Character naming question

[theresa_ramseyer]

Good morning :).

Chatting last night, and had a fanfic idea for at least one story. But I need a particular character's initials to be SB, at least during drafting.

I love the name Steven Barnes for him, it just seems to fit - but I know there's at least one real, live Steven Barnes out there. He's a writer, and I get writing messages/newsletters from him occasionally.

If anything ever comes of this beside between the four of us, do I need to specifically put something into my disclaimer that SB is not based on the writer/coach Steven Barnes? The character and the real SB don't look anything alike, and I'm not basing the character off of him at all, so my stories won't be "real person".

Thanks,
Theresa

Comments

[wintergrey]

I certainly wouldn't worry about it at all, definitely not for fanfic. It's a common name—a search brings up a multitude of images of different men. Unique names sometimes can cause issues in certain types of published works, due to association with the RL person, but you're not talking about Quevenzhane Wallis here. XD