YES! Post your stuff. You have the protections under different forms of copyright law. If you choose a conventional copyright, the stuff your create is yours. If you choose Creative Commons, the stuff is STILL YOURS under the terms you choose.   What if I want to borrow other people's ideas in my story? If you borrow other people's work, do it under the terms of their copyright. Easy peasy! So, in my case, CC BY-NC-SA 4 allows you to use my stuff here, remix it, and publish it as long as you are not doing it commercially?   If I contribute a story, does Doug automatically own it? No. It's yours.   If I contribute a story or unique idea, can other people use it in their material? Yes, if your Creative Commons agreement spells that out. No, if you are using conventional copyright. They need permission.   Should I make my stories Private (to the group) or Public (open to the world)? That depends on your comfort level. My stuff is all under CC, so I don't care if people see it, use it, remix it for non-commercial purposes as long as I get attribution. So my stuff is all public. But it's hard to prove copyright sometimes and if you're worried you're going to write the next "Star Wars", then mark it private to start.   What if I write a story that uses another writer's ideas and then publish it commercially? That's NOT allowed, under my CC agreement or copyright law. Commercial use of material under my agreement is restricted. If you use the same CC as I do, yours will be too. You would have to get permission from the author, in writing, to publish your story commercially.   Can I publish my story with another writer's ideas non-commercially on another forum, like my blog or wherever? I depends on the author's copyright. Using my example, my CC allows you to re-mix and publish my stuff as long as you attribute that material to me. So, say you write a new story of the "Dwarves of Law", you would include a line like: "Features the _Dwarves of Law_ created by Doug Craven, (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)"