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Can I change people's names in my autobiography?
Anonymous3 views3 answers
I am planning to type up an autobiography I want names confidential...including mine. Would that be a problem if I used a different name and used different names in my autobiograpy? One comes from my older brother and I don't want him knowing about my autobiography. I am doing this autobiography to teach young teenagers to speak up if they are going through abuse after abuse that I went through, but I also want to get my autobiography published once it's done. Because what happened to me growing up is 100% true.
From the tone of your question, I am assuming that you are concerned about possible liability issues that may arise from your book. The best thing to do would be to consult with an attorney who is experienced with libel, defamation and slander defense.
Generally, the truth is a defense against libel. That is, if a statement is true then there is no libel. The question you need to have an attorney answer (and this is going to be a legal opinion, so expect to have to pay for it) is: what affect will changing a name have on the truth of a statement and how does that affect my liability.
You would like to write a work of fiction based of fictional characters and on your real life experience? yes, you can, it is the basis for most books, but that is not an autobiography.
The only issue you may have is if the story can be sufficiently detailed to identify a person and that person feels slandered, the you will have a law suit. Of course you could have a defense, but that does not prevent a law suit, or other type of vengeance.
Have an attorney review the final draft and work to smooth out the areas that could become an issue.
If your purpose is to teach, not to exact vengeance, then perhaps the best tack is to fully disguise not just names but places. No close names but fully disguised ones, and insist that the publisher explicitly use a fake name as author. (That might drum up sales some.) Of course, you cannot do a book tour, at least not to brick and mortars stores, but they do not increase sales much--word of mouth, weblogs and the like do.
I agree that you shopuld consult an attorney versed in defamation and publishing.
