Writing About the Wives and Kids

It makes me uncomfortable when wives and children are included which is probably why I almost always use original characters if those cirumstances appear in a story of mine.

Since most of us have never come into contact with these celebrities that we write about, we feel a sort of detachment. I remember when I went to my first concert and stood in the mosh and stared up at the stage, this weird feeling came over me and I thought to myself "Whoah. The people I've listened to, I've read about and watched videos of standing right in front of me."

I think on Mibba and other fiction sites in general, lose sight that the people we put in our stories (yes, even though they're positioned in character form) are still living, breathing and walking people. The things we write about could have real life consequences.

Ah. Just a thought. I'm probably rambling.

Audrey T.:

but to have an incest story about Gerard and his real-life kid...that just isn't right to me.

People do that!? O.O
I don't mind if they include the real-life wife/husband. As long as they are respectful, and if they insist on making them a bitch or whatever, there's gotta be a reason behind it, not simply because the writer doesn't like them.
When it comes to kids, once again, if they're being respectful I suppose its okay. But I don't really like it if they're a main character.

I've done it. I wouldn't not do it. I wouldn't stop doing it. I write about those people in the same way I write about the "actual" famous person. I'm not writing about them. I'm writing about a character based on and inspired by them.

Just checking through my Tumblr homepage and came across this. I thought it was pretty relevant, out of the horse's mouth and all:

"you know i wrote that i didnt really want to post pictures of bx out there. i feel like it would be damaging to our family and besides hes not old enough to decide if he wants to be an avatar or not. but the truth is i want him to know there is other stuff out there on the web about him that isnt damaging and is just normal. besides we had an old friend come and just take some pics so we could remember him when he was this lil. hes blonde now." - Pete Wentz, A Homeboy's Life

The quote was underneath a picture of him, his wife, and his child.

*Also...God, Pete, you need to properly capitalize your posts on the boards. Jeez.

I wouldn't write about the person's child, because I have no interest in doing so. But I do write about the wives/girlfriends, since I have no idea what they're like in real life and it's basically just a character inspired by them anyway.

I'm not so obsessed with celebrities that I must make them into a character I can call my own, whilst writing about their personal life (wife and kids). That's just incredibly stupid, but there's people who are into it. So no offense intended.

kafka.:

I think it's absolutely ridiculous to be touchy about celebrities' kids being characters. Stories are fictional and they can't affect reality in any way, I don't see why it's only okay to fictionalize some people. Many children books have characters based on real persons (for example Peter Pan and the Alice in Wonderland books) and nobody has a problem with it.

Yeah, but J.M. Barrie had the blessing of Peter Llewelyn Davies's mother, to base a character on him and his name. Likewise, Henry Liddell had no objections to a likeness of his daughter, Alice Pleasance Liddell, being used. And even more: those characters had names and small likenesses used to be a part of actual characters - they weren't actually 100% those children, and nor were they written to sometimes do lewd and oftentimes *headdesk*-worthy things. There was a certain amount of respect there, whereas in fanfic...I can't say that no one is capable of writing Bronx Wentz or Bandit Way with respect, but it is sometimes sorely lacking in fanfic.

Potatoes:

I'm not so obsessed with celebrities that I must make them into a character I can call my own, whilst writing about their personal life (wife and kids). That's just incredibly stupid, but there's people who are into it. So no offense intended.

I don't understand the beginning part of your statement. Or is it just a slam at fanfiction in general? Because if it is, you probably haven't read any decent fanfiction if you think the sole reason for writing it is because of an obsession. With any good f.f. writer, there is emotion and heart involved.

Jinxeh:

I can't say that no one is capable of writing Bronx Wentz or Bandit Way with respect, but it is sometimes sorely lacking in fanfic.

But sometimes the celebrities aren't treated with respect either in stories.

Some people find Waycest extremely disrespectful to Mikey and Gerard. Some people find slash extremely disrespectful to the celebrities in general. Where do we draw the line?

We can't start a line, is the answer. If we start a line, it's censorship. People have the right to write about whatever they choose.

druscilla pushed.:

Jinxeh:

I can't say that no one is capable of writing Bronx Wentz or Bandit Way with respect, but it is sometimes sorely lacking in fanfic.

But sometimes the celebrities aren't treated with respect either in stories.

Some people find Waycest extremely disrespectful to Mikey and Gerard. Some people find slash extremely disrespectful to the celebrities in general. Where do we draw the line?

