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Q&A What are the ethics of using real-world house addresses in historical fiction?

I am editing a novel manuscript for a client of mine. It's a historical fiction set in 1948, so not that long ago. The main character lives in a house above a cafe that I believe is fictional withi...

2 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by Jerenda‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:37:28Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/12384
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Jerenda‭ · 2019-12-08T03:37:28Z (almost 5 years ago)
I am editing a novel manuscript for a client of mine. It's a historical fiction set in 1948, so not that long ago. The main character lives in a house above a cafe that I believe is fictional within the real city the novel is set in. At one point, the address of the cafe is mentioned. Currently, the full address is not given, just the street it is on and some dashes in place of a house number.

Is it ethical to give a house address in a fictional novel that corresponds to a real-world place? Would the owners of that house be annoyed? Would it be better to come up with a non-existent house number along the desired street? (If so, would that be hard?)

The client is considering self-publishing, so there is no publishing house editor I should ask.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-07-15T03:30:39Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 2