Double Standards, this is Alexia calling...

I've been thinking a lot about tear jerkers. I'm not a fan of them. I don't like that they pull on your emotions. I'm not a puppet to have its strings pulled but sometimes, I will admit I don't mind it. The difference is very clear however usually. There's a line that for me you just don't cross.

Times when tear jerkers are okay:
- the birth of a baby when everything is all super charged with energy
- moments like in the Blindside when you just FEEL for the characters and want to cheer them on and see them succeed
- when a char fights so hard against something and then succeeds against all odds

When it isn't okay:
- the main char dies
- anything by Nicholas Sparks

Okay that's pretty much the line for me. I hate it when main chars die, whether it's in a movie or a book. I feel like it was wasted paper and I could have spent my time doing something else that would have been more gratifying.

However, and the reason I've thought about this lately, is because... I was doing my middle stance plotting (let's be honest, it isn't plotting but for me... it's something more than half-assing my writing), and well... I need to do something I vowed I wouldn't. I have to kill someone off. I hate it. Hate the thought of it. But... for it to be more realistic, I need to. This is a double standard I'm just going to have to write out.

I am... a hypocrite but, at the same time, it's all part of a writer's journey. Right? Maybe if I say that enough I'll actually believe it one day.

What's your clothing brand?

There's so much talk about finding your brand as a writer lately. I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by that notion, because your brand as an author encompasses everything about how you look and present yourself at conferences, your website, business cards, Twitter, facebook, bookmarks... so many different things that need to be thought about. I keep hearing that your brand needs to work with your writing style and I can understand that.

At the Romance Divas chat last night, we were discussing at one point what to wear at conference and a wonderful diva and friend, Sela Carsen, pointed out how we should dress as we write. This took me off guard, I'll admit. But the more I thought about it, the more what she said made sense about what we write shining through to how we lean toward certain clothing attire and whatnot.

Therefore, if you write darker romance, suspense-like tones (like me), dark colours in clothing could work if it's a more classier sexier dark top. Your cards and website would also have a darker appeal to them. You may wear jeans and a ragged top or sweats while you work on your novel but how you present yourself at conference should be clean and professional. Perception is everything.

Interesting.

So how are you going to dress? What's your brand?