ABSTRACT
All published works start with an original idea, and all ideas have an author. The Oxford English Dictionary equates author with ‘originator’: in the classic publishing hierarchy, the inspiration of authors is the beginning, the process starts here. This is the classic blank sheet of paper (or the blank screen) which all authors encounter, in the back bedroom, on the kitchen table, or (in J.K. Rowling’s case) in the Edinburgh coffee bar. When – finally – the original idea appears, is it protected at all by the law?
