Naming brands/models

[desecration]

I was reading along and then, in the midst of a good yarn, a printer appeared:

I ran through footage from that day and picked out suitable still screens that I could turn into photographs, downloaded them to a photo file so that I could make large prints on my Epson T3000.

I guess if we are going to name our SIG and Glock pistols, our motorcar brands and models, and even cool details like favorite wines and beers, we might as well talk about our printers. I have had a few good Epsons over the years, a great Canon, a bunch of Okis, a Brother, and even a few Apple printers I liked (tell no one). I might have to start including nerd gear in stories.

 

[Abbafan]

It might seem like an unnecessary detail, but since it's told in the first person, I think you could argue it provides some insight into the character.

 

[desecration]

They look like pretty good printers too. https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/Epson-SureColor-T3000-Printer/p/SCT3000SE

 

[EmilyMiller]

In a recent story I refer to a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 SBR 556 - though I do kinda make a joke of it where my FMC is very detail-oriented and has to drag the full spec out of the MMC over several lines of dialog.

And I know nothing about guns.

Emily

 

[HordHolm]

Recently I was able to have a secondary character (a woman, no less - how the Victorians gathered their skirts to themselves) drive up to the FMC's abode in an Arnold Motor Carriage. That's 19th Century geekery, that is

 

[gunhilltrain]

I was reading along and then, in the midst of a good yarn, a printer appeared:

I guess if we are going to name our SIG and Glock pistols, our motorcar brands and models, and even cool details like favorite wines and beers, we might as well talk about our printers. I have had a few good Epsons over the years, a great Canon, a bunch of Okis, a Brother, and even a few Apple printers I liked (tell no one). I might have to start including nerd gear in stories.

Regarding about how and when to use brand names: that depends on what is in the plot. It's entirely a judgment call, I guess. Sometimes it may not be needed, and it's just "clutter." So far I haven't used printers or guns. A long time ago, I was trying to write a crime-based screenplay, but it was beyond my abilities. I did research handguns a bit, which is how I found out about Sig Sauer and the history of the company and what kinds of products they offered.

In a recent story I mentioned Freightliner trucks, and that seemed justified by the content.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Recently I was able to have a secondary character (a woman, no less - how the Victorians gathered their skirts to themselves) drive up to the FMC's abode in an Arnold Motor Carriage. That's 19th Century geekery, that is

Was there ever an Arnold Motor Carriage company? I can't find it in the lists of defunct car companies in America and Britain. It could have been missed, because there were hundreds of companies that made a brief but failed go at it.

Duryea Motor Wagon (the first American company to build gasoline-powered cars) might have been a good choice because it lasted for a while and made a significant number of vehicles. The 1896 model didn't even have a folding top or a windshield.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7261/6902898964_5cee86e796_b.jpg

 

[lovecraft68]

My PC and lap top are set up to print to the printer in my wife's home office...I have no idea what it is, but it works.

I am most likely the most tech impaired person on this forum.

 

[HordHolm]

Was there ever an Arnold Motor Carriage company? I can't find it in the lists of defunct car companies in America and Britain. It could have been missed, because there were hundreds of companies that made a brief but failed go at it.

Duryea Motor Wagon (the first American company to build gasoline-powered cars) might have been a good choice because it lasted for a while and made a significant number of vehicles. The 1896 model didn't even have a folding top or a windshield.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7261/6902898964_5cee86e796_b.jpg

I needed something British. Arnold only lasted a couple of years at the fag end of the 19th Century and produced about twelve cars. Wiki has a page on them.

 

[KeithD]

Dropping a brand name can go a long way with minimal wordage to establish a lot of understanding in a story.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I'm not getting any bucks for product placement, so it ain't happening.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I needed something British. Arnold only lasted a couple of years at the fag end of the 19th Century and produced about twelve cars. Wiki has a page on them.

Yes, I missed it the first time around. It looks like it may have had a small steering wheel rather than a "tiller."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Arnold-Benz_1897.jpg

 

[desecration]

Smith & Wesson M&P 15 SBR 556

https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/mp-15-sbr-556-law-enforcement-only

Not an AR or AK guy, but that looks like a nice rifle!

 

[desecration]

In a recent story I mentioned Freightliner trucks, and that seemed justified by the content.

That fits. It's a brand sort of like Harley-Davidson or Jack Daniels. Or Colt, even, from back in the day. In my mind, the Freightliner of printers is Okidata but Epsons are pretty solid too (random nerd shit goes here).

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Does anyone else make an effort not to name specific products? I'm not sure why I do this, but even when I'm identifying a specific product (e.g., making reference to the "signature red sole" of a pair of shoes) I try not to say the brand name.

I remember some excerpts from the original James Bond stories that heavily used specific products for characterization. Now many of these references either don't mean the same thing anymore, or don't mean anything anymore.

