Celebrity Names and Desiger brands

[Words Are My Life]

Are there any laws against using these names in your fiction writing?

For example...

"She was as hot as Jessica Simpson"

or "She wore a black shirt and held a Prada handbag"

[RLSMiller]

Are there any laws against using these names in your fiction writing?

For example...

"She was as hot as Jessica Simpson"

or "She wore a black shirt and held a Prada handbag"

I believe it's fine to do that, although I don't like the first example too much. You might get a reader who thinks Jessica Simpson is an ugly moose.

[Devil Ledbetter]

I believe it's fine to do that, although I don't like the first example too much. You might get a reader who thinks Jessica Simpson is an ugly moose.Agreed. Or Jessica Simpson might completely let herself go before you get published. I feel sorry for any novelist who might have made comparisons like "as adorable as Britney Spears" a few years back. Or "as pleasantly plump as Nicole Richie."

Wait, no I don't. It serves them right. ;)

[blacbird]

"She was as hot as Jessica Simpson"

Violates the Law of Native Intelligence.

caw

[FennelGiraffe]

I think it would better to show us how hot she is, maybe by describing how guys react to her. "She was as hot as Jessica Simpson" is telling.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Jessica Simpson is an ugly moose.

I used Paris Hilton in my current WIP. I compared a character in the story as ...wait....

Her reputation was that of a party girl, she was the Paris Hilton of the supernatural jet set.

Although I'm willing to change that to someone else if someone can think of a real jet setter.

[blacbird]

Bear in mind that it's awfully easy to overdo this kind of thing. It's like cooking with habañero peppers. A little goes a lonnnnnnnnggggggg way.

caw

[Nymtoc]

There's nothing wrong with using brand names. They turn up in fiction all the time. You might annoy a manufacturer if you said something like "Every Coca-Cola can contains at least one gram of arsenic," or "No wonder she died in the accident. Chevy Impalas all explode on impact."

If you wrote that sort of thing--especially if you were published in a major market--some company might complain. But beyond that, there's nothing wrong with having your characters wear Reeboks or eat Twinkies.

:cool: