: Re: Use of real organization in fiction I have just finished a mystery in which I have used the name of a real community organization. It's an organization that people either love or hate because

@Correia211

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Unless this organization is iconic, I would spend a few sentences to create and describe your own version of the organization, making it different enough so that you can say with a straight face, not the same, really, never crossed my mind that anyone would be confused.

And by iconic, I mean that this organization, and only this organization, has a lock on a particular set of characteristics that are critical to your story. Then you have no choice. Grit your teeth and accept the fact that the lawyers can sue you for breathing, if they want. Just try to write a story that is so compelling that the iconic organization would be embarrassed to sue you. This assumes that the leadership is rational, an increasingly rare trait these days.

Everything that you do has risk. There will always be someone to object to what you have written, no matter how careful you are. My advise is to write the story that you believe in and do it so well that the beauty of the story overwhelms any of the negative aspects of the story.

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