I have a great book idea, but it involves people that I know. It would be basic plot lines from real life situations. I would be too shy to put my real name of it anyway, so do you think I should go for it?
2007-07-04 08:28:21 · 7 answers · asked by ncoll049 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
nccoll,
Just change the characters names and also make them a little different. Writers always use people they know, but change them just a little bit or where there are many characters you can make two or more characters into one character.
Good luck, just enjoy to write what you want.
2007-07-04 08:34:58 · answer #1 · answered by bilway2001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have two answers for you. One is that you can write a "roman a clef" which means a novel with a key. This is a novel where the identities of the characters are disguised with changed names and details, but someone who knew the people involved would have the "key" and could figure out who was who. However, I would suggest writing a roman a clef only if the subjects are famous and thus have limited protection of their public persona because of their celebrity.
If the people you want to write about are not famous and there is any chance that a person reading your book could recognize them, then you are in danger of being sued, especially if any of the characters based on real people is portrayed in a less-than-flattering way. In this case, the thing to do is to write a novel that changes as much as possible so that your imaginative story is inspired by real events, but in the end has very little to do with those real events or people. If you could give the book to the people who lived through the real events and they couldn't recognize themselves in what you wrote, then you couldn't be sued for libel.
2007-07-04 17:50:19 · answer #2 · answered by Yankee in London 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely. Go for it. Even if you made everything up, you'd have people saying "The hero is me, isn't he?" And don't be shy. Put your name to it. Change the other people's names, fictionalise things a bit (so they can't sue you!) Good luck.
2007-07-04 15:33:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definitly. if you think its a great idea, go for it!! it might just turn out that you become a famous author and all the people you mention will love you because you used them in your book. don't hold back on your dream!!
2007-07-12 14:01:13 · answer #4 · answered by kt 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go for it, but change the names to protect a) the innocent
b) ur friendships! Ifc u can't use ur own name, make one up. Hope this helps.
2007-07-04 15:33:44 · answer #5 · answered by SKCave 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
look. if you're afraid it's goig to offend you friends. talk to them about it.
but if it wont. change all the names and have some fun!
2007-07-10 22:35:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
go for it. ask people for permission to use their name. if not, change their name. don't use yours if u don't want it. if you do, then do it!
don't let anything hold you back.
2007-07-04 17:10:51 · answer #7 · answered by JKR's Apprentice 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