Writing Other People's Life Stories

Writers are always on the look out for book ideas: they observe people at parks and restaurants, they casually listen in on others’ conversations while on line at the grocery store, they scan newspapers for quirky or original accounts.

Writers are terrific listeners, too. As a result, they often are treated to other people’s stories— stories of tragedy, struggle, love, and achievement. It’s not unusual for writers, upon hearing such stories, to develop ideas for picture books, middle grade readers, or novels—ideas that may be only loosely based on the stories they’ve heard or perhaps are so closely aligned they would be deemed biographical.

But is this legal? May writers “take” other people’s life stories and convert them into their own written works?

If writers get permission to write other people’s life stories, the answer to the above questions generally is “yes.” Obtaining the rights to a subject’s story up front and in writing greatly reduces the risk of legal claims against the writer. Writers should be aware that, in seeking permission, some subjects may ask for compensation, but that doesn’t have to be an impediment. Reasonable compensation may be appropriate. (In discussing compensation, writers should be candid with their subjects about the time and effort they put into writing books and the fact that many books are never published. Be creative about compensation.