Donna Ballman

Which vanity publisher is being sued by 16 authors for deceptive practices? Will ignorance of copyright law be a defense? The libel tourism bill becomes a law. Plus, whose secret identity are BBC lawyers trying to hide? And what Macmillan authors need to do when they get that little contract amendment about e-rights in the mail. These and other writing and publishing headlines are in this week's Write Report.

Big busy week for me, even though I’m on vacation. Ha!

My interview on work life balance on Women Lawyers Online is up. You can listen here

I did an article for Women On Writing titled, “Using the Law in Your Story: Character, Plot and Professions.” You can read it here.

Another article I wrote on using the law in writing is up at Selling Books

Lots of news. Which bookseller is defending a poison pill? Who's suing JK Rowling this week? Who dropped their suit against Scribd? Why did Janet Evanovich leave her publisher? These and other writing and publishing news stories are on this week's Write Report.

This week on Litopia’s podcast The Debriefer, Peter and I talked about the universal e-book format, why it matters that we don’t have one yet, and what authors can put in their contracts to make sure their books appear in all the major e-formats. This headline, plus more of the latest writing and publishing news are in this week’s Write Report.

The Write Report has been named an Awesome Blog by Writing World, the very first blog chosen for this honor. Thanks so much. What an incredible honor. Writing-World.com is an awesome website for writers.

My guest post this week talks about why you need the law even when writing children's and teen books. Because the parents are so often absent due to death or divorce, your characters deal with custody, inheritance and all types of issues.

If you haven't seen LM Preston's blog, it's worth a visit for YA and sci fi writers. She covers all types of issues on genre writing.

Which literary agent got busted for stealing from his clients? Which author is dealing directly with Amazon for traditional book publishing? Which book got halted after a libel threat letter went out to everyone connected with it? Is the agency model iPad uses for e-books going to run into antitrust problems in the UK? These and other stories are in this edition of The Write Report.

I did a guest blog post today for Angela Cerrito’s blog on Who Might Your Murderer Character Want to Kill Off (Besides Lawyers)? Six People Who May Just Need to be Murdered.


If you haven't checked out Angela Cerrito's blog, it's a wonderful place to learn all kinds of things about writing. Her Middle Grade Novel, The End of the Line, is forthcoming from Holiday House. I met her in a writers’ workshop, which proves that these workshops are worthwhile!

A recent plotline in The Good Wife bugged me so much that I did some research on the ethical conundrums it raised. When I got no satisfactory answer on my own, I did what every good writer should do – I called someone who knew what they were talking about. In this case, I used (or possibly misused) the Florida Bar’s Ethics Hotline. Most states have something similar, where lawyers can call up and get some advice when ethical issues arise. I confessed right away that I was calling about an ethical issue from a TV show, and was lucky enough to run into a lawyer on the hotline who happens to be a fan of The Good Wife. She knew exactly which two episodes I was talking about.

Confidentiality Within the Lawyer’s Firm

In the first episode that was bothering me, our heroine, a newbie lawyer, got drafted to represent a firm partner in a legal matter. In the midst of her representation, it came out that her client had Alzheimer’s. She now knows that a hotshot lawyer, a firm partner, is impaired, unable to represent clients competently, at least some of the time. Her supervisor is a different partner. The client/partner tells her that the existence of his disease is confidential, and she can’t tell anyone, even her boss. (more…)

Need a character? My guest post on The Aspiring Mangaka & Writers Club blog talks about five legal characters who make great witnesses and observers for any genre.Titled The Top Five Characters Who Might Be Watching, the post is about some people operating in the legal system who move around enough or who have enough information that they might be useful to your stories. If you’re writing a murder mystery, you need witnesses. But many other stories need someone to see something happening to move the plot forward. (more…)

My guest blog on Working Writers this week is called Don’t Make Me Throw Your Book Across the Room: Top Ten Ways You Can Alienate the 1.1 Million Lawyers Who Are Also Readers.

If you haven't checked out the Working Writers website, you (more…)

Anyone who reads this blog knows I enjoy the courtroom drama The Good Wife. I try not to be hypersensitive when they get things wrong because they do so well. But this week’s episode went off the rails a bit. In the story, a known drug dealer being pursued by the FBI for (more…)

I watched What Happened in Vegas over the weekend. I figured with the ever-charming leads of Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, it was hard to go wrong. The story was light and cute – perfect for wasting time instead of working on my outline.

However, the basic plot bothered me throughout. The writers had their (more…)

I want to talk about some people operating in the legal system who move around enough or who have enough information that they might be useful to your stories. I’m going to tell you about them every once in a while. My book The Writer’s Guide to the Courtroom: Let’s Quill (more…)

It doesn’t take much to give me a thrill when I’m watching a legal drama. Even the tiniest bit of law done right can make me happy. Yes, I’m probably easily amused. But when a screenwriter gets it right, I jump for joy because it’s so darned rare.

HOSTILE WITNESSES

When I was watching The Good Wife last week, the lawyer was examining a witness using leading questions. In general, leading questions are ones with yes or no answers. Opposing counsel objected to the leading questions. The lawyer conducting the examination responded that the witness was hostile and he was allowed to lead.

When the judge overruled the objection, I was happy beyond words. That tiny bit of correct procedure added to my viewing pleasure. Here’s what was going on that they got right.
(more…)

White Collar is an enjoyable show about a con man (I’d say ex-con man, but he’s not really ex) who is conscripted by the FBI to uncover other con men and women. But their last show irked the heck out of me because it was about a judge gone bad.

The problem? (more…)