The brand called Hal.

[prillalar]

(This is more than usually self-absorbed. I'm sorry.)

Since I began working with marketers, I've come to find branding very interesting. Here in fandom, we writers and vidders and artists each have our own brand. We don't usually have a logo, but we have our pennames. When people read that name, they react to it. Seeing that name attached to a creative work will cause people to make assumptions about that work. And reactions to that work will become part of the overall brand.

As well, many other factors will influence your brand -- your friends, your fans, what kind of work you admire, among other things. Your own fannish activities have an impact as well.

I've been thinking about redesigning my site and LJ and I thought I'd like to have a wordmark for myself. And a tagline. Which made me wonder about my own brand.

So, I'd like to do a little market research here. I'm curious. What kind of work is my name -- Halrloprillalar or Hal or prillalar -- associated with? What kind of assumptions do you make about a piece of writing, fiction or non, if you see my name on it?

Nota bene: This is emphatically NOT an attempt to fish for compliments. I'm not trying to get judgements on the quality of my work, but rather about its other characteristics.

For example, if you were given the name of an actor, that might make you think of a certain genre of film he or she is often in or a type of character.

What is Halrloprillalar-brand writing?

(I know you're supposed to have sandwiches at focus groups, but I ran out of tuna. Have some of the candy I swiped from kormantic instead.)

Comments

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Hm. Short, spare, funny, and numerous is how I think of your fiction. I admit I haven't read close to all of it, mostly because your fandoms are so wide-ranging they often leave my narrow circle of experience and, occasionally, interest (TPM will never be beloved of me, whether on screen or page *g*). I also think I've read a disproportionate amount of your humor stories.

Hal herself? (Since I'm assuming you separate your online personality and offline personality in the same way that I do for myself, though this assumption may be unwarranted...) Still with the spare and the funny, as your LJ suggests, but also: less verbiage, less bullshit than other people, an admirable detachment from the insanity of fandom/being a fan while still displaying a thorough knowledge of and love for your fandoms. In short, someone whose opinion I respect and who I trust not to go apeshit over the stupid little things other fans go apeshit over on a regular basis.

And this is honesty, not flattery. :)

.m

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I should add

a) Because I can't remember if I told you or not, I loved your Hermione/twins story. Now one of my favorite HP stories.

b) I admire your ability to keep a consistent image. I think we've been in the periphery of each other's fannish spheres for several years now, and while I think I've kind of swung from CrazyTeenieFan! to WithdrawnWriter to OverlyPersonalBlogger to WithdrawnBlogger to CrazyYoungAdultFan! over the years, my concept of you has remained pretty damn stable, even once I started encountering you on LJ, which is more personal than a mailing list. I only wish I were able to brand myself so well (or at least with such a *good* brand -- the only thing I can lay claim to is, perhaps "that one chick who is excessively verbose" *g*).

.m

[prillalar]

a. Aw, thanks! I'm fond of it too.

b. I think your own image is less inconsistant that you think it is -- sometimes it's hard to get perspective on things like that. But I'm glad to hear you've found me pretty stable. :)