Forum: Story Ideas

It's that "unique" part that's always the problem. Prison stories are a dime a dozen and the only really interesting part that I see is that we're talking about a real Hollywood star who happens to be quite the hottie.

Some say that it'd be wrong to write a non-con scene because it is a real person. But others say that it would be okay since non-con is actually quite a real thing in prisons around the world. I can see it being rather squick for some, and admit it is a touchy subject.

Half the fun, imo, would be the wake-up call it'd certainly give her. She has to survive amidst the peons, women who would love nothing more than to own her in a dozen ways. Maybe the guards are complicit since they're pissed about her elitist/entitled ways.

Maybe the key to it would be relay everything through her private memoirs or diary as she's trying to talk with her therapist, working out all the things that happened to her.

One of the ideas I had was to focus on the way the court of public opinion swayed what happened in the legal court. She could have gotten off with a fine and public service, but the media was in full swing. Even when she was accidentally shipped to the wrong prison, it was the media that made it impossible for her to be transferred because they were running constant hit pieces on her, the judge, the prosecutor and everyone else. Imagine headlines like "Oooh, little Miss Hollywood gets special treatment!" or, "The Rich get Club Fed, You get Club Dread."

Even in the age of the 24hr news cycle, the stories just don't seem to stop as everyone's fixated on her for some reason. With all the pressure from the media and protesters on the street, there's no way the judge can be seen playing favorites, so she decides to leave the mistake as is. Lori stays in the "standard" prison with all the low-lifes and learns some hard lessons.

It's that "unique" part that's always the problem.

Some say that it'd be wrong to write a non-con scene because it is a real person.

The problem is that writing a story like that about a real person is that unless you are writing an authorized biography it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I don't know what the legalities are but when you are writing a fan fiction about celebrities its probably not that big of a deal. Public commons.

Fan fiction about the characters they play is one thing. Stories about the celebrity themselves are a different matter.

Obscurity is what protects most of the authors.

The actual legalities are almost irrelevant. Under US law anyone can file suit over almost anything.

If the celebrity finds out about the story and decides to sue (they generally have money to pay lawyers), one of two things will happen.

1. The author fails to respond and the celebrity gets a default judgement in their favor which they can use to force any site hosting the story to take it down.

2. The author spends a lot of time and money fighting the law suit. Even if the judge can be convinced the suit is frivolous and dismisses it early, it will still cost the author money. The process is the punishment.

Somehow it's okay to write about a fictional "person" having something bad done to them, but not a real person who just got sentenced?

It's not about it being morally wrong to write about a real person that way.

It's about writing that way about a famous person with a public reputation to protect and money to pay lawyers. A person who might just get miffed over being written about that way.

I'm not saying someone should or shouldn't do it, but if you are going to do it, you should understand that there are risks in writing fictional stories about real living people and what those risks are.

Good point. I hadn't considered that angle.

. As for being used in a fictional story as long as you don't claim anything as fact there's not a damn thing they can do.

They can sue. They won't win, but getting it dismissed will cost the author a lot of time and money.

As they say, the process is the punishment.

They can sue. They won't win, but getting it dismissed will cost the author a lot of time and money.

If deemed a frivolous lawsuit the person who brought it may have to pay all court and attorney fees. That could be why Trump always threatens to sue for libel yet rarely does.

If deemed a frivolous lawsuit the person who brought it may have to pay all court and attorney fees.

No, the US does not have loser pays. Barring extraordinary circumstances all parties pay their own costs.

ETA: It is possible to get awards of costs and attorney fees in the US, but it is NOT routine, even in cases dismissed as frivolous.