Branding questions

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.12.2006

Victoria Lynn Schmidt blogged about branding the other day. She asked a few questions for the writer to ask herself. Let's see if they'll give me a clue as to what genre I'd rather write--chick-lit or suspense.

What are your skills?

Entertainment? Well, that's what I'd like my skills to be. I like telling a story. I can better see myself making people laugh than scaring them out of their socks, but then again, it isn't common social practice to tell suspense or ghost stories at parties.

Which genre is the best for your writing style and interests?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Let's see. When I read, I like the excitement of a chase scene or a fight scene, but I'm more attracted to humorous situations and dialogue. And I've found I'm impatient with the tense set-up required from a suspense. I prefer the humorous set-up in a chick-lit, although sometimes the Too Stupid To Live actions of some chick-lit heroines can get annoying.

What is important to you? (do you want to Educate? Entertain? Scare?)

Entertain. Make someone flip pages. What makes me flip pages is a good plot thread that keeps me interested in what'll happen next. I guess a good plot thread can be woven into either a chick-lit or a suspense.

I think the biggest thing is that I don't feel the urgency to make someone cry or face their own struggles or change their lives. I want to entertain. If my characters influence someone's outlook, I want it to be a subtle change that they may not even be aware of.

How would you like your work to be remembered?

Realistic characters with real struggles and no pat answers, but real hope.

If you had to create a one liner about your work what would it be? (Heartfelt stories that make you cry? Smart, steamy romances?)

Real life but more entertaining.

Conclusions:

Well, heck, where does this leave me? I think I have a preference for chick-lit, but am I skilled enough in it? Do I prefer humor right at this moment because I was revising my suspense manuscript and I'm sick of looking at it?

I'll tackle this question another day. Right now I need to do more writing.

Bible in 90 Days: day 4. Entered Exodus today. Hehehe.

Writing: Darn it, I didn't get anything done. I disrupted my schedule a bit by driving a friend to get her eyes dilated today and then having High Tea with her, but I should have done some writing. I'll go do some now.

Diet: I'm going to start keeping myself accountable on my blog. It'll be the last thing I blog about. If that's TMI for you, too bad. I'm determined to lose weight this year. If I can determine to learn more writing discipline, then heck, I can determine to fit in my fat-jeans again.

Except I had a crappy diet day. :)

Well, sort of. I ate a small, healthy brunch, then had English High Tea with a friend. But even that wasn't that bad--the only diet killers were the Devonshire cream and the two little cheese puffs. For dinner, shrimp and shredded cabbage burrito (it tasted better than it sounds--"shrimp key lime" or something like that).

Calories? Who knows, maybe 2000? But I went on the exercise bike for 30 minutes today. That'll take care of some of that Devonshire cream.