Remember on The Wire when Snoop tells Chris how she came to buy this particular nailgun? "The man said if you wanna shoot nails, this here's the Cadillac, man. He meant 'Lexus' but he ain't know it."

Whereas if I say "the signature red sole," then people who know about Louboutins will get it, and people who don't will at least get that this is a famous shoe.

(I know, I know, what are the odds people are still going to read my free internet porn decades later?)

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Context matters, as well as the character in question.
If you asked one of my HS teachers what kind of car she drove her answer would be "a blue one." Other people I know need to give you a bunch of detail.
What makes sense in the situation?

The caveat being If you are going to be very detailed if you don't "get it right" then some percentage of readers will find fault.
For instance, Emily was very specific. The rifle in question is an SBR (short barrel rifle) meaning it is covered under the National Firearms Act and there are additional restrictions for the owner. So it could potentially open a can of worms. (I haven't read her story, this isn't a criticism, just an observation on the risks of being really specific.)

 

[VallesMarineris]

Does anyone else make an effort not to name specific products?

Any mention of a company is free adversing. So I don't name companies I don't like.

None of my characters will ever call an Uber or "Google" something.

On the other hand, there are some total studs in my stories that drive Porsches.

 

[StillStunned]

The caveat being If you are going to be very detailed if you don't "get it right" then some percentage of readers will find fault.

There's also the problem of authors leaning heavily into "realistic" details, but then screwing up the details that really matter.

Like Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code. He has all kinds of specific brands and models, but then a character uses a mobile phone in a plane across the Atlantic (20 years ago), or the business with extraditing criminals.

 

[VallesMarineris]

screwing up the details that really matter

Also, in a mystery or thriller, it's important for the reader to trust the author's facts. Authority --> author, right? So every detail is potentially important.

I remember reading Umberto Ecco's Foucault's Pendulum. The book was considered a big deal, a best seller, full of obscure expertise. Early on, maybe in the first chapter, the author includes a computer program. This was long enough ago that it showed the character's erudition. The program was wrong! After that I had trouble suspending my disbelief. I don't think I finished the book.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

Does anyone else make an effort not to name specific products? I'm not sure why I do this, but even when I'm identifying a specific product (e.g., making reference to the "signature red sole" of a pair of shoes) I try not to say the brand name.

I also struggle with this. Usually if it's part of prose, or it's just not relevant, I avoid naming products or brands:

Wanting to know more, she did an internet search for the term.

She got her car keys out of her handbag and jumped into the silver convertible.

Whereas sometimes in dialogue, avoiding a brand just sounds ridiculous.

"Shall we see if there are any good movies on a streaming service and see where the night takes us?"

"I'll take a bourbon and cola. Actually, a double."

So it depends. It's always an internal struggle!

 

[ElectricBlue]

So it depends. It's always an internal struggle!

If you think it's a struggle, readers are going to sense that, and I reckon a believability wheel goes clunk. Overt avoidance becomes obvious, I think, and a natural flow of the prose goes out the window.

It's never something I worry about, except maybe cars. I don't think I name a car's brand - because the same car often gets a different name in different countries, and these days, you can have a Porsche 911 driver who's more likely a wanker or lost his toupe, or drives one of those stupid huge suv things Porsche insist on producing @VallesMarineris to take note - you don't always trigger the association you think you are .

 

[gunhilltrain]

https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/mp-15-sbr-556-law-enforcement-only

Not an AR or AK guy, but that looks like a nice rifle!

Yes, it is. Yet I've read about what really happens to people who get hit with a bullet or grenade. One of these writers was a Marine who was wounded in Vietnam. What he saw in military hospitals - well, even the most "realistic" war films mostly pull their punches on that.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I was reading along and then, in the midst of a good yarn, a printer appeared:

I guess if we are going to name our SIG and Glock pistols, our motorcar brands and models, and even cool details like favorite wines and beers, we might as well talk about our printers. I have had a few good Epsons over the years, a great Canon, a bunch of Okis, a Brother, and even a few Apple printers I liked (tell no one). I might have to start including nerd gear in stories.

It might be a new kink or fetish?

 

[gunhilltrain]

That fits. It's a brand sort of like Harley-Davidson or Jack Daniels. Or Colt, even, from back in the day. In my mind, the Freightliner of printers is Okidata but Epsons are pretty solid too (random nerd shit goes here).

I kind of worked it backwards. The narrator is a woman who drives moving vans for a living. At the end she refers to the lyrics of Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner Blues" (she is driving such a truck at that point). The song loosely parallels some aspects of her own life.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It might be a new kink or fetish?

Have you read J.G. Ballard's Crash? There is a movie version too, but I've only seen snippets of it. I believe he does mention the brands of cars involved.