So I have an idea of a story and wandered about the Rules of Writing.
I was thinking about writing a story on someone who is famous but obviously, if I was to enter this story in a competition or something, is there anything I should rethink?
Are we as writers allowed to interpret our perspective on a public figure in our writing?
Well my writing is of someone who is currently living, but so far I have managed to write without mentioning names of the main character or the characters relatives. I have actually introduced a fictional relation whom I have named though.
If the person has been dead for at least 70 years everything about then enters the public domain and you can do whatever you like with their character.
There would not seem to be a "rule of writing" that would apply - but there are Laws of Libel - and stuff about "defamation".
Writing about historical characters can be fairly safe - but - I would be extremely wary of writing about anyone real in the last 50 to 100 years - there is not only the person's own reaction to be considered - but all their relatives, friends and associates as well.
Anything you should rethink? The whole minefield. I would not go there.
:-)