If what you write about a person is positive or even neutral, then you don’t have defamation or privacy issues.įor instance, you may thank someone by name in your acknowledgements without their permission. How can writers use real people in their work without risking a lawsuit?įirst, a simple rule. Memoirists and nonfiction writers identify people by name. Yet every fiction writer bases characters on real people. Writers face three big risks when using real people in their writing: defamation, invasion of privacy, and misappropriation of the right of publicity. A Georgia jury awarded $100,000 to a woman who claimed a character in The Red Hat Club falsely portrayed her as an “alcoholic s**t.” Scarlett Johansson won a defamation suit against a French writer for creating a promiscuous character who happened to look like the movie star.
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