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Don't worry. You're chilling.
Did you know that the moment you write/create something new, you hold its copyright? That's right—while copyright offices have their use for assurance purposes, in reality you're protected the moment you put thought to word. This is the case in most civil countries, anyway, including the United States, the Philippines, the UK, and Australia, to name a few.
That said, ideas cannot be copyrighted. Characters can be copyrighted, and technically how ideas are used can be copyrighted too, but you will be hard-pressed to prove something like this that isn't extremely blatant. If something is a carbon copy of something else down to the dialogue, that's an infringement of copyright even if the characters names are same. Murkier situation may or may not violate copyright.
Characters are immediately copyrighted, but again, if someone else changes the name, touches up their personality, changes some of their appearance—and then especially if they put them in a different kind of story—you don't have any firm basis to claim copyright over them. Every major property has dozens and dozens of rip-offs, and very few of those rip-offs ever see serious legal ramifications.
People can draw as much fan-art of your work as well and post it, too, as long as they aren't getting any money for it, or by doing so are preventing you from making money off the property.
And really, that's fine and as it should be. Being totally honest, I couldn't care less if someone ripped off my characters and used them, as long as they're courteous about it and admit they admire the character. This isn't to satisfy my ego; it's so people who admire their work might also come and look at mine. At that point, it's free advertising!
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Now, you can also formally copyright your story. This is more for assurance sake than anything else. My stance on whether or not you should obtain a certificate of copyright from your national copyright office:
👉 if you are preparing to sell your work on a platform such as Amazon or Nook.
👉 have garnered a million views or your story is in the process of going viral.
👉 are unsure you could prove you wrote your story because you don't have copious notes/drafts.
While it's often better to be safe than sorry, don't waste your money if you don't need to. I therefore further recommend not applying for a formal copyright if you are:
👉 not a legal adult or under 18.
👉 frequently trash/rewrite your stories.
Furthermore, if your story is not finished, do not try to apply for a formal copyright. Your work must be completed for this to be worth your time. Always make sure the following is true if/when you apply for a formal copyright:
That your work is totally done and set in stone, ready to hit the presses.
If the above is true, and one or more of the three reasons for application originally listed are also true, then go ahead and apply! If you are applying for a US copyright, feel free to get in touch with me regarding how, as I hold several copyrights with the US copyrights office.
And of course if you have additional copyright questions, such as other reasons to apply/not apply, ask away!
