Thinking (ha!) of writing something, and was toying with the idea of using Lilith – first wife of Adam, mother of the Lilim – as a character (villain?)
But a friend said, “Bad idea.” Apparently, Lilith is a vampire in the True Blood series, and my friend said everyone will think of that character first. Not so much that people will think I’m stealing, but the name Lilith, nowadays, is just too strongly associated with True Blood and that specific vampire.
(My character would not be a vampire! Somewhat demonic, perhaps…)
I think 'that music thing with “Sarah McLaughlin” '. But the characters been used pretty frequently in all sorts of fantasy lit. I doubt many people would be under the misapprehension you’re ripping off True Blood (plus, why would anyone want to rip off True Blood)?
FTR, when I saw the thread title, I just assume you were planning to add the True Blood character Lilith to something you were writing (or do some kind of fanfic with her).
But, she’s a VERY prominent (non-main) character right now and if you use the name now and your book isn’t associated with vampires it won’t be a problem once the character is off the show…which is like a soap opera by the way, other then the main cast, the rest of the show is like a revolving door. Lilith has been on for two seasons IIRC, she’ll probably be gone some time next year.
It would be like naming someone Skyler right now. Of course everyone is going to think of Skyler White, but if what you write is good and people are still reading it in a few years, they won’t anymore.
When I hear Lilith I think of Lilith in the Nightside series. Who is more akin to the Christian-mythic version, not the vampire version (and by no means is True Blood Lilith the only vampiric Lilith). Really; Lilith is used often enough that you’ll just be one of many.
This +15. By the time I learned that Lilith was the first wife of Adam (I still don’t know according to whom), I’d encountered the name in half a dozen different books; this was years before True Blood came out.
Sigh… They’re only about a thousand times more popular than my story is ever likely to be. What I wouldn’t give for a readership the size of their viewership!
Thank you, and thank you all, for your advice. I feel a little more comfortable using the character name. At least it’s in the public domain!
I meant that your friend is overly concerned about people’s ability to divorce the concept of Lilith from True Blood. I’m sure to its many fans, True Blood is very important.
Your friend is severely underestimating the knowledge of Lilith among the sort of people likely to read a book of a genre where she can logically be used as a character, and just how widely the name is used, both to refer to THE Lilith, and for characters simply named after her.
You know, I’ve been a christian for a very long time, but only recently come across this concept of Lilith, which is jewish folklore concept. It is mentioned in the Narnia books, but without the resources of Google/Wikipedia in the 70’s, I never investigated at the time.
It’s certainly spread beyond that. I recall Jerry Falwell condemning Lilith Fair for being named after Lilith. IIRC, it was him or Pat Robertson who claimed that the sin of Lilith was that she liked to have sex on top.