On the other hand, a friend of mine offered to write a story with me as a principal character, which I authorized and cooperated with, but I was driven so frantic by the 'historical inaccuracies' that she kindly turned the project over.

To paraphrase Kallie Thomas from a different thread, unless your real name is Anita Parker, there's no chance of anyone writing a story about you, so you're safe behind your curtain.

I've read a beautiful and funny story about Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts that had a happy ending and it's possible neither of them would've been offended by it, but I've also read snuff stories about them that would've sent them straight up the wall. The Avril Levigne story on this site was good S&M, but it would've been just as good if the author had made up names for his two victims.

And it isn't like Avril or Beyonce are houshold names. I get no image when I read those names and have no idea what they look like, so really, what's the point of it? You'd still have to describe them to me and tell me what they do, so why not make them up instead?

When I said in an earlier post that this was the second thread on the topic, I think the other thread was started by reverie35 to canvas opinions before he posted "Switch". He offered suggestions on ways he could post the story so the readers could fill in the blanks with names of their choice, but got shot down. I really think he did 'due diligence' on this subject beforehand and, while I disagree with the conclusion he reached, he thought it all through very carefully and weighed both sides. Careful, considerate thought is about all we can ask of any writer. If I were him, I wouldn't be so quick to change things, because now we're crossing over into the topic of artistic integrity. Think twice, publish once. You've done that, reverie. Stick to your guns.