Q. What is the current convention surrounding novelists and the
Christian names they allot? A writer friend has given my name to a peripheral, unsympathetic, victim-like character in her latest work. Should I be offended? Should I be flattered? Or, because my name is classless, am I being big-headed to assume that her use of it was not chance? But isn’t it offensive to imply that an author worth her salt writes anything by coincidence? Commenting could show me in a pretty dull light but silence could display a lack of appreciation. Advice please.
Name and address withheld A. It is more likely that the writer has used your name because you are not a peripheral, unsympathetic victim, rather than because you are. In this way she can confound critics who would accuse her of lacking in imagination for not only basing a character on someone she knows in real life but even for using that person’s name. Congratulate her on the book and say how pleased you were to see your name being used since, paradoxically, it means she holds you in high esteem.
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