Hi all. I'm about three-quarters of the way through my first novel (chick-lit), I'm having a great time writing it and all seems to be going well so far. I've just started to get a little concerned about the legal side of things... I have a fictional male character of whom I have completely invented his life history, physical description, actions in the story. But, I'm worried that he resembles a real person who I know. Essentially, the similarities between my fictional character and my real life friend are that they are the same age, both have tattoos and they have the same job (a fairly niche job) and these elements are all essential to the plot and not changeable. All other elements of his character and appearance are totally different and the romantic story line is entirely fictional and not related to the real life person at all. Perhaps if you knew my real life friend, in his work setting, you would think it is a depiction of him, even though I know that this is not the case, but there is no getting around this as the plot is based around his largely based around his job. Am I just being over cautious to be concerned about this, from a legal point of view? In the story I don't refer to any specific real incidents involving him and his character is not portrayed in a negative way, but if there is a loose connection that people pick up on and identify as him, is that a potential problem? Many thanks. Mel.
Hi Melanie, I think the easy way out of this is why not just ask your friend if it is OK, for you to use this character that is loosely based or not based on him. My thought is he would say yes go ahead and you can always have the disclaimer about characters in the book being totally fictional and are not based on anyone living or dead. I can't remember the proper quote but you see it a lot at the end of films. But I would talk with him and if he says he's happy then there you go, no problem.
Paul
Are the tattoos specified or just general? You could describe them but make them entirely different from the ones your friend has. They could be an indicator of character. Could you exchange the genders of the 'love interests' so that the female had the tattoos and the niche job? Loads of possibilties.
Someone in my village wrote three books about the village using portraits of real characters, fairly accurate portraits too, BUT nobody recognised themselves. Just a thought.
Daphne
Ah thankyou Mel, yes it's always lovely to hear someone has enjoyed reading your work. I look forward to reading about your tatooed man on here - if you plan to post some work that is. Some of the other people on here are very helpful in giving fantastic feedback and critiquing your work.
Good luck with your writing!