Can I use this real event?

hannahward07 · May 3, 2013

First of all, I apologise if this had already been asked...I have looked with the search button but couldn't find anything specific.

I want to use the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick for a specific scene in the novel I'm writing, in particular where someone is found dead. I just wondered if I can use that festival specifically for something like that, or if I have to create a fictional one? Thanks in advance.

benbenberi · May 3, 2013

I don't know anything about Up Helly Aa, but as a general rule you can use anything real in a book as long as you're not writing anything defamatory about it or violating a trademark. If you're not implicating the festival or its organizers as recognizable individuals in criminal/unsavory activity, you should be ok.

But if it makes you uncomfortable, you can use all the real details but file off the serial numbers & fictionalize the setting. (And be prepared for alert readers to say, that scene was just like Up Helly Aa in Lerwick!)

Bufty · May 3, 2013

Of course you can. Anything open to the public is free to use as a setting.

Orianna2000 · May 3, 2013

Yes, as others have said, you're allowed to use real events and places in your novel. But you don't want to cast a bad light on anyone real, so either be cautious about how you portray the event, making sure you're not implying, "People who attend this event will die," or else make it a generic facsimile of the real event.

In my second novel, I have my MC attend a performance of a famous West End show, but I didn't want to outright say, "It's The Phantom of the Opera," so I simply left that part out. I described the theater and its location, said it's a famous musical, mentioned some of the emotions the show provokes, said that the MC cried at the ending, and so forth, but I didn't actually name the show. Maybe readers will guess, but if they don't, it's no big deal.

Bufty · May 3, 2013

I hope the episode concerned wasn't covered in dialogue because most folk mention the names of shows they've seen and I can't see any reason for a character not naming it.

Orianna2000 said:
Yes, as others have said, you're allowed to use real events and places in your novel. But you don't want to cast a bad light on anyone real, so either be cautious about how you portray the event, making sure you're not implying, "People who attend this event will die," or else make it a generic facsimile of the real event.

In my second novel, I have my MC attend a performance of a famous West End show, but I didn't want to outright say, "It's The Phantom of the Opera," so I simply left that part out. I described the theater and its location, said it's a famous musical, mentioned some of the emotions the show provokes, said that the MC cried at the ending, and so forth, but I didn't actually name the show. Maybe readers will guess, but if they don't, it's no big deal.

Buffysquirrel · May 3, 2013

Yep, you can do this. No problem at all.

Orianna2000 · May 3, 2013

Bufty said:
I hope the episode concerned wasn't covered in dialogue because most folk mention the names of shows they've seen and I can't see any reason for a character not naming it.

No, there's hardly any dialogue in the scene. And it's not brought up again later. The important part was the fact that he took her, not which show they saw, so I didn't think it was vital to name the show.

ellio · May 3, 2013

I think the bigger/more well known the event is the less likely you are to have people finger pointing or complaining about your portrayal but I'm down for it.

I actually like it when fictional characters go and do real things, as it were. It makes me feel like in another life in another circumstance I could be them. I had an MS where the MC went to glastonbury festival.

shaldna · May 3, 2013

Yes, a real event is fine to use.

As a side note, I wrote a couple of short stories based around that festival a couple of years ago.

Crescendo2020 · May 3, 2013

I wouldn't mind it. I think that involving reality in fiction makes the story more relatable.

hannahward07 · May 7, 2013

Thanks for clearing that up, everyone. I just wanted to be sure before I invested a whole load of time and effort writing it, since that scene kind of sets the whole story off.

Can I use this real event?

hannahward07

benbenberi

practical experience, FTW

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

Orianna2000

Freelance Writer

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

Buffysquirrel

Orianna2000

Freelance Writer

ellio

a hardback life on an ebook budget

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Crescendo2020

hannahward07