ABSTRACT. According to abstract creationist views, fictional characters are contingently existing abstract entities. Thomasson and others have showed that creationism can be successfully defended against standard objections. I will argue, however, that the main claims of creationism are flawed in light of the available linguistic data. After delineating the basic problems of this view, I will briefly consider two alternative approaches. An important advantage of these alternatives is that they are able to provide a more adequate description of the origin of fictional characters. pp. 140–151

Keywords: fictional characters; abstracta; authorial creation; linguistic data