04-11-2010, 08:06 PM
http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/topic/6839]This thread over in GenChat got me wondering about the advisability of putting actual people into Fenspace. Is it a good idea?
Yes, we've mentioned a few actual rock (and other genre) performers as having toured Fenspace, but those were just one-off mentions; we didn't actually write them into stories. Those JAXA astronauts would have a bigger role than a few musicians - after all, the astronauts work in space. So it would be reasonable to give them supporting roles in our stories.
On the flip side, we aren't asking anyone's permission to use their names. Using elements of other people's works of fiction is one thing - that's a millennia-old storytelling tradition, after all - but using actual other people is something else entirely. (Although there are all those century-old stories about Congressman Davy Crockett...)
So, should we be mentioning real people in Fenspace, or giving them roles in our stories?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Yes, we've mentioned a few actual rock (and other genre) performers as having toured Fenspace, but those were just one-off mentions; we didn't actually write them into stories. Those JAXA astronauts would have a bigger role than a few musicians - after all, the astronauts work in space. So it would be reasonable to give them supporting roles in our stories.
On the flip side, we aren't asking anyone's permission to use their names. Using elements of other people's works of fiction is one thing - that's a millennia-old storytelling tradition, after all - but using actual other people is something else entirely. (Although there are all those century-old stories about Congressman Davy Crockett...)
So, should we be mentioning real people in Fenspace, or giving them roles in our stories?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012