Personally, I consider Real Person Fics to be a form of libel.

I don't read a lot of real person fiction, but in my opinion, it depends on what the story is about, what happens, and how it's written. A famous actor having an amusing day on the beach seems pretty harmless.

The same actor getting written into bad slash in which he leaves his family behind to take part in whatever fantasies the author has in mind.... Not so much.

But Aster already made a good point about real people as characters. And I agree, forcing an AU real person to go too far is a bit creepy.

So my reaction to real person fiction can range anywhere from amused to thoroughly creeped out, but it all depends on the story itself.

In my spin off, if the PPC ever encounters 'real people' in a badfic, they are kind of like author inserts in that they aren't the 'real' real person (the one that we know, behind the fourth wall) but an alternate universe version that exists in the PPC Prime Multiverse.

In the same way a Self Insert isn't REALLY the author, but an AU copy, so are the 'real people' copies of the originals. No less important than the originals, though.

But... it's kind of bad to do that because it's one thing to write an AU of yourself, but another thing entirely to write an AU version of someone else. An author may choose to make their Self-insert leave their family and friends behind and forget about them, but MAKING another person do that? Nightmare fuel.

If I encountered a Real Person, I would have to escort them back to their real origin-AU to be with their family and friends, or exorcise that origin AU of glitter to let them just live their lives in peace.

I wouldn't go after RPF itself, though. That sounds like a job for Despatch.

But not totally. For instance, Robert Graves' "I, Claudius" is technically RPF, being essentially the fictional autobiography of the emperor Claudius. Compare/contrast Ralph Nader's "Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us," (which, I feel obliged to add, I was very disappointed in; Ralph Nader writing RPF should be the crackiest thing ever committed to paper, not this dull slog) where a whole bunch of billionaires get together and decide to change the world with a parrot mascot.

I think RPF can be done well (as in the case of Claudius) as long as the author bears in mind that they are writing about a real person and does their best to treat the subject(s) with respect. I'd also add that, as a point of courtesy, one shouldn't write about people who are still alive. Writing RPF as an extension of one's own lurid fantasies is just sleazy.

I loathe the stuff. I know that when somebody puts their lives out there as public, they generally know people are gong to mess about with it. Same as prying, for the press-- it's not okay to pick a random neighbor and start writing stories about how their kids are turning out, but it's fine to do that to a celebrity, because they're public figures...

But the idea of taking a real person's life and, without their consent, drawing up stories about them, sort of flips a switch in my brain. Like bandfic-- people might have a lot of fun slashing four attractive musicians, but they don't seem to realize that those people who they're writing about having sex in the studio have wives, and kids, and... the whole idea just sorta makes me twitch.

But everybody's different. Like Cassie said, the PPC doesn't (as far as I know) go after RPF, but I don't know if anyone here does MSTs or something. There might be something on the Wiki.

it depends what you mean by "think of it". We don't do RPF missions in the PPC any more, so far as I know.