That's not who you think it is
August 24, 2011 3:59 AM Subscribe
I'm writing a novel that's based on an event very, very similar to something that actually happened to a real person in my local area. Will I be in trouble if anyone actually reads it?
The novel is set in a fictional village very much like the village where I live and in the same country. The incident is very unusual and anyone who reads the book would draw parallels to certain local people.
However, this book is of course completely fictional and any resemblence to anyone living or dead is a pure coincidence. But it's kind of a big coincidence!
The novel is set in a fictional village very much like the village where I live and in the same country. The incident is very unusual and anyone who reads the book would draw parallels to certain local people.
However, this book is of course completely fictional and any resemblence to anyone living or dead is a pure coincidence. But it's kind of a big coincidence!
Whether you will be in trouble depends on how those certain local people feel about how they are depicted, and how other people in your community feel about you putting this incident down in writing. Also, it depends on what you consider "trouble".
A short story to illustrate: Once upon a time, there was a certain town where the wife of a professor wrote a book. In that book some of the characters, who of course had fictional names, had some of the same habits and did some of the same things as people that all of her husband's colleagues recognized from their descriptions. After this people avoided her, as they did not want to see things about themselves in her next book. Her husband was treated similarly lest she hear of things through him, and was not kept on after his temporary position.
In that story, people in that area might recognize who the characters are based on, but they would be unlikely to be offended by the story. Those two people might recognize themselves, but are unlikely to point out the resemblance to anyone.
posted by yohko at 4:29 AM on August 24, 2011
A short story to illustrate: Once upon a time, there was a certain town where the wife of a professor wrote a book. In that book some of the characters, who of course had fictional names, had some of the same habits and did some of the same things as people that all of her husband's colleagues recognized from their descriptions. After this people avoided her, as they did not want to see things about themselves in her next book. Her husband was treated similarly lest she hear of things through him, and was not kept on after his temporary position.
In that story, people in that area might recognize who the characters are based on, but they would be unlikely to be offended by the story. Those two people might recognize themselves, but are unlikely to point out the resemblance to anyone.
posted by yohko at 4:29 AM on August 24, 2011
You should read about personality rights.
posted by valkyryn at 4:35 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by valkyryn at 4:35 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
OP is in Scotland, valkryrn.
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:14 AM on August 24, 2011
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:14 AM on August 24, 2011
any resemblence to anyone living or dead is a pure coincidence
Unless you wrote the story first and then through crazy random happenstance the same events befell someone(s) in your village, then the above statement is wholly untrue. I guess I'm unclear on the sequence of events?
posted by elizardbits at 5:37 AM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]
Unless you wrote the story first and then through crazy random happenstance the same events befell someone(s) in your village, then the above statement is wholly untrue. I guess I'm unclear on the sequence of events?
posted by elizardbits at 5:37 AM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]
Do you mean legal trouble? Social trouble? Something else?
posted by J. Wilson at 6:01 AM on August 24, 2011
posted by J. Wilson at 6:01 AM on August 24, 2011
Response by poster: The premise is based on a real event. The people it happened to are completely fictional which is what I meant by my 3rd para - sorry I didn't explain that clearly. I'm worried about legal trouble. Thanks for all the great answers so far.
posted by hazyjane at 6:30 AM on August 24, 2011
posted by hazyjane at 6:30 AM on August 24, 2011
Is it possible to ask the people to whom the event happened if using it in your book is okay? If it's just the event that you're using and not the people, then they may not mind.
Unless the event was personal and/or traumatic, in which case they probably will mind. In which case, also, you would be a little disrespectful to use it.
The abstinence option exists too. You are a fiction writer, yes? Imagine your own event, god dammit! It's your job!
posted by TheRedArmy at 8:29 AM on August 24, 2011
Unless the event was personal and/or traumatic, in which case they probably will mind. In which case, also, you would be a little disrespectful to use it.
