Writers are supposed to have a brand.
My official brand is “Murderously Fun, Cozy & Caffeinated Mysteries.” This suits me very well! But recently, I realized I have a secondary, unofficial, unintentional brand as well.
When I first started drafting VINYL RESTING PLACE (the first book of The Record Shop Mysteries), the record shop where Juni & her sisters worked was called “Flower Records” because the women in the Jessup family from Grandma Rose to mother Begonia to sisters Juniper, Magnolia/Maggie, & Tansy are all named after flowers. Even the family cat is named Daffodil.
But, once we added the coffee shop element, Sip & Spin—a records-slash-coffee shop—was born. Only, it wasn’t Sip & Spin. Not yet.
It began as Sip’n’Spin. But as I was designing a logo (What? You don’t design logos for your fictional character’s fictional record shop? Why not?) I realized that graphically, & worked better than ‘n’. I was on the phone with my AMAZING editor & I mentioned I was considering changing ‘n’ to an ampersand. The thing that was holding me back was in my debut series (The Brooklyn Murder Mysteries), main character Odessa Dean works at Untapped Books & Café – with an ampersand.
This conversation was when I realized that I really love ampersands. I love how they look. I love how the word “ampersand” sounds. I love how it flows. Okay, I’ll admit I can’t draw an & very well. I’ll blame dyslexia on this one, but I always get it backward. However, I’ve always had the same problem drawing a treble clef & since VINYL RESTING PLACE takes place at a records shop, I figure that this was fate’s way of telling me that Sip & Spin was the way to go.
“Why,” one might ask, “don’t you just use the treble clef then? Sip *treble clef* Spin. That would be cute & clever!”
Well, you see, the ampersand is part of the standard English alphabet. It didn’t make it into the catchy alphabet song, but it was long considered the 27th letter of the alphabet. The treble clef is not. There isn’t a standard key on my keyboard that makes a treble clef. I can’t even insert it into a document without downloading a special font & even then, there’s no telling how it would show up on a website or e-reader.
While I was contemplating the name Sip & Spin I realized that maybe I’m drawn to the ampersand because it’s my brand. (Or should I say brAND? Or maybe br&?)
See, I’ve never been just one thing. I’m a tall, loud redhead who stands out in a crowd & I’m also a wallflower. I’m a grown adult & I still play with my imaginary friends. I’m a scuba fanatic & I’m low-key afraid of the water. I hate needles & I love tattoos.
I am an ampersand.
I think my books reflect this duality, just as much as they reflect my “official” brand of quirky, unconventional & character driven. Cozies are supposed to have a straightforward hook, but I just have to be difficult. In KILLER CONTENT, Odessa Dean works in a trendy café & sells books. She’s a sweet Southern girl & she’s also a New Yorker. In VINYL RESTING PLACE, Juni Jessup works at a record shop & also serves coffee with punny musically-inspired names. She’s an independent woman & she’s a baby sister. She lives in Texas & she’s on the outskirts of Austin, arguably the least Texas-like city in Texas (besides my hometown of Dallas, which for reasons I can’t/won’t/don’t have space to explain, isn’t part of Texas according to the majority of Texans.)
I love writing unconventional cozies—cozies that push the boundaries of the genre. I like bending rule & coloring outside the lines. But it’s not because I don’t know & respect the rules, it’s because I think that everyone & everything evolves over time.
Cozies aren’t just one single thing. They’re a mystery & they’re a comedy. They revolve around death & they’re bloodless. They’re clean & they have a dark side. The characters are detectives & they bake (Or knit. Or walk dogs. Or work in a café. Or run a coffee shop.) Or, in Juni’s case, run a vinyl records shop & serve coffee.
The more I think about it, the more I realize I’m drawn to the ampersand, & not just because it helps cut down on Twitter character counts. Like cozies, people—real & imaginary—are never just one thing. We are multi-faceted. We are complex.
We are all ampersands.
