: Stories based on news: are they allowed? I just read a story on the news that made me go: Oh my, this would make a great short story. I've never written a story based on a news article

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In brief: Yes.

But:

If you make a direct (word-for-word) copy of a news story, then you'll be in breach of copyright.
If you write a story with characters in it who are clearly based on specific living people then you (or your publishers) risk being sued for libel by those people if they think that your story disparages them unfairly.

That's the situation here in the UK. If you say where in the world you are then someone else may have other advice which is more relevant to you.

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