In my spare time I write short stories, and I’ve been working on a couple of chapters for a novel, just to see what’s possible. The novel is set here in Virginia, and so far, the people that I’ve let read the stories and chapters have all been enthusiastic.
If I set a scene in a well known eatery, do I have to get permission from the owner to print the name, describe the interior, and generally make reference to it? The same question would go for malls, department stores, etc.
The story is very locality specific, and if I have to start making up names the whole flavor of the story is going to get changed.
You would have to use any trademarks correctly (though there’s not likely to be much of a penalty other than a warning) and you could possible get into trouble if you say something defamatory (but that’s not likely).
Unless it’s important to your story, it’s far simple and safer to change the name of the eatery and alter its descriptions slightly (put it at a fictional address rather than its actual address) and you sidestep the whole issue. Lots of authors use this technique.
I won’t be giving any actual street addresses, just the names of well-known places about town.
The sense of place and location are really part of the story, and I’d rather the reader be able to say “Yeah, I’ve been to Joe’s Restaurant and eaten the crab cakes, too” instead of “That place sounds alot like Joe’s Restaurant.”
I personally like the frisson of insider feeling in a thinly fictionalized locale. For instance, one of the things I like about Sue Grafton’s books is identifying what the places in and around Santa Teresa “really” are, having gone undergrad to UC Santa Barbara.
You do not have to change names or get permission. I would encourage you to make things accurate if you’re going to use a real city. There is nothing more annoying than reading a book that is set in, say, Columbus Ohio (a real example) where the author puts Bexley in the wrong place.
So, if you’re going to use real things, make them really real. If you want to fictionalize them slightly, make them up from scratch.
Or try this: write the story using the actual setting. When you’re done, go back and make some minor changes. Maybe just the name and one or two details. That way, you can draw upon your experiences for the story, but give the reader some distance from the actual place.
Technically, you don’t need permission, but publishers tend to be a nervous lot these days. Some may ask you to change the name before they’ll go to press.
Generally, in Copyright and Trademark litigation there has to be a compelling damaging reason to sue someone for use.
As long as you do not defame the restaurant, or have one of your main characters get poisoned on their crab cake, you should be just fine.
But don’t worry. Publishers have attorneys and fact finders who do this for a living. When I worked at a film studio, there was a guy in the legal department who would spend hours on the internet and doing other research to make sure the name of the main characters didn’t infringe on any real people, or that the evil corporation wasn’t actually a real corporation in Botswana or somewhere.
You can use names like Mary Smith with no problem, but not if your Mary Smith has one leg, a dog named Skippy and murders her mother if there really is a Mary Smith somewhere who also has one leg, a dog named Skippy and murdered her mother. One of the hardest things for screenwriters is to come up with generic corporate names - no matter how obscure and nonsensical, you would be amazed at how often those names are registered! Same with places like Burger King or KFC. You can mention them, as they are part of the popular culture, “Billy is going to meet us at Burger King later” but you sure as hell better not say, “that KFC chicken is the worst crap I have ever eaten”. May be true, but you can bet some attorney from KFC will be a’knockin’ on your door shortly after publication.
So, leave it in your story and when you get to publication, they will cast a wary eye over the manuscript to see if there are any possible causes for litigation.
Well, I LIKE making things up, so I made up some place for my books.
Used some real places, too. Put the actual local underground/arts news weekly in, because to rename that one would have looked stupid.
Used the name of real/public people.
Here’s what happened. I mentioned Susan Lucci, who had never won an Emmy after 19 years (or something like that) of being nominated, and used that as a kind of a metaphor. When the book was in production she finally won . . . so I had to change that. (And it didn’t work as well.)
Also used Princess Diana, in a humorous context. She was alive and kicking when I WROTE the book but, lag time in publishing being what it is, by the time I SOLD the book she was unfortunately dead and the joke I’d made at her expense was not funny anymore. (And I had forgotten that bit was in there, it being in the form of a snide comment by a character who was not even a main character. Fortunately my editor actually READ the ms. Not all of them do.)
Used an actual restaurant/bar, which by the time the book came out had changed names/ownership/clientele not once but TWICE. So it looked like fiction, anyway. Whereas the bar I made up is just as real as it ever was!
The only thing my publisher wouldn’t let me use was John Elway Everycar. I had to make up the name of a car dealership.
I’ve read a series of books based in Fort Worth, Texas. Since I’ve lived in Fort Worth off and on my entire life, sometimes this adds a nice bit of flavor to the book. However, this author needs to come back to this town and get reaquainted with it. Quite a few of our landmarks and businesses have changed drastically, and she’s still using the old names and places…and in some cases the businesses and landmarks are completely gone.
I’d say fictionalize everything. For example, a writer who based a story in Fort Worth could mention a made-up little family-run Mexican restaurant, and be pretty safe. We’ve got lots of them. However, the writer mentions a restaurant that has been out of business for the better part of a decade, and the story is supposed to be current, then I (the reader who knows Fort Worth) am jarred out of the story. It leaves a bad feeling for that book in my memories.
I liked the fact that in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil actual restaurants in Savannah were named. (I think the owners of some of those restaurants have liked it too, considering how much it’s helped tourism) It does help make a connection to the locale.
On the other hand, back when MASH was on, they occasionally made mention of Radar being from Ottumwa Iowa. I grew up 25 miles from there and went to college in Ottumwa for 2 years. It was never represented correctly in the show and that used to bug the hell out of me.