I read all about copyright until my head was spinning. The need to get it right scared me. A fear of the big American legal system bearing down on me was enough to decide that I was going to create my own quotes and songs.
The book opens with a quote. This is where it all began, This is when I realised what my life could be.
Henri Marcel. French artist 1938 – 1996
Henri turns up a few more times before the book is finished. The editor was the first to say she had looked him up on google and couldn’t find him and now the new readers want me to explain who he is. He isn’t real.
When the busker sings, the next editor put big red lines on my manuscript, drawing my attention to copyright.
Love unites the whole human race,Celebrate a world of love,’Love makes the world a happy place,
And on it goes. It’s safe from copyright because I made it up.
‘Mary mine, Life of love. Warmth of cloves, and sweet tamarind.’
Safe again, the copyright is mine.
I have used titles and attributed the song, but only sparingly, and struggled over phrases used in text incase a word or two might sound like something I’ve heard or read. You can’t not use words that have been written down before or the book would have no words.
Marriage, A Journey and A Dog 