Writing Well Is The Best Revenge

The easiest way to appear as a character in a novel? Offend the novelist. Michael Crichton, for one, was so incensed by the criticism of reviewer Mike Crowley, that he named a character after him in his new book, Next. The fictional Mike Crowley is a "wealthy, spoiled Yale graduate" on trial for the rape of his two-year-old nephew. Now that's hitting below the belt. This article points out other such examples -- including the famous Graham Greene-J.B. Priestley spat over Stamboul Train.