Using the Names of Real Places in a Porn Story

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Are there any legal or ethical issues with using real place names (e.g. specific restaurants, hotels, schools, etc.) in porn stories published here at Lit?
 
We-e-e-ell... On the other hand, you probably don't want to say something like: 'and CBS has special sound-proofed studio spaces where hopefuls over 18 can be plied with rohypnol so that they may study the couch more closely."

Or,

"Ever since the Plaza Athenee was bought by the Chinese, NATO and their US-based friends no longer book the foreign ambassadors they want to get entangled in a sex scandal because they realise they will be busted by the Chinese spies who are now also bugging the joint."

"185 Upper West Scalper Street (happens to be the address of your bank manager) has a dungeon below it where sex slaves are held and for every 'thing' they do on a menu, they get a hundred bucks off their debts at the bank."

Or,

Anything that will imply some errant behaviour on behalf of the actual owner or imply their obvious complicity in something either slanderous or criminal.
 
I use a mix of real and made up places all the time. When I use a made up location it's usually to obscure my own identity, rather than out of any concern for legal repercussions.
 
Just make sure if you are using the name of a real business, that you are not saying negative things about them. There's always the chance however small that someone reads the story and comes after you for liability.

I mean if it can happen with celebrity stories why not with Mariott? This is why even though it's a great line I never have a character use the back door of the Paris Hilton.
 
I use a mix of real and made up places all the time. When I use a made up location it's usually to obscure my own identity, rather than out of any concern for legal repercussions.

That's about where I'm at too. Someone intimately familiar with certain locales may recognize a setting, but they're otherwise pretty opaque. I hope.

I don't worry about USA legal consequences. I can't be sure about the rest of the world. Were I living in certain Mexican cities, I would hesitate to write that a certain address housed a cartel jefe or operation. Wouldn't be prudent.
 
Were I living in certain Mexican cities, I would hesitate to write that a certain address housed a cartel jefe or operation. Wouldn't be prudent.

Unless you wanted to get your house air conditioned for free, of course (bullet holes).
 
Threre are some addresses like that in the US as well. Piss off people on one side of the law or the other.
 
Then you have anymouse who comes along and tells you, you have the named small towns in the wrong area or state. That they are nowhere near each other. So much for fiction.
 
Then you have anymouse who comes along and tells you, you have the named small towns in the wrong area or state. That they are nowhere near each other. So much for fiction.

Somehow, even idiots learned to read. Good for them, bad for us. :cool:

ETA: As for using name of place...even if you use those placed in a derogatory nature, you're okay. Unless they can prove malice...well that's hard to prove in most cases.
 
I use miami, los angeles, atlanta, tampa bay, and charleston in my stories.
 
"Good day sir. I am special agent Brown and this is special agent McGillicuddy. Are you the the one who recently uploaded a story titled "Lesbian Orgy in Area 51" to Literotica?"
 
FWIW, MugsyB and I have used real places and real sports teams and such in our hockey romances. I think a couple of other authors have as well, IIRC. For the latest one I have up (Rhythm & the Blue Line), I set it in the DC/NoVa area, and mentioned lots of real places.
 
Are there any legal or ethical issues with using real place names (e.g. specific restaurants, hotels, schools, etc.) in porn stories published here at Lit?
There's no problem with using public places for fictional events, but some common sense should be applied.

If it enhances your story to use a real location, then do so. If you just want to give a name to a generic place, don't bother.

For example, flashing passing boats from some generic bridge over some generic body of water can be as erotic as you choose to make it. Doing the same thing from a famous landmark like the Brooklyn Bridge or Golden Gate might give your story a bit of added spice.
 
I can get quite specific on place names, and I occasionally get an e-mail saying, "I've been there and it was just like that." That's a line of response I like getting from my stories here. Not a bit worried about having used the place name--or what my characters did there.
 
If you're going to write a story set in a major city, it is best to use as many real locales as possible. It makes your story more believable because chances are someone from that major city will pick up on a made up park name or other place of interest.

Of course there are some exceptions you can get away with. Made up bars, companies, street names, etc. you can use without harming the quality of your story.
 
I feel comfortable writing about real places -- that don't reveal too much about me. I've lived or stayed in many places that demand their roles in stories. A story is just more real to me when set in an actual place and is sometimes impossible otherwise, especially travel tales and similar journal-type stories. I may employ certain misdirections but I do try to evoke the flavor of a place. Seeing a place mentally makes the writing much easier.

I'm plotting a true-history romance tale about a long hike. (Working title: WALK THIS WAY.) Plant-hunters TS Brandegee and Mary Curran actually DID spend their 1889 honeymoon strolling 600-odd miles from San Diego to San Francisco "botanizing along the way". (That means they collected plant specimens. 'Botanizing' is not a euphemism for sex, though they undoubtedly fucked a lot too.) Trying to write it WITHOUT including location details would be ridiculous.
 
It's always worth adding a disclaimer to your story, just to keep the Mob, the CIA et al. off your back, something along the lines of -

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
 
It's always worth adding a disclaimer to your story, just to keep the Mob, the CIA et al. off your back, something along the lines of -

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Charlene, Charlene, Charlene. A disclaimer isn't going to keep anyone off your back. That would be your naive wishful thinking. In the highly unlikely event they are interested in you, they are going to hone in on what you actually wrote, not any red herrings you run in front of it.
 
I use a mix of real and made up places all the time. When I use a made up location it's usually to obscure my own identity, rather than out of any concern for legal repercussions.

That's what I do as well. When I use the small town I live in as a model and location I have a fictitious name and change bits around. Lordy, small town Iowa would go crazy if someone figured out that I was writing smut about them.

When I talk of other places, especially large places I use real names - Des Moines, Omaha, Chicago etc.

I can get quite specific on place names, and I occasionally get an e-mail saying, "I've been there and it was just like that." That's a line of response I like getting from my stories here. Not a bit worried about having used the place name--or what my characters did there.

I once read a story on lit that mentioned an Amtrac ride from Chicago to a small town in downstate Illinois that I once lived in for a short time. They even used the name of the grocery as the name of a hotel or a restaurant in the story. It was fun to read it. I emailed the author.
 
I once read a story on lit that mentioned an Amtrac ride from Chicago to a small town in downstate Illinois that I once lived in for a short time. They even used the name of the grocery as the name of a hotel or a restaurant in the story. It was fun to read it. I emailed the author.

There you go.

In one of my mainstream mysteries set in the Mediterranean, I put a boutique hotel in a six-story medieval mill house that already had a restaurant on top of it. The novels were written mostly for the beach resort visitors in that country. I frequented the restaurant a lot myself, and the restaurant owner came over to my table once and bawled me out (but with a smile on his face) for the calls he was getting by tourists who wanted to book into his hotel. One another visit, I had to scoot down in my chair because the Brits at the table next to me were venting on how they'd come all the way up into the mountains from the coast only to find there wasn't really a hotel here. I trusted that they enjoyed their roasted trout meal, though.
 
Then you have anymouse who comes along and tells you, you have the named small towns in the wrong area or state. That they are nowhere near each other. So much for fiction.

Just set it in Springfield.
 
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