The Perfect Brand

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern.
A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock.
A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything.
No wonder you and London will get along so well.


What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-)






See, I knew I was living in the wrong city, that I belong in London!

Again this is a quick, quick blog today. I just got back a critique from a friend that really kicked me in the ass. He totally nailed what was wrong with the manuscript. Thank god! Now, I totally know where to go with it. I was guilty of having way too much backstory, and not making the stakes high enough for the main character. I know that my writing is good, and that I have a really good voice, but raising the stakes is always been my problem.

Now, I know what to fix, and I think that I can cut at least 2-3 more pages out of the manuscript, getting the first 3 chapters down to under 50 pages which is cool. Received an email from dream agent #2, who wants the first 100 pages, so this weekend will be spenting editing another 50 pages to send to her on Monday. I already know that I can cut at least 8 pages out of it which is exciting.

But before I sign off to go back and edit, I wanted to mention an article that I read in the New York Daily News yesterday called 'Prada Placement". You can read it here.

Basically the article is about the trend of a certain type of fiction that sprinkles brand names among the story. They mention Plum Syke's Bergdorf Blondes as starting the trend, but now it's taken to a whole new level. Alison Pace got Theory to throw parties for her because she mentioned their pants in her new book. Actually Fay Weldon was paid by Bulgari to mention them in one of her novels, and Carole Matthews also wrote short stories for Ford escort.

While I don't mind reading books that are filled with designer names, I personally try not to do to much name dropping in my novels unless it's appropriate. Most of my main characters don't have the kind of money to spend on Gucci unless they find it at Loehmann's or Century 21. And I can't see mentioning a designer, just to see if they'll throw me a party when the book comes out, although I can see that it's a great marketing tool, if you don't have the money to spend on a publicist.

What do other people think? When you read chick-lit or the new trend of 'gossip fiction' (where do they come up with these things?), does it bother you if the author spends as much time listing the brand names, as they do telling the story? Or does it matter to you at all?