What do you think of the use of Brand Names in literature?

product placement

>>7883903
what an inane question

>>7883910
fuck you

product of the times i guess. not too interesting

>>7883928
fuck you twice, stupid
don't ask dumb shit

your question is so abstract as to be near meaningless. different authors do different things with brand names in different books, asking for a single opinion betrays a distinct lack of mental acuity on your part

All right, here goes. This is my look on it.

It's completely unnecessary in 9/10 situations, and I'm going to be calling Twilight and Fifty Shades in on this one because they are HUGE culprits. Every fucking car has to be a make and model, hell throw in the year too. He doesn't just drive a sports car, he drives a silver Volvo x3000 cabriolet or something. It adds nothing to the story.

However, in some stories, especially ones that are intended to be in a sort of mundane world, it's okay to have some brands if they're easily recognized and more often than not used in place of the thing's generic name. We don't call them zip bags or plastic bags, they're Zip-Loc bags. We don't call them hot tubs, we call them Jacuzzis. She's not using a slow cooker, she's cooking with a Crock Pot. Those are fine.

But we don't need to know that he's using gmail on an HP Lovecraft 2700 laptop. We don't need to know the EXACT specs (that can't possibly exist) on the Macbook that Christian gives Ana. Why is that so fucking important?

Anyway, that's just my opinion.

>>7883998
I left the question open so you could respond as you wished. You could have discussdd how a particular author uses them in an effective way, or overuses them, for example, you triple nigger.

It may add to the book in some cases (e.g. American Psycho, Tao Lins works) when materialism is the topic. It's not necessary though (Great Gatsby).
Often it's simply shoehorned in to show off the knowlegde of the author about obscure brands which feels cheap. Overall depends on the context I guess.

What about faux-brands?
Animu certainly dives in deep there, though I'm not sure if Japanese law is more strict in those cases.

Plenty of MacRonalds, Starbook and Burger Squire.

Always feels tacky to me. Only appropriate in an actual lampoon. Otherwise, just call it something else. Anything else.

>>7885202
"Burger Squire" is absolutely hilarious.

>>7885202
I agree. Having brands at all seems like it'll date the book horribly though. It's tricky as technology is moving so fast that people will forget what was important about any given one in a decade or two.

>>7883903

Avoid at all cost. Better to be generic/vague instead of name dropping places unless it's important to the plot and reoccurring. In that case just give it a fictional name.

Creative writing major here. Appreciate your opinions, but it's actually best to always be as specific as possible when describing still life objects in your prose. It helps the reader to get immersed in the story better.

e.g. (don't rip this off, it's actually an excerpt from my novel-in-progress)
a) Sarah opened her bag and took out a book. = bad sentence
b) Sarah opened her small Fendi handbag which was of some kind of a yellow crocodile skin material; albeit a 2015 season bag, a Fendi is a Fendi -- and you could sense its luxury and prestige in the air whenever the bag was anywhere in your proximity; oh, Sarah could remembered very well... seeing the bag for the first time on a fashion show in Milan... of course she had to have it straight away! everyone who is anyone has a Fendi; and she took out a book. = good sentence

PS ofc you can also include a name of a book but that's a slippery slope -- what if the reader doesn't like that particular book?

Cheers

>>7885541
>Appreciate your opinions
Fuck off Ben, no-one cares what you think.

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>>7885541

>>7885396
>>7885209
you guys are heading into "he was speaking with -------- when..."/Madame
de B. territory
which is equally obnoxious

>>7885541
This, but the opposite.

>>7885541
You are the biggest faggot that ever sucked a nigger's dick, Ben. I will be banned for this, but I simply want to make sure that you understand that you are everything that is wrong with the world, an awful person, and you should feel bad for the oxygen you deplete. Every night, when your mother is fucking her bull, she tells your father that the reason she cuckolds him is you, you are proof of the inferiority of his genes. And he sighs and acknowledges that she is right, while Jamar pumps her full of his sticky nigger-cum. It is 2015 season nigger cum, and your father can taste the luxury as it drips out of your mother's festering cunt. He could remember well the time when it was his cum, before he had proven his failure to the world. You are that failure, Ben.

Please, don't copy this, it is an excerpt of my novel in progress: "Ben's mother, adventures in cuckoldry."

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>>7885632

>read a few pages of some Matthew Reilly book in school
>"he opened his powerful ASUS laptop"

>>7885541
this post is a case-study in the bizarre degree of narcissim inherent to being the kind of dipshit who uses a trip-code

>>7883903
99% of the time it's absolutely pointless or obnoxious. Like tao lin and his white predecessor bee. They're fucking terrible writers. It can theoretically be used as a form of symbolism or just to crack some esoteric jokes, but this is very rarely done in any effective capacity. The best place for it is vaporware-influenced literature that reconstructs the banal into the mystical, sort of like a 21st century take on Joyce's metempsychosis of the mundane.

>>7885883
> The best place for it is vaporware-influenced literature that reconstructs the banal into the mystical, sort of like a 21st century take on Joyce's metempsychosis of the mundane
Examples?

>>7885632
you try hard, very hard, but it's good, cause I'm hard af

>>7886112
There really aren't any as far as I know. But there hypothetically can be if someone writes one.

>>7885794
Nah man, you're the narcissist atm. I just know how things can get around here when someone actually starts cultivating any resemblance of a discussion, and didn't want anyone falsely presenting themselves as me in order to troll people with bad advice and discredit me.

PS sorry for my late responses. Been a good 10 hours straight of writing today, tired as hell.
I'm watching the thread though, so everyone feel free to ask me about any other creative writing stuff you're unsure about, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can, probably tomorrow. (creative writing stuff ONLY pls)

Cheers

>>7887197
FILTERED

:')

I think people define themselves and are defined by their consumer choices to such a degree both consciously and unconsciously that mentioning brand names in literature is relevant since it tells how a character views himself and what his place in the world is.

A Monster Energy cap is not just a cap, for example. There is ideology in the particulars.

>>7885541
Please tell me this is bait. The idea you're espousing the genuine advice of a creative writing program is abhorrent. At least tell me what school so I can avoid.

Guys, It's obviously fucking highly dependant on what sort of writer you are. There are lot's of cases where it's fine and lots where it would sit ill at ease with the style.

Bret Easton Ellis - Yes
Chuck Pal - Yes
Kafka - no

It's dependant on loads of things.

>>7885541

Herpy de derp fellas I lurnded how to wrate a good sentence, see this sentence is good and that one is bad.

> kill yourself

>>7887254
lots
> tbf I did write a bad sentence there

>>7885632
I love you.

>>7885541
God, that was awful. Is this a copypasta that I'm not aware of?

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>>7883903
OK if it serves to emphasize a theme (American Psycho, Infinite Jest), but most novels just use them to inflate weak writing with pseudo-realism.

>>7885632
>>>/pol/

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>inb4 this abomination