The abstinence option exists too. You are a fiction writer, yes? Imagine your own event, god dammit! It's your job!
posted by TheRedArmy at 8:29 AM on August 24, 2011
(Somehow, I meant that very jovially.)
posted by TheRedArmy at 8:30 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by TheRedArmy at 8:30 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
If "legal trouble" means people bringing lawsuits, it happens to authors with some regularity. The author of the hugely successful The Help is being sued in the US by someone who says a character was based on her. (Suit dismissed once, but last I heard they were trying to reinstate it.) In general, in UK it seems to be easier for people to win suits against authors than in the US; I don't know about Scotland. On both sides of the pond, you get novels that are clearly based on events that have been in the news, and for which the author has not been sued. But maybe those authors have no personal knowledge of anyone involved in the real life story or maybe they've just been lucky. Because really, it's pretty easy to be sued over something like that. What's not so easy, probably, is to write a novel that's successful enough so that anyone would care to sue you.
posted by BibiRose at 8:32 AM on August 24, 2011
posted by BibiRose at 8:32 AM on August 24, 2011
Anne Lamott says in her amazing writing book "Bird By Bird" that if you are really worried about this, make sure to give your character an incredibly teeny-tiny penis. The tinier the penis, the less likely that anyone would want to come forward and publicly claim to be the inspiration for that character.
posted by hermitosis at 8:57 AM on August 24, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by hermitosis at 8:57 AM on August 24, 2011 [7 favorites]
It the writers of Law & Order can say "ripped from the headlines" yet still claim "these are all fictional events," then I think you would be pretty safe yourself.
posted by TinWhistle at 9:01 AM on August 24, 2011
posted by TinWhistle at 9:01 AM on August 24, 2011
Best answer: I think Law & Order probably has better lawyers than OP can afford.
I think the best IANAL advice I can give is to separate the unusual event as much as possible from the real people. Change professions, change their class, change their appearance; if possible, change gender. Give your characters lives of their own, and try to combine and recombine character traits. Is the local tavern run by a man? Yours is run by a woman. Does the mayor sleep around? Yours is a teetotaler and churchgoer. In such ways you can evoke the elements of the story and the emotional tenor of the village without seeming a roman à clef.
posted by dhartung at 11:08 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
I think the best IANAL advice I can give is to separate the unusual event as much as possible from the real people. Change professions, change their class, change their appearance; if possible, change gender. Give your characters lives of their own, and try to combine and recombine character traits. Is the local tavern run by a man? Yours is run by a woman. Does the mayor sleep around? Yours is a teetotaler and churchgoer. In such ways you can evoke the elements of the story and the emotional tenor of the village without seeming a roman à clef.
posted by dhartung at 11:08 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
There are almost certainly ways you could do this that could inspire the people depicted to sue if they learned of it. There are almost certainly ways you could do this that would make such a lawsuit frivolous (not to say impossible.)
With this vague description, we really can't say anything useful (and more info might well just end up in territory where the only responsible answer would be to consult a lawyer.)
posted by Zed at 12:08 PM on August 24, 2011
With this vague description, we really can't say anything useful (and more info might well just end up in territory where the only responsible answer would be to consult a lawyer.)
posted by Zed at 12:08 PM on August 24, 2011
hazyjane: " The people it happened to are completely fictional which is what I meant by my 3rd para - sorry I didn't explain that clearly."
Right, but you also said "any resemblence to anyone living or dead is a pure coincidence," which is pretty clearly not true. Unless you plan on talking to a lawyer, I'd be wary of this wink-wink-nudge-nudge approach to legally iffy matters, especially if your username can be connected back to you by the totally coincidental people in question.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:47 PM on August 24, 2011
Right, but you also said "any resemblence to anyone living or dead is a pure coincidence," which is pretty clearly not true. Unless you plan on talking to a lawyer, I'd be wary of this wink-wink-nudge-nudge approach to legally iffy matters, especially if your username can be connected back to you by the totally coincidental people in question.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:47 PM on August 24, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Your third paragraph is untrue, assuming the truth of the first two. But there may be legal ways to fashion a true disclaimer.
posted by megatherium at 4:24 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]