How would a person go about copyrighting a work before it's finished?

The instant an original work of authorship is expressed in a tangible medium, it is protected by copyright. as such, it becomes an asset with any value one can get for it. The work doesn't have to be published and it doesn't have to be complete. You don't have to register the work with the Copyright Office to hold a copyright in the work, but one may sue for copyright infringement only if the copyright has been registered. I represent two comic book authors, as well as writers, who have run into this problem. One cannot copyright an idea. Firstly, either the author's work is registered and receives the full protection of the law or it goes unregistered and receives far less protection. Secondly, one must choose wisely how much to show and to whom it is shown. This depends to a good extent upon one's good judgment and one's willingness to put one's work "out there," in order to interest a potential buyer of the property.

You can copyright however much you have - even if it is only an outline. Nothing in the law says that you can only copyright a completed work. As for showing it to people, you should have a confidentiality agreement in place before you show it. It will be even better when you hand the CA to any entity that it shows that the work has a copyright application pending or granted with a copyright number attached. Good Luck

The question "how would you go about copywriting..." -- First, the copyright as a property interest comes into existence as an author produces an original work of authorship. The copyright exists as the words come out of the word processor, or as the computer program is written. The process of applying for Federal Registration does not produce the copyright as a property. Rather, the Federal Registration gives the owner of a copyright property the ability to require an infringer to pay attorneys fees in litigation and to seek danages which are estabilished by a Federal Statute rather than having to provide exhaustive proof of damages. But the question is "how would you go about..." -- filing for Federal Copyright Registration is now done electronically via the Copyright Office web site. Information regarding the author is required as well as an electronic copy of the work of authorship. Filing requires payment of a filing fee of $35.00 and payment of legal fees if accomplished by an attorney.

My colleagues have ably provided you with all the legal information that you need at the moment. I write to note only that you seem very self-satisfied with your (as-yet-to-be-written) work and quite cynical about the business side of your art. I suggest less focus on you as a potential victim and more on providing the world insight, beauty, and wisdom by way of your art.