If you rebuild a story for someone, do you have any ownership of it?

You’d basically be stealing someones idea, I wouldn’t do that

Maybe joint ownership. Honestly if they plan on publishing it. Contracts are needed!

Can’t stress that enough. Contracts are needed if money will ever be involved.

Let me explain. I worked for a professional haunted house. They found out I was a writer, they wanted me to ‘punch up’ their story outline, which follows a theme from year to year. I took their idea, made it more cohesive, and basically edited it to where it actually made much more sense. There is no theft involved, but getting fired from the haunt (because the owner is a psychotic shit) makes me wonder if I have any rights to what I wrote for him. The thought of him making money from my hard work irks the fuck out of me.

You could consult a lawyer, but it would probably be considered a work for hire.

you get second billing , unless your the orginal writer or creator of the idea

If you did this as part of the terms and conditions of employment, then you don’t own anything, I believe. You might try to argue that this was outside your job responsibilities, so you should get extra compensation, or ownership of the intellectual property. However, I don’t think this will work. The time to renegotiate was when you took on the new responsibilities. It’s done now. Probably not worth much, either, so I would just swallow my anger and drop it.

@daloon is right, you did the work for your employer while you were being paid. There’s no reason you can’t include it in your resume and show it to competitors, or use the starting draft and final draft as an example of your writing ability. And I would certainly include “copywriter” or “ghost writer” no pun intended on your job description.

If you were on the payroll when you did it, they own it.

If you were not paid you are a co-author.