The Word Cloud

Hi Cloudsters,

I'm putting the finishing touches to a novel set in the very near future, dealing with the rather topical Middle East. The countries are real, the situations are possible but I refer to a couple of real people and one of them is a former PM of Israel who is currently lying in a coma (since 2006). My WW editor, the wonderful Debi Alper, has advised me as follows (and I always follow her advice!):

Real people have to be handled with great care in order to avoid any possible legal ramifications. You should certainly never quote them unless the quote is already a matter of public record. Check that you haven’t said anything that might be considered defamatory re Al Maktoum and (in particular) Ariel Sharon.

For the plot, it is important that a train of events has been set in motion and cannot be stopped which is why I have used Sharon's unfortunate condition. Now, I can probably fictionalise him and de-identify some other characters but it would make the story lose some authenticity. Does anyone have any experience or advice on this subject?

See here for some general guidance: http://www.societyofauthors.org/soa-news/libel-law

I'm a member of SoA but I'm not at home this week so don't have access to my log in details to check the members' only section re libel.