Is deliberate.

I've always wondered about that little disclaimer in many books. It's to protect against libel suites, right? But what if you actually base character on real people and real event? We all draw from real life to an extent, but if you shamelessly borrow or steal your friends for you novel? Of course, they're still not going to be the same, since they're your own creations, but they'll share similarities and you'll openly admit to basing them off of it...

Is it usually smart to get the people's permission in advance? Or just pretend you're not basing it off them? Or what? My stories run in the direction of my poetry, I often write them for specific people, and they're inspired by specific events. And I've got one rattling in my brain right now that involves three or four other people, besides myself... and I'm wondering how to go about writing it.

Ummm, I found that little disclaimer in a historical fiction book written about Henry VIII and other assorted Tudors. Never understood it.
So I have no insight. I would just write whatever you want to write, and worry about that stuff later. Just do it. People write characters based off of their friends or historical figures all the time, it's fine. Just write.

I understand writing that disclaimer for a few reasons. I recently redrafted my first two chapters and added a momentary relationship Tanner was in. You know, one of those shallow for looks deals but there was a bit of a problem. I always give my characters names with meaning in line with their personalities but I ended up with a name for this girl that is also the name of a slightly moody girl a friend of mine is dating... So basically I can't let either of them read my draft for a while even though the two are totally different people.

I also know that Charles Dickens based a lot of his school masters off of people he knew but I don't think he used the disclaimer.

Come to think of it, Arthur Conan Doyle based his Sherlock Holmes off of his medical professor. I've seen books dedicated to people who the characters were based off of. (That's what it says in the dedication, which is what I like to do.) I guess the sensible thing is to just not use someone who'd be offended or take it wrong, like Riniel fears. Fellow crazy fantasy writers would be fine with it anyway.

Then there's names, of course. My villain's name is Jay. (It's changing of course, but let's ignore that for a moment.) Jay could theoretically take that as an insult, and no amount of disclaimers are going to help fix it...

Celearas, that made me laugh.

So this conversation can morph into a discussion of the purpose of that disclaimer.

If your book isn't based off of anyone in reality, I think it's a good safeguard to add that disclaimer. (It may even be something the publisher puts in - I don't know.)

If you are basing your story off of someone real and want to mention them in the dedication, I would probably ask them first. I know it would be nice to surprise them, but... you never know. They may not want their name mentioned in the dedication for security reasons.

But you can go ahead and work up a rough draft of the book and send them the PDF as a surprise.