Have you ever "murdered" an annoying acquaintance from real life in a novel?

[Andrew Drummond]

I would be interested to know if you have and the law regarding slander must be taken into account.  But I did, in my Roman novel and I really enjoyed it.  It was a former colleague, from some 15 years ago, who was universally disliked by almost all the other employees.  I made him the first victim in my book and a chose a name for the character, which began with the first letter of his first name.  All of his characteristics, physical features and annoying habits effortlessly flowed into the "victim".

As in real life, in my fiction, the character was detested by all those around him.  This gave me an endless list of suspects to work through.

I am sure he is sat comfortably, somewhere in the South East of England, in retirement  and completely unaware of how grateful I now am for his irritating personality.

Don't be shy to share your "literary" murders...

[I. J. Parker]

My point exactly! And I don't like people who fantasize about killing dogs because they find them annoying.

[Stephen Seitz]

I like your imagination. I wish I had that kind of nerve.

[Stephen Seitz]

Andrew, you don't have to worry about libel unless the resemblance between your character is so stark as to be unmistakable, and, even then, they have to demonstrate genuine harm from your portrayal. By placing your character in a different era and with a different name, you have nothing to worry about.

[Andrew Drummond]

Thanks, Stephen.  And in my original post, I used "slander" where I should have used "libel".  Right, time to knock off a few more adversaries from the past, as I'm currently working on Roman Novel II.

[Susan]

Not someone I detested, but I've used the annoying characteristics of many people in creating some of my characters. And, alas, some of them wound up dead

[Andrew Drummond]

 I will try very hard not to annoy you, Susan...

[Susan]

Good move. :)