permission

BJones · Feb 2, 2006

Hi, all. I have a friend who is wanting to write about a house in her neighborhood. Several people have either died or experienced other problems there. She wants to keep the book fiction, changing all names including the city as well as add some extras to make it more interesting. What she wants to know is if she would need any special permissions to use a likeness of the house or the people who lived in it. She asked me and while I think she wouldn't need permission, I'm just not sure, so I am asking for her.

Thanks in advance for your help.
B

Maryn · Feb 2, 2006

Please tell your friend that she has our best wishes, but that the internet is not the place to go for legal advice. Idiots with good intentions (like me!) could steer her very wrong.

My best guess would be that with the changes she's planning, she'd be all right--but I am not an attorney. I recommend that before she expends much energy, she talk to one.

Maryn, who slept with an attorney last night, though

BJones · Feb 2, 2006

That's how I feel. I think she'd be okay, but don't want to say for certain since I'm not 100%. It's really an interesting story and I think she'd do it well. I'll let her know what you said. I guess I was hoping I could get her an easy answer for free. Oh, well...

I'm trying to get her to join this board. She's the only, and I do mean only, person in my life who also writes.

Thanks again
B

crosseyed reader · Feb 2, 2006

BJones said:
Hi, all. I have a friend who is wanting to write about a house in her neighborhood. Several people have either died or experienced other problems there. She wants to keep the book fiction, changing all names including the city as well as add some extras to make it more interesting. What she wants to know is if she would need any special permissions to use a likeness of the house or the people who lived in it. She asked me and while I think she wouldn't need permission, I'm just not sure, so I am asking for her.

Thanks in advance for your help.
B

Exactly what would she get permission for? If she's not actually writing about THAT house, then this becomes a matter of inspiration. How many books have been inspired by events? Plenty.

She's changing the house, the names, the city and adding extra details in order to disguise the story's real origins. If at the end of the day no one can recognize the particulars, there should be no problem.

ted_curtis · Feb 3, 2006

crosseyed reader said:
Exactly what would she get permission for? If she's not actually writing about THAT house, then this becomes a matter of inspiration. How many books have been inspired by events? Plenty.

She's changing the house, the names, the city and adding extra details in order to disguise the story's real origins. If at the end of the day no one can recognize the particulars, there should be no problem.

A good example of creative use of setting are the works of Steven King. Bangor, Maine (also my hometown) influences so many of his books that you sometimes know exactly what places he's talking about. Richard Russo's Straight Man takes place in a town that's very much like Altoona, PA but just with a different name. If you've ever been there, you'll recognize his descriptions. And I'm sure that there are millions of other examples.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 3, 2006

BJones said:
Hi, all. I have a friend who is wanting to write about a house in her neighborhood. Several people have either died or experienced other problems there. She wants to keep the book fiction, changing all names including the city as well as add some extras to make it more interesting. What she wants to know is if she would need any special permissions to use a likeness of the house or the people who lived in it. She asked me and while I think she wouldn't need permission, I'm just not sure, so I am asking for her.

Thanks in advance for your help.
B

Just change the names and there's nothing to worry about. And, of course, you can say pretty much whatever you want about the dead. You can't libel the dead.

maestrowork · Feb 3, 2006

Change the names, call it fiction, and slap this on:

"The plot and characters are totally fictional. Any resemblance... blah blah blah..." That's how movies get away with everything.

Seriously, ask a lawyer if you really must know.

My-Immortal · Feb 3, 2006

maestrowork said:
Change the names, call it fiction, and slap this on:

"The plot and characters are totally fictional. Any resemblance... blah blah blah..." That's how movies get away with everything.

And how James Frey will sell a few more books.....

aruna · Feb 4, 2006

BJones said:
Hi, all. I have a friend who is wanting to write about a house in her neighborhood. Several people have either died or experienced other problems there. She wants to keep the book fiction, changing all names including the city as well as add some extras to make it more interesting. What she wants to know is if she would need any special permissions to use a likeness of the house or the people who lived in it. She asked me and while I think she wouldn't need permission, I'm just not sure, so I am asking for her.

Thanks in advance for your help.
B

Sounds to me that she was inspired by this house, but is not writing ABOUT it. It's fiction; that's what fiction dows, what novelists do, get inspired by ereal events and then turn it into something else. I don't see a problem. I do this kind of thing all the time.
But she should go ahead and ask an attorney, if she feels safer that way.

BJones · Feb 4, 2006

Thanks everybody. Sounds like she'll be okay. I am going to refer her to this thread so she can read the advice for herself and make up her own mind on how to handle it. I, personally, wouldn't worry about it, but I'm also not willing to assure her it's okay. I'm actually working on my own project inspired by a particular building. The building is closed, but after a couple of calls, presto, I was given permission to take pictures and was offered to be taken inside. There is so much you have to be careful with, sometimes it's hard to tell what you can get by with and what you can't. To me, better safe than sorry is the most important.

Thanks again.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 4, 2006

BJones said:
Thanks everybody. Sounds like she'll be okay. I am going to refer her to this thread so she can read the advice for herself and make up her own mind on how to handle it. I, personally, wouldn't worry about it, but I'm also not willing to assure her it's okay. I'm actually working on my own project inspired by a particular building. The building is closed, but after a couple of calls, presto, I was given permission to take pictures and was offered to be taken inside. There is so much you have to be careful with, sometimes it's hard to tell what you can get by with and what you can't. To me, better safe than sorry is the most important.

Thanks again.

Honestly, in all my years in this business, I've never known a fiction writer to ask for permission to write about anything, anyone, or any place. It's fiction.

And even with nonfiction, you need no permission to write the truth about anyone, anything, or anyplace. Freedom of the press doesn't just mean newspapers. If you had to get permission to write something, there wouldn't be a negative article written because the writer would never receive permission.

permission

BJones

Maryn

I Tried

BJones

crosseyed reader

ted_curtis

Jamesaritchie

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

My-Immortal

Mr. Invisible

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

BJones

Jamesaritchie