilege or worrying about copyright issues. Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. My friend Peter Clines wrote a great twisted novel entitled The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe and parodies like Sense and Sensibilities and Zombies received such critical acclaim that they have been in development as motion pictures. Hide and others that are available for any writer today to use and spin off because they are in the Public Domain. In recent years, there have been a number of books that have been written about characters developed by writers in the past – such as Sherlock Holmes, Dr. As a writer, I’m constantly looking for new approaches and new ideas to write about.
