Quick Question about Celebrities

[Carnal_Flower]

Just wondering . . .

Does lit have some sort of guideline/rules about mentioning famous people.

I'm finishing up a totally fictional story about a cheating politician. I want to say in the intro that it was inspired by Eliot Spitzer. He doesn't appear in it at all. No other mention of him. It is loosely based on him but in a very general way. I wonder if I'll get in hot water for that.

 

[TxRad]

If he isn't in the story, why mention him at all?

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Because it gives a good visual? I sort of want that story to be in people's minds. The upstanding family man caught out with call girls. And honestly it was very much inspired by him.

If he isn't in the story, why mention him at all?

 

[Handley_Page]

Quote him as being "it is rumored"

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Ok, issue resolved. I said it was "inspired by real events" and left it at that. I wonder if it would have been a problem . . . ?

 

[sr71plt]

I have a story here inspired by Eliot Spitzer too. I didn't mention that on or in the story. I just got an added jolt of pleasure when commenters and e-mailers asked if he had been the inspiration.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Awesome! His story is just too perfect.

I have a story here inspired by Eliot Spitzer too. I didn't mention that on or in the story. I just got an added jolt of pleasure when commenters and e-mailers asked if he had been the inspiration.

 

[Hypoxia]

I have included actual prominent people in actual stories (but not recently). I make a point of NOT identifying them by name, although some could be ID'd by context. I have a few reasons: 1) I'm mostly not into name-dropping. 2) I do want to avoid possible legal complications. 3) Fame is fleeting -- a large portion of the readership have likely never heard of the bugger. 4) Unless it's for satire, it's rather a cheap trick.

"Inspired by actual events" works but is, I dunno, sort of clunky -- but if the subject can be ID'd by context, then it's just fine. I usually include a disclaimer like "Events in this story are probably mostly fictional." But if I write my story about seeing a former USA presidential candidate blow a reporter, I'll go with "actual events."

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

"Rosebud."

 

[Hypoxia]

"Rosebud."

The wagon or the asshole? Or both?

 

[SamScribble]

Literature is packed with models. He was based on ... she was based on. But, mostly, it's left to the reader to make the connection. No overt reference is required. If the reader likes the story but fails to make the connection, who gives one?

 

[JKendallDane]

Hell, the entire Law & Order multiple-spin-offs television franchise has become a zillion dollar, golden-egg-squirting, fat goose with diarrhea for Dick Wolf and NBC Universal Television Distribution...and their big promo tag line for twenty years has been: "Stories ripped from the headlines." They made almost no attempt at disguising or substantially altering plot lines from actual and recent criminal case facts.

They got away with it and built up the fan base from hell by giving the viewers total reality, but with it heavily cloaked in: "The names have been changed to protect us from the lawyers of the guilty."