[T.B. Charles Posts: 7 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

I just introduced myself on the boards, and I referenced the first children's book I wrote in the early 90s called "Dudley the Dragon." The concept was that Dudley couldn't breathe fire. All he had were duds. Just these small, little wheezes of smoke.   Now, I can't remember how I learned that a Canadian television series was producing a show called "The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon," but it effectively put a damper on my manuscript.

While the concept of only having duds is unique to my Dudley (the Canadian Dudley returns to the modern world after centuries of hibernation, exploring the world with two children), I was wondering if a PB publisher would still invest in a book whose main character shares a name of an existing character?

Any thoughts from industry professionals?

[JulieM Posts: 986 Status: Offline WWW]

I can only suggest you ask this question on the Ask a Lawyer thread.

[T.B. Charles Posts: 7 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Thanks for the info, Julie

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,003 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Character names are not under copyright, but they can be Trademarked. This is likely to happen with a character in kids' TV as licensed products are big business.

This mean you may need to change the name you're using. Maybe Buster goes Bust.

You can look up whether the name has been trademarked. Try just Googling it with the word trademark. Good luck.

[HaroldU Posts: 849 Status: Offline Exec. Editor, Kane Press WWW]

As Debbie said, characters and book titles can be trademarked. If they are NOT, you do see character names and book titles that are the same. It's not necessarily a problem.

But did I understand correctly? You wrote this story three decades ago, and haven't sold it yet? Maybe it's time to put it aside and try something new.

[T.B. Charles Posts: 7 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Hi Harold,

Your reply made me chuckle. Yes, this story was was written on my Smith-Corona  SD 660 in 1993.  In fact, I'm holding in my hands right now a submission letter to the attention of Lauren Adams at Little, Brown & Company dated 10/18/1993.  (I kept hard copies of all my submissions and rejection letters before the internet became the avenue in which to correspond with publishers.)

Now, I referenced "Dudley the Dragon" in my intro to SCWBI (newbie here) because it was my initial PB when I began writing children's books.  I have subsequently written many more, and that list keeps growing.

However, when I wrote that intro, it got me to thinking about resurrecting that story. What if I wanted to dust off that title and resubmit it? I was just curious. I understand that a trademark would be an impediment, but I did a bit of research, and according to Wikipedia, the series debuted in 1993, the same year I submitted my manuscript to Little, Brown & Company.  Hmmmm...strange how we both had exactly the same names for dragons in 1993. Just makes me wonder.

After I subsequently learned, and I'm not sure exactly when that happened in the 90s, that there was a TV series with the same name, I just shelved the idea.  But I was wondering if it's something I should pursue again since it was the first story I conceived.  Attachments can be hard to break.

So...that's a bit of history.  Maybe I'll spell my Duddley with two Ds. 

[HaroldU Posts: 849 Status: Offline Exec. Editor, Kane Press WWW]

Thanks for explaining your situation in more detail!

Just to say in response to this: " the series debuted in 1993, the same year I submitted my manuscript to Little, Brown & Company.  Hmmmm...strange how we both had exactly the same names for dragons in 1993. Just makes me wonder."

If the series debuted the same year that you submitted the manuscript, that suggests there is no connection. Even if you could establish a connection between the slush pile at Little, Brown and the company that created that TV series in Canada, it takes time to create a TV series, just like it takes time to publish a book. Work on the series likely started in 1991, if not earlier. You'd also need to find strong story similarities. Otherwise, it's just another of those strange publishing coincidences, like the time two NY publishers both published, in the same publishing season, a fictional picture book about an artist who liked to paint chickens...

[T.B. Charles Posts: 7 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Perhaps I'm not making myself clear. My original question was about the prospects of a publisher purchasing a book who shared a name with an existing character. And Julie's response ( I did not know there was an Ask a Lawyer thread) was probably the best solution.

I added some context, but it got kind of convoluted.

First, to Debbie's suggestion (Hi Debbie), that I should consider renaming the character wouldn't be possible the way my story is constructed. It is integral to the story.  See, his name is actually Horace. He is a young dragon who can't breathe fire. Well, his inability to do so gets him mocked by the other young dragons, who say: "Look, he only has duds! Yeah, he's Dudley the Dragon." So changing the name would alter the entire arc.

Next, to Harold's point . My PB Dudley and the TV series Dudley, really have nothing in common other than their names. Now, I've never seen the show, or any merchandise for that matter, but the premise as outlined on Wikipedia, and my story, vastly differ. The show features puppets and people. That's why I was asking the original question.

And just to clarify: I submitted the manuscript to multiple publishers in 1993. I chose the one to Little, Brown & Company to cite because it happened to be in my accordion file in my closet.   Now, the working title of the TV series could have been "The Adventures of Buford the Dragon," right up until the time of the filming and changed at the last minute.  Am I suggesting that's what happened?  No.  Am I curious...Yes!

See, if I create something, and like I said it was the first PB I wrote,  I would still like to give it life.  That's just me. That could be accomplished by submitting it to an editor/agent or self-publishing it and offering it on various book sites.

And that was the reason I asked. Sorry for the confusion.

-- T.B.

[Vijaya Posts: 7,167 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Steven, go for it! It sounds like a cute story and since it isn't anything like the TV series I wouldn't worry about it. Or if it a trademarked name, you can change your story arc to fit a new name. Or you can worry about it once the story is accepted. Btw, lots of times similar books turn up in the marketplace at the same time. It can be disconcerting but given how publishing works, it's all a strange coincidence.

Once in a while I see a call for a story that I've already written and it's so nice to find homes for an old story. I'm glad you're dusting off Dudd and breathing some new life into it. May he set the world on fire!

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,003 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

If the name isn't trademarked, stick with it. If it is, you may have no choice but to change it. The kids could say he's a bust and call him Buster. They could actually cal him anything that could be synonymous with not producing fire. You could even make up a word. That's the nice thing about fiction. It doesn't actually sound like this would affect the plot. Hi reaction to the name-calling could be the same.  Of course, I don't have he whol thing in front of me.

Have you ever had it critiqued? Perhaps that' a place for you to restart.

Oh, and I understand your speculation that rejections may just have been because of the show. But I bet you've learned a lot since too. Revise and submit and see what happens.

[T.B. Charles Posts: 7 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Thanks Vijaya and Debbie


--T.B.