Would you be angry if . .

[Wabbit]

I think I would be upset if the author based a character on me without asking me. If the author just used a couple of traits for inspiration and the character was obviously not me then it would be OK.

 

[Henry]

But isn't there something nearly as bad?

What if you are getting on quietly with your life, and all of a sudden, some woman writing in a corner cafe 5,000 miles away decides to use your name for her main character.

And, with the runaway success of her novels, and films, your life, Mr Harold Potter, is irrevocably changed. When you are introduced to people, they smirk, or act slightly bemused as they try to remember why and where they have heard your name before. And the endless little quips in the office about being able to perform magic - "Oh, let Harry deal with it, he''ll make the problem disappear."

I have this deeply irrational fear - Nomenophobia (if there isn't already a name for it) - that one day my name will be used, possibly as the most abhorrent and despicable character, in a book or a film, and my life will never be the same again.

Imagine how all the real James Moriartys felt at the time when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to use that name in 1893, and although he only appeared in two Sherlock Holmes' books, he is remembered as the arch villain. Or Ian Fleming's use of an Eton schoolfriend's name, Blofeld, as the villain in three of his James Bond books, with six film outings. Try living that one down. The guy must have really got on the wrong side of Fleming. I wonder if he just gave in to it and shaved his head and bought a white Angora cat?