Fiction based on people you know

[Reluctant Artist]

Hi folks:

I have an idea for a book that is based on some actual events and actual, living people. Some of these people were nefarious characters, and would come off so in the book. How much do I have to disguise a character or event to avoid embarassing him/her? Or worse, to avoid getting sued for libel? Anyone have any experience with this?

[maestrowork]

Change their names. Change their looks. If Bob in real life is tall and thin and attractive (but an ***), make Richard in your fictional world short and stout with a big scar on his face.

As for events, change the locations and dates. Change details.

Remember, this is FICTION, even if you base them on actual events and people. Use your imagination.

Then if they ever say: wait a minute, is this person me?" you'll have plenty of room for deniability.

[blackbird]

Most of my characters are based on real people, but they are almost always amalgamations of several people. Very seldom do I totally base a character on one single individual--well, maybe with the exception of one case--but in the long run, you're much less liable if you can say to someone, yeah, I based that character on you in part, but he (or she) is also a combination of three or four other people, as well.

[maestrowork]

BTW, I don't think you can get sued for libel if you don't use their names, especially in fiction. There's always the disclaimer of "any resemblance blah blah is strictly coincidence blah blah"... and it's hard to prove libel when fiction is concerned.

[blackbird]

I always wanted to put in a disclaimer stating, "Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely intentional!":D

I can only imagine how THAT would go over!

[Jaws]

BTW, I don't think you can get sued for libel if you don't use their names, especially in fiction. There's always the disclaimer of "any resemblance blah blah is strictly coincidence blah blah"... and it's hard to prove libel when fiction is concerned.
I'm afraid not. The only requirement is that the disparaged person be reasonably identifiable with the plaintiff. It's really not any harder to prove libel in fiction than otherwise… because it's always hard to prove libel under US law.

That disclaimer is primarily for insurance coverage purposes. Really. It has no force of law, and does not bind a third-party victim; its only binding effect is within the stream of commerce before the work gets to the end-user.

[Neeli]

I think I read somewhere that you have to be VERY careful about this--more than changing names, places, physical aspects. CREATE some tics to their personality that don't exist in the real people (like to eat chocolate covered ants or something)--make the characters your own. Otherwise, if it can shown that the traits the characters have match those of the real people so that a reasonable person would be able to recognize them, AND it looks bad for them, then it's libel. I'll see if I can find the piece I read about this.

Bottom line: base it on real life, but make it your own.

[Gillhoughly]

Heh--in my first novel the bad guy was very clearly described and wholly based on a real person. That person caused me some (now) minor grief (getting me blacklisted from the area's big mystery club) all because he thought we were an item. (All in HIS head, to be sure!)

Years later I'm a guest at a chic wine-tasting, sitting at the cool table with a well-known well-respected writer who was the big celebrity at the event--and one of my good friends. The dude comes by to let me know he'd read my book and knew I'd based the character on him. The character, BTW, was a very unpleasant type who died messily in the last chapter. I'd pulled no punches in the unflattering description.

I supposed the guy hoped that he would somehow fluster me with his "you're busted" routine, but I'd grown a lot since the year he'd been such a mean, petty s.o.b. to a gormless but otherwise harmless kid.

It was a sweet moment as I smiled warmly and said I was delighted that he enjoyed my novel so much. Then I turned back to the others at the cool table and continued the conversation.

Yeah-sure-you-betcha revenge is best served cold! :tongue

[PeeDee]

"Fiction based on people you know, OR, how to get shot on your way out the door."

:D

Some people who turn up in my novels are based off people I see on the streets and in the stores. I pay attention to people, am fascinated by how people look, act, and talk, and it filters into my fiction. The thing is, by the time it's got into a story of mine, it's filtered through me, and that generally turns it into something else. If you knew exactly the person I'm referring to, and you know precisely what features of theirs caught my attention, then you could stretch it to say "Character X reminds me of Ol' Bob down the street!"

[Alan Yee]

There was a kid from one of my classes last year who provided the inspiration for one of my characters. However, the character is almost completely different from him. For one thing, the character is an adult. The only real similarity is that they're both athletic Russian males.

Besides, that description can apply to many people in the world. I gave him his own personality, which is much different from that of the kid who inspired him. I'm not too worried about it.

[John61480]

Well, I think the big tip off isn't the name of the "coincidental" person, but the things they've done and the circumstances around them being translated onto the page. If the character in the fiction has that kind of real life injection, then the real person will be able to catch you red handed. No way around that. But I suppose playing a what-if (My friend) and guessed his reactions to (whatever) would be purely imaginative, created solely of your interpretations of the person. Thats fiction. I don't seem to see anything wrong with that, considering that's what writers seem to do when they write about a character in their work.

[Doctor Shifty]

Chase up some of the history of Mark Twain. There was some case happen with him when he wrote a character, clumsy inventer or somebody, and gave him an impossible to duplicate name. Suddenly there was this real life and very respenctable and inventive engineer knocking on the door of the publisher. They had to change the name. Forget the details now but it was entertaining reading.