Are Generic Rx names allowed?

[lovecraft68]

I'm with you LC. I'd rather have "Please, get my pills from the bottom drawer." than "I need Xanax, stat!"

To me seeing Xanax in t9is case would be a red flag because it is not prescribed routinely in other places and diazepam (Valium) is much more readily used (and abused!)

Right and now you're possibly making the reader think about what you were just saying and take them out of the flow. IMO flow is important, you want the reader cruising along and enjoying, anything that causes a "wait, what?" or bogs them down in a lot of descriptive/details is not conducive to flow

I've said here before that I have two basic mantras for my writing

Just do it

But also Kiss-Keep it simple stupid

 

[SimonDoom]

There is no absolute here.

Of course not. But your previous post seemed to take a very hard line against brand names and details that also is unwarranted. As I said in my post, people say, "Let's go to McDonald's" not "Let's go to the fast food restaurant." You can't deny that. We live in a world that's swimming in brand names. There are some good reasons, pointed out in this thread, why one wouldn't use them. But sometimes it makes sense to do so.

It depends on the character. To use your example, some people absolutely would say"Christian Louboutin pumps", and inserting that brand name in their dialogue would give the reader a clue to their personality, tastes, and background.

As you say, there's no absolute, and that means, partly, that there's no strong rule against the use of brand names. In any event, I think the OP's original question was addressed more to under what circumstances it was legally/morally appropriate to use brand names rather than to the artistic purpose of using them. My point was that it's perfectly OK to do so in almost all cases in an erotic story.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Of course not. But your previous post seemed to take a very hard line against brand names and details that also is unwarranted. As I said in my post, people say, "Let's go to McDonald's" not "Let's go to the fast food restaurant." You can't deny that. We live in a world that's swimming in brand names. There are some good reasons, pointed out in this thread, why one wouldn't use them. But sometimes it makes sense to do so.

My point was that it's perfectly OK to do so in almost all cases in an erotic story.

This. I put a female character in Jimmy Choo shoes to emphasize her wealth and good taste. That’s a detail a lot of men would miss, but many women would pick up on it.

Moreover, it’s not only OK, IMO, but very useful to a writer. Consider this:

Juan eased himself into a chair on the patio. When the waitress came, he ordered a Laphroaig and pulled out his cigar case. After a moment's inspection, he selected a fine Cohiba and lit it with proper ceremony before settling in to examine the New York Times financial pages.​

Contrast it to:

Juan eased himself into a chair on the patio. When the waitress came, he ordered a whisky and pulled out his cigar case. After a moment's inspection, he selected a good one and lit it with proper ceremony before settling in to examine the financial pages of a world-famous newspaper.​

Totally different impression, I think.

 

[SisterJezabel]

This. I put a female character in Jimmy Choo shoes to emphasize her wealth and good taste. That’s a detail a lot of men would miss, but many women would pick up on it.

Moreover, it’s not only OK, IMO, but very useful to a writer. Consider this:

Juan eased himself into a chair on the patio. When the waitress came, he ordered a Laphroaig and pulled out his cigar case. After a moment's inspection, he selected a fine Cohiba and lit it with proper ceremony before settling in to examine the New York Times financial pages.​

Contrast it to:

Juan eased himself into a chair on the patio. When the waitress came, he ordered a whisky and pulled out his cigar case. After a moment's inspection, he selected a good one and lit it with proper ceremony before settling in to examine the financial pages of a world-famous newspaper.​

Totally different impression, I think.

Absolutely, but we are talking branded medications here that don't necessarily have a worldwide comparison. McDonalds, CocaCola, Pepsi, Nike, Converse, Versace and Pierre Cardin and to a lesser extent possibly Cadbury are worldwide phenomena. Likewise the examples you gave with Whisky, cigars and newspapers, however if I wrote that he sipped a Lark single malt whilst reading The Age financial pages I doubt very many people would get the significance.

I will sometimes clarify- He mused that the Lark single malt he sipped was smoother than any Laphroaig he had tasted and wished the financial pages he scoured were of The Telegraph or New York Times, but today The Age would have to do.

Back to medications, I wonder how many universal medications we actually have? Morphine? Aspirin? Perhaps Valium for brand name drugs.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Absolutely, but we are talking branded medications here that don't necessarily have a worldwide comparison. McDonalds, CocaCola, Pepsi, Nike, Converse, Versace and Pierre Cardin and to a lesser extent possibly Cadbury are worldwide phenomena. Likewise the examples you gave with Whisky, cigars and newspapers, however if I wrote that he sipped a Lark single malt whilst reading The Age financial pages I doubt very many people would get the significance.

I will sometimes clarify- He mused that the Lark single malt he sipped was smoother than any Laphroaig he had tasted and wished the financial pages he scoured were of The Telegraph or New York Times, but today The Age would have to do.

Back to medications, I wonder how many universal medications we actually have? Morphine? Aspirin? Perhaps Valium for brand name drugs.

Clarification in text is very useful. In the example, it's obvious a Cohiba is a cigar and the NYT is something with financial pages so a serious newspaper, even if the name and the word Times hadn't clued you in. You'd grasp that Laphroaig was a drink even if you didn't guess it was whisky, which might be sufficient.

I think most people would guess Xanax was a prescription med even if they didn't know what it was, from the surfeit of Xs.

Clothes are probably harder brand names to give an impression of a character with, as their popularity will vary over time and location. Someone upthread mentioned Chunk Taylors vs Air Jordans - I've never heard of the former and recall the latter as being stupidly expensive trainers advertised a decade ago. Burberry went from denoting upper-class aspirations to chavvy within a year. Jimmy Choos were the ultimate high heels 15 years ago but less so now.