All characters are fictitious ...

[mr ploppy]

What would you put for that if all the characters were fictitious except for one of them who was injected in a cameo role with permission? I suppose a lot of it depends on what the purpose of that statement is.

All characters are fictitious except for xxx who appears with permission of his real life counterpart.

All characters are fictitious except the ones that are not.

Most characters are fictitious.

All characters are fictitious but some are more fictitious than others.

[sourcejedi]

Not exactly what you're asking for, but I've seen this as a blanket statement -

"Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when used for satirical purposes."

(In web-original-fic you don't necessarily want to google for! Any resemblance to a legally vetted disclaimer may also be purely fictional).

I assume it's intended to reduce the risk of libel. I don't think you'd need to name the specific character(s) unless you wanted to. I guess it could make the story more interesting in some contexts.

When talking about pro-fic, people may publicly admit that the character is "based on" someone IRL, but they change the name (at least slightly :-). I.e. it's still considered a fictional character. I suspect they just leave the standard disclaimer as it is, whatever they normally use. If I was trying to sell something, I'd probably stick with the convention; I'm a very conventional person :-).

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by sourcejedi

I assume it's intended to reduce the risk of libel. I don't think you'd need to name the specific character(s) unless you wanted to. I guess it could make the story more interesting in some contexts.

When talking about pro-fic, people may publicly admit that the character is "based on" someone IRL, but they change the name (at least slightly :-). I.e. it's still considered a fictional character. I suspect they just leave the standard disclaimer as it is, whatever they normally use. If I was trying to sell something, I'd probably stick with the convention; I'm a very conventional person :-).

I don't actually name him specifically in the story, I just use a vague description and use some of his mannerisms. The story needed someone like that, and I thought it would be fun to stick him in it and see if anyone recognised him. I sent him a copy via someone else (he doesn't have a computer), and apparently he was quite chuffed about it. Which makes me quite giddy too

[David Marseilles]

Sounds like he might be pleased with a shoutout at the beginning. If that's the case, I'd probably start with the "x likeness is used by permission" and then say "All other characters are..."

All characters are fictitious but some are more fictitious than others.

This one is pretty funny, but if you care about legal liability, its vagueness might bite you in the posterior.

[EBookBro]

If there's any chance of being sued for basing a character off of a real person, you might as well mention it.

[edit spam - moderator]

[joycedb]

Most people don't recognize themselves anyway. We often base our characters on people we know even if it's only a few of their traits or mannerisms.

Joyce

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by EBookBro

If there's any chance of being sued for basing a character off of a real person, you might as well mention it.

Wouldn't that make it easier for them to sue you?

[James_Wilde]

Whatever you write it's going to be ficticious as far as he is concerned, since he probably never thought all the thoughts you're going to put in his head.

Keep the ficticious bit on the back title page and put something like this in the foreword:

"My thanks to Nancy Yip, who first gave me the idea for this story, and subsequently was an unfailing source of information on China, including pointing me to a superb book on a province near GuangXi. Yes, Nancy really exists, although perhaps not quite as I have painted her in this book."

Taken from the foreword of my first book, who's title you can see on the left.

Does the "real" guy get shot at the mall, btw?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by James_Wilde

Does the "real" guy get shot at the mall, btw?

No, different story, different period in time. Though I'm sure I could squeeze him in as an octogenarian in a wheelchair if I tried hard enough.