We can't start a line, is the answer. If we start a line, it's censorship. People have the right to write about whatever they choose.

But celebrities choose to be famous. They chose that life. I think that for all the people who say they look up to the celebrities they right about, I'd think they'd want to show a little respect to those celebrities and keep their kids out of it.

Audrey T.:

But celebrities choose to be famous. They chose that life. I think that for all the people who say they look up to the celebrities they right about, I'd think they'd want to show a little respect to those celebrities and keep their kids out of it.

Most celebrities choose to take a particular career path with a side effect of fame. With the exception of scene queens and a few others, most celebrities choose to make music or to act or to play a sport. They don't decide on "fame" as a career path.

And I don't think respect has anything to do with using kids in stories.

Granted, I don't do it very often. (I've thrown Jakob and Joey into fics.) But if I choose to, it doesn't mean I respect the person any less. I have the utmost respect for Billie and Adrienne. I've included Jakob and Joey in some of my stories. Writing a story doesn't diminish my respect for them.

Jinxeh:

kafka.:

I think it's absolutely ridiculous to be touchy about celebrities' kids being characters. Stories are fictional and they can't affect reality in any way, I don't see why it's only okay to fictionalize some people. Many children books have characters based on real persons (for example Peter Pan and the Alice in Wonderland books) and nobody has a problem with it.

Yeah, but J.M. Barrie had the blessing of Peter Llewelyn Davies's mother, to base a character on him and his name. Likewise, Henry Liddell had no objections to a likeness of his daughter, Alice Pleasance Liddell, being used. And even more: those characters had names and small likenesses used to be a part of actual characters - they weren't actually 100% those children, and nor were they written to sometimes do lewd and oftentimes *headdesk*-worthy things. There was a certain amount of respect there, whereas in fanfic...I can't say that no one is capable of writing Bronx Wentz or Bandit Way with respect, but it is sometimes sorely lacking in fanfic.

Yes, because Barrie and Carroll Lewis knew the persons that inspired their characters personally, if I want to write a fanfic I don't go ask whomever I'm basing it off if I can make them a character in my story. Or do you do that? I just write the story. I honestly wouldn't mind it if somebody wrote a story about me doing my brother if it were well-written, literature is not always PG-13 incestfree, I don't see why fanfiction needs to be since I see it as literature too, not just bad writing involving loads of sex.
There are many novels that are based on real persons, not all of them overly nice, I maintain the statement that fussing about naming characters after real life persons if the person in question is a kid is pretentious. If fanfiction ever bothered a famous person, they would simply sue its author, and so far I haven't heard of such a trial. Moreover I don't think I should respect a person more just because they're famous. Fame doesn't mean you're a good respect-worthy person.

Venomous.:

The things we write about could have real life consequences.

Like what? This isn't "Inkheart" last I checked.
I once had a girl comment on a Billie/Mike of mine and told me that people like me who write slash are the reason celebrity couples get divorced.
It's bullshit.
What I write doesn't have affect on them or their relationships or what they choose to do.
It's like when a girl threatened to write a story about me and my sister get raped with dildos because I wrote Waycest. It wouldn't have affected a damn thing in my life and the idea that she thought it would was so comical to me that I invited her to write it. She never did.

druscilla feels.:

Venomous.:

The things we write about could have real life consequences.

Like what? This isn't "Inkheart" last I checked.
I once had a girl comment on a Billie/Mike of mine and told me that people like me who write slash are the reason celebrity couples get divorced.
It's bullshit.
What I write doesn't have affect on them or their relationships or what they choose to do.
It's like when a girl threatened to write a story about me and my sister get raped with dildos because I wrote Waycest. It wouldn't have affected a damn thing in my life and the idea that she thought it would was so comical to me that I invited her to write it. She never did.

Actually, it can have real-life consequences. I wrote this in the 'Twitter' thread not too long ago:

Jinxeh:

It's something to be mindful of, though. A friend of Gerard Way, also another musician, thought someone was being serious once, when my Jackie Flores account was Tweeted to and the message had something to do with Gerard. I was not pleased by the private messages I got from said musician about that.

True, that was about having character Twitters for my OCs, and writing bandfic, but the point still stands. A girl I know from LJ has a similar story; her fic became very popular - so much so, that when you Googled the name of Gerard Way, her fic popped up on the first page of results for quite some time. She was a bit embarrassed about it, but at least it didn't result in any serious ramifications.

