As an unpublished novelist, you need to know when the fruits of your labor might be stolen and when you can rest easy. The good news is, copyright really isn't difficult to understand. And if you write, you can't afford not to understand it.
If you write, you can't afford not to understand the basics of
copyright - even if you're unpublished. And those basics might differ
from what you've heard.
Copyright is your legal claim to ownership of, and profit from, your
work. It's what makes your work valuable in the marketplace - aside
from its obvious literary merit, of course. If it weren't for
copyright, anyone could sell or reproduce your writing, or incorporate
elements of it into his own work, with or without your permission, with
or without paying you.
United States copyright law protects writers from the unauthorized:
Reproduction of your work
Production of derivative works (i.e., writing a new story based on your fictional characters)
Distribution of copies of your work to the public by sale or other means
Public performances and/or display of your work
Fair Use
There are some limits to this protection, most notably, "fair use." Fair use doctrine, which, by the way, includes unpublished works,
is a matter of continuous legal debate, but, essentially, it includes
such allowable purposes as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching
(including making copies for distribution to students), scholarship and
research.
While we're on the subject, the notion that there is a set number of
lines from a poem, song or other literary work that can be used without
permission of the author is a fallacy. Unless your contemplated use
fits clearly into one of the categories listed above, don't risk it.
Obtaining a Copyright
Under U.S. law and the Berne Convention (international copyright
law), your work is copyrighted from the moment it's created in a fixed
form - whether on paper (handwritten or typewritten) or in an
electronic file. It's really that simple! All fiction copyrights vest
with the writer, with the exception of ghost-written material. As a
"work for hire," ghost-written fiction is owned entirely by the person
or entity that commissioned it. In addition, titles, short phrases or
slogans, and story concepts and ideas aren't protected by copyright.