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/lit/ - Literature

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23260225 No.23260225 [Reply] [Original]

What's the law on using real life people in my fictional story?

>> No.23260301

>>23260225
Nobody is going to mind if you write an Adolf Hitler isekai

>> No.23260304

>>23260225
You should be good as long as you don't write anything that could be considered defamatory

>> No.23260409

>>23260304
Define "defamatory" please

>> No.23260420

>>23260225
What kinds of real people?
Old historical figures? Modern celebrities? Your coworkers?

>> No.23260430

>>23260420
Specifically, Yonadam Yousip Kanna shows up in one of the chapters of the book I'm writing.

>> No.23260484

>>23260430
Just change his name to Larry Yousip Kanna and you're good to go.

>> No.23260486

>>23260484
But I want my readers to know it's him in my story.

>> No.23260492

>>23260486
Call him Yonadam Yuosip Kanna then if you change one letter they can't prove it's a real person, it's called plausible deniability

>> No.23260503

If you make it too obvious you can be sued or just have your book pulled from publication. This is why every book has a disclaimer at the start saying all charactets are fictional

>> No.23260504

is it legal to take direct quotes from real people and use them as dialog? i want to show one character as being almost unbelievably superficial and there are some lines from a reality television that would work perfectly.

>> No.23260505

>>23260503
I don't think I ever saw that disclaimer in a history book

>> No.23260552
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23260552

https://www.copylaw.org/2020/01/when-fiction-reality-collide-q-my-main.html?m=1
idk just google it

>> No.23261781

>>23260225
Complicated, but if you include a living person AND it's clear it's that person (doesn't have to use the same name) AND it's defamatory, you risk getting sued. If your book gets noticed at all, you'll quite likely get sued. And a mainstream publisher isn't going to touch anything with that sort of risk attached in the first place.

The two clauses "clear it's the same person" and "defamatory" are obviously open to interpretation. But real life isn't 4chan. If it IS clearly that person and it IS clearly defamatory, you'll lose.

>> No.23261784

>>23261781
There is a special consideration for "parody" and "satire". In the USA they are considered to be protected by the First Amendment. But it has to be clear that that's what you're doing. And you might still get clobbered in other ways.