Another writer's book title in your book

I think it could depend a lot on the novel, and how exactly you challenge those ideas in it. You can challenge the Bible, thought of by many as nonfiction, and it will make people upset, but in the end the only thing you'd be challenging are the ideas. If you're challenging another novel, it will be pretty difficult to twist it so you're ONLY challenging the ideas, and not the author himself. Can you still address this topic without referring to the author or novel at all? Perhaps there are some nonfiction sources you can turn to?

Novel

LightShadow said:

I more or less mention another writer's book that I am challenging with my latest manuscript without specifically mentioning the name of the book, but people who have read the novel in question by the other writer knows exactly what I mean when I challenge the ideas presented in this other novel in my book. Answer me this: I have been careful not to mention my rival's book's name in mine, though I make reference to it in a round about way, but does it really matter if I do address it by name?

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The best way to challenge/rebut someone else's ideas is usually by presenting your own ideas. You don't have to mention another book in order to do this. But if your book is nonfiction, and you mean it as a direct rebuttal of a novel, then you shouldn't beat around the bush about it. "The Fallacies of "The Davinci Code" is, for example, a perfectly valid title for a nonfiction book.

Audiences pick up on things fairly quickly, especially if a few well placed people figure it out. Word of mouth travels fast, so if it's obvious, someone's bound to get it and spread the word. Before you know it, your book will be side-by-side with the one you're countering.

Of course, the premise has to work...

The golden rule of writing.

LightShadow said:

this is a fictional novel

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They all are.