Ah, the mighty disclaimer. It's like a security blanket and a sigh of relief, all in one.
When you're writing a piece of fiction, the sky is the limit. You can write absolutely anything - as long as it does not include a non-fictional person, company, or event where you may or may not commit character assassination. That should be a no-brainer, but people make mistakes. And the cost can be a hefty one.
Have you ever read a novel and thought to yourself, "That sounds like something I would do"? This is a good thing. That means the writer has created a character that you can relate to. Do not mistake that for the character actually being based on you.
I, personally, cannot stand legalese. Hereto, forthwith, and let's throw some Latin in for good measure. It's right up there with original plant species names and medical terms. Thankfully, to write a disclaimer for your book, you do not need to make it unnecessarily complicated. As a matter of fact, you can even make it a little bit tongue-in-cheek - as long as you get the message across that this is a work of fiction.
In case you blow past my disclaimer when you read my book, let me make it perfectly clear. You'll recognize some locations, celebrity mentions and song titles. But the characters? They were all from the very depths of my imagination, make no mistake about it. And names? I found that to be the trickiest part, to be honest. By the time you've lived some decades, you have met a lot of people. You have heard a lot of names. Chances are, you'll be using a name or two that you've been exposed to before. Rest assured, when I named my characters I was picturing them, not whoever else may have this name. Besides...if you are really convinced one of these characters is actually you, it may be revealing a bigger problem. Many of the characters in Mac are psychopaths.
Writing a disclaimer for your book is never a bad idea. What's a few more lines for some peace of mind?