Thread: Historical fiction using names of dead famous people

I have been working on several different Ideas over the last few years. One that I recently started deals with writing a historical fiction centerered around a major city and its growth as a national and international leader.

I want to base it on a group of families that were the major movers and shakers of the city. The individuals are dead, though many of the families are still active in the business and regional events.

After searching, I find there are several opinions regarding the use of real names of living people in fiction and it is generally left to the publisher to decide (which is almost always to change the names).

Where can I find rulings or opinions related to using famous dead people in historical fiction? THe story is kind of like those WHAT IF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED and how would life be different today perspective..

How do other writers fill in the gaps with dialogue since there is really no way to have exact quotes and not every minute of the person's life can be documented.

THANKS

You are talking about personal injury law. To bring a lawsuit against you, the other person must show that they have been injured in some way. For instance, if the other person could show that you damaged their reputation to point where they have lost income. Since a dead person can not be injured, you are pretty safe. If the people you are talking about were celebrities or politicians, you are even safer. You can say almost anything about a celebrity or politician, even a living one, and can not be sued. It's the price of fame. The legal term is a public person. Public persons have almost no privacy. Another thing you can do to protect yourself is to tell the story in such a way that no reasonable person would believe that your story is true. You hinted this in your post. You want to change history so that the modern world is very different than it really is. You can't be sued for telling the truth, nor can you be sued for saying only nice things about people. It's only when you pass off a malicious lie as the truth that you get in trouble. Putting a legal disclaimer at the beginning of your book that what follows is a work of fiction is another way to protect yourself. If you clearly state that your story is not true, it's more difficult for someone to sue you. Hope this helps, C.M.

Thanks. I don't have plans to portray the people as idiots. Just to fill in the blaks with what is documented in a way that history goes another route and the world is a different place. I would be using factual info to complete their profile and use that as supposition as to what they might have done / said based on present day hindsight...

Your main worry will be the fanbase or the general regard for the people you use. If you wrote a story containing say, Princess Diana, and made her out to be a calculating b*tch then that would not be acceptable and your book would probably sink.

If you do write this book can I please advise you to not use the phrase "movers and shakers".

May be I should consider using Wheelers and Dealers? Particularlly since it is about cars....My wife is extremely excited with the phrase THE Lives of the Rich & Famous...I think this one is too commercial and rings of an old defunct televison show?

I figure I should be good to go with the character everyone wants to believe was a money grubbing ba$$^ard and loved to hate? Especially if I can create empathy for the rich ^%$@....