Young Writers Society

I was curious on a couple of issues I'm having. First off, I want to name my new Novel that I'm working on: "Find Your Love" The issue is that it happens to be the name of the song/music video that I got the BASIC idea from. The song is talking about a girl while in my story the title represents the way the main character feels about his hobby. (Rap) There is still a similar love story that is also featured in the music video. I don't know if my rambling made any sense. But can someone please let me know if I'm allowed to name my story that.

Second. Are we allowed to write in real life people in our novels. For example If I wanted to have Eminem or even the President in my novel, as characters, could I? If I didn't want them as full on characters am I allowed to even mention their name?

Anyways, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm not sure about the first one but I think I have the second. So you can say, "She played Eminem's CD." or "She smiled at him, his eyes transfixed on the baby playing on the ground, while the interview of Obama on the screen". What you can't do is have something like, "Eminem nodded and turned to her. "Yeah, maybe I can get Jay-Z to listen to your music"" or "Obama laughed a hearty laugh before turning to her, "Of course I can get Jay-Z to listen to your music! I'm the president!""

Yeah. So you can mention them (The car blasted Britney's auto-tuned voice as she sped away from him) but they can't interact with you're characters (Miley raised an eyebrow and looked at Bob. "Say what?").

Hope I helped.


~Jasmine Bells

First: Yeah, that's fine. Use the title if you like.

Second: Yeah, that's fine as well. It seems weird, but there's absolutely nothing stopping you from making a famous person a character in your story. Just mentioning their names is okay, too.

To add to what Surreal said--while it's not ilegal to use real people in your work, it probably isn't a good idea. Why? Because it's really annoying to read most of the time and immediately dates your work. Also you have to avoid saying anything that could be considered "slander" (something that unfairly damages their reputation).

As for the title, you can use it. Titles are not copyright protected. As for the content, you should probably be sure that you aren't borrowing so much that you've stolen their idea.

Good luck!

Lupis

Just to expand on what Canis said about adding famous people into your work - if you want your novel (I'm assuming it's a novel) to last, then it's always best to avoid putting in characters or themes that will limit the story to one generation. No-one will know who you're talking about in 10, 20, years time, and therefore the character becomes dated, which means your book becomes dated.

Hi!

To add to what the others have said--there isn't anything wrong about the second one, but Amy is absolutely right. I think it just depends on wow active the character is in the story. Say, if the president was in two scenes, you could just be vague and not refer to any name or appearance. If he's a major character, it might be best to create a fictional president, unless history has a large role in the story. In the case of Eminem, what might be best is to not use him specifically so the book isn't dated! You can still have a similar character that could fulfill his purpose, though. That way, people who read your book today will know who he's supposed to be, while audiences down the road won't get confused. Does that make sense?

Anyway, PM me if you need anything further!

Edit
Yeah, I'm pretty sure using that title would be alright. There have been multiple instances where books, movies, and even songs have held the same title! It would be like if someone couldn't have a name in real life just because there was another person with that name. As long it's not too specific [i.e. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone] which it's not, you're fine.

Ok. Thank you everyone! Your information has really helped me. Especially the whole dated thing, I never thought about that. Anyways, Thanks everyone