A question to all authors here :)

[xortex]

Wasn't that Voyager's 'Author. Author'?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Excellent point. The EMH's friends and crewmates were rightly pissed at him for making them look so bad. Now what if that happened to you?

 

[Therin of Andor]

As long as I didn't soil myself in the book, I would not mind.

You'd just edit the eBook anyway.

 

[edisraf]

I don't mean to be insulting by asking this question, I am really honestly genuinely seriously curious.

Authors have been known to slip references to their friends, family, etc. into novels. But if there's somebody who really pissed you off, or who wronged you in some way, would you put their name into one of your books and make them the bad guy? Or a particularly vile creature?

WARNING! DANGER! DANGER!

This could get you sued for libel! Read all about it here!

http://www.copylaw.org/2010/07/libel-in-fiction.html

An exerpt

Despite the breathing space the First Amendment affords writers, not all libel-in-fiction lawsuits are resolved in favor of the author or their publisher partner. For example, in 2009, in the “Red Hat Club

” case, the plaintiff was awarded $100,000 in damages by a Georgia court for a fictional portrayal modeled on her. The “original” claimed that her fictional counterpart, falsely depicted in the bestselling novel as a sexually promiscuous alcoholic who drank on the job, defamed her.


And even if you win, there is still the cost of a lawyer to consider if it goes to court.

My advice. Don't do it!


raf

ps I am not a lawyer, but I can read!