Jinxeh:

A girl I know from LJ has a similar story; her fic became very popular - so much so, that when you Googled the name of Gerard Way, her fic popped up on the first page of results for quite some time. She was a bit embarrassed about it, but at least it didn't result in any serious ramifications.

I still don't get how that's a serious ramification.
And the Twitter thing, well that has more to do with Twitter than fic...

I said it wasn't a serious ramification, just embarrassing. And yes, I also said it was Twitter, and fic. The person who Tweeted that OC account was a reader, and was playing along with the story. You're making this all way too black-and-white, and ignoring the points I'm making because of small technicalities.

kafka.:

I think it's absolutely ridiculous to be touchy about celebrities' kids being characters. Stories are fictional and they can't affect reality in any way, I don't see why it's only okay to fictionalize some people. Many children books have characters based on real persons (for example Peter Pan and the Alice in Wonderland books) and nobody has a problem with it.

They actually did had a problem with that... Alice Lidell became distant towards Carroll, and she always lamented to have that book written where the main character was based on her.

Peter Pan, the boy committed suicide after having troubles with drugs and alcohol.

Fiction can damage people's lives specially when the story is based on a real character and when the character is a mere child.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as complete freedom of speech and censorship will always exist. You can't go into the street and scream "[Insert Name Here] is a child rapist pedophile who shoots heroine and touches up little boys" whether they are a celebrity or not without living with the ramifications (law suits, conflict etc). Just because it's fiction and on the internet, why are we allowed to do this?

I acknowledge this point but I can also see, on the viewpoint of a fan, that celebrity status comes with it the knowledge that people are going to talk about you, think about you, write about you, take photos of you. That's different when a child is involved. Personally, I believe no child should be...exploited like that. It simply does not sit right with me.

We can argue about this all night and still not achieve the right answer. As, I think it was Jinxeh, pointed out, it's not a black or white situation. There are an infinite number of grey areas. Ultimately no one here can stop anyone else from writing about what they want though many of us will still choose not to include celebrity family and children in our writing. It depends solely on your own personal moral point of view.

Though I urge everyone to remember that the internet is a public space and you are not anonymous no matter how much you think you are.

I'm really against writing kids in fic, unless it's in passing. It's just- they're kids! There's really no reason to use them in there. It's just really creepy and disresppectful to me. Even using Frances Bean Cobain is weird to me. She may be older, but she's still only famous (that I know of) because her parents are rock stars.

horror show:

kafka.:

I think it's absolutely ridiculous to be touchy about celebrities' kids being characters. Stories are fictional and they can't affect reality in any way, I don't see why it's only okay to fictionalize some people. Many children books have characters based on real persons (for example Peter Pan and the Alice in Wonderland books) and nobody has a problem with it.

They actually did had a problem with that... Alice Lidell became distant towards Carroll, and she always lamented to have that book written where the main character was based on her.

Peter Pan, the boy committed suicide after having troubles with drugs and alcohol.

Fiction can damage people's lives specially when the story is based on a real character and when the character is a mere child.

We don't know what really happened between the Liddells and Carroll because the pages in his diary relating to the fall out are missing and the Liddells refused to give details about it. Alice Liddell wrote a memoir in the 30s, I wonder if you've read it, I haven't because I couldn't acquire it, and that's why I'm asking. I didn't know that writing books about somebody makes them develop mental disorders, although it seems highly improbable from a medical point of view, you seem to be sure of your information so I won't debate it any further.

Again, if anybody had a problem with the fanfiction that was written about them they would just sue, which, up to this date and as far as I know it, has never happened.

Venomous.:

In my opinion, there is no such thing as complete freedom of speech and censorship will always exist. You can't go into the street and scream "[Insert Name Here] is a child rapist pedophile who shoots heroine and touches up little boys" whether they are a celebrity or not without living with the ramifications (law suits, conflict etc). Just because it's fiction and on the internet, why are we allowed to do this?

Because (apart from government laws) the owner of the site/server has the right to decide what goes on their site and right now there are no restrictions regarding the content of stories on Mibba. Also, you can go running around screaming whatever you want about whomever you want. There are some chances that they'll sue you for slander, but on principle you're allowed to run around screaming. Censorship seems to be in people's minds more than in laws.