To Rebrand Or Not To Rebrand

 

Lately, I've been thinking about rebranding. Even as I write this, I'm not entirely sure where I'll land on it. But unfortunately, branding is one of those things that authors have to think about when trying to gain notice and have people buy their books. And I do wonder if I might have outgrown mine.

In 2013, I started using thetomatowriter on my social media accounts. It was around the time that I was watching Game of Thrones and about a year before I lost interest in Game of Thrones. In my head, I was playing off of "The Onion Knight" in a way that no one would really catch unless I explained it. My last name -- Roma -- is, of course, a type of tomato. I'm a writer. Thus I'm The Tomato Writer. 

I think at the time, my cousin was also calling herself Kentucky Tomato on Facebook.  Not long after I started, my dad also started calling himself The Tomato Lawyer on his Twitter account (and later Bluesky). It was all a fun little bit for us Romas. 

So when I became a freelance blogger and I needed to create a DBA, I chose The Tomato Writer. It was already how I was found on most accounts so, again, it was convenient. My clients often told me they got a good chuckle out of it. And when I started talking about the book I was publishing, the news went out across all my The Tomato Writer accounts.  

The Tomato Writer and I have been through a lot together. I mean, it's been thirteen years -- the vast majority of my adult life. The Tomato Writer has been good to me. So why am I thinking about changing it?

Does This Represent Me or My Work?

To be honest, I've never liked tomatoes. I mean, maybe it's because I am a tomato? So that would be cannibalism. But when you think about the things you could put in the points of a pentagram to summon Alex Roma, tomatoes are pretty far from it. (I guess unless it's my family? I mean, diving in headfirst to rescue your family is a fantasy adventure trope I love to keep coming back to. Okay, this isn't the point.) 

I started chafing against this a little bit when I decided to make an author discord server. I named it The Tomato Patch, because that kind of fit as a hub to find out all your author news about me, The Tomato Writer. And I immediately kind of hated that. 

I feel like when you think of a tomato patch, you think of a cozy farming story or a series of blog posts about someone's clean eating journey. I had just put out an angsty, dramatic romantic fantasy adventure with court intrigue that veers darker and heavier as the story goes on. Less Stardew Valley and more Fire Emblem. And most of my stories lean towards dramatic fantasy adventures more than they do cozy farming slice of life tales. Similarly whenever I started a blog, I wanted to fill my blog themes with aesthetics of dark, deep forests or antique writing desks. This seemed at odds with my more pastoral username.

How Much Do Vibes Matter? 

For the most part in my career so far, a little discrepancy between my social media monikers and the vibes of my writing hasn't mattered much. But I think this is because most of my readers know me. They know why I chose The Tomato Writer, and they also know the kind of stories I like to tell. They don't think much of it.

But obviously I would love for my stories to break that bubble and be picked up by new readers, too. From that perspective, if someone on Bluesky and TikTok goes by "thetomatowriter" and calls their author discord The Tomato Patch, what kind of stories would they expect? Would they be confused by the kind of stories I put out? Or disappointed?

Or am I thinking too much?

I'm sure there are branding professionals who would say that actually, yes, your social media names and what you call yourself online must perfectly encapsulate the brand you want to curate. Or that I shouldn't have tried to be clever in the first place and should have just used my full name. (But that's booooooooring, says the petty dramatic part of me.)  But you could also argue that those branding professionals need to make a living. (I mean, I've been a digital marketer, I know.) 

Still, there is something to idea of setting expectations. Branding, while I do think it gets blown out of proportion, exists for a reason. What can people expect from me or, in this case, my writing? Because it isn't cozy farming stories or clean eating blog posts. (I say as I eat a box of Rice-a-Roni.)  

The Key Of Consistency

At the same time, it's probably more important that people know where to find you online. That gets confusing if you have five or six different social media handles. Of course, the point of rebranding would be to make all of your social media handles consistent. 

But, and I know this is not something I should put on my writerly blog where I posit myself as a writer and want people to read my books, bruh that's so much work. Like I said, I've had my email for 13 years. There's so many contacts that would need to know about the change, there are so many accounts I would have to change. And then on top of that is my social media. 

And even once all that is done, you'll likely still have people who didn't know about the rebrand and might lose you. Of course, all of this can be mitigated. There are tools that can make rebranding easier. People rebrand every day. The fact that it's hard should not be a reason not to do it. But I do think it could be a reason to stop and figure out if this is the right call for me. Which is, I suppose, the reason for this sort of stream of consciousness blog.

A Compromise To Be Found

Maybe there is a middle ground here, something like I've had with this blog since the beginning. But first backing up to my newsletter.

At one point last year, I changed my newsletter format to a more casual, letter writing sort of format. When I did so, I wanted a name that matched it - something a little more whimsical and romantic, a little more like the vibe that I would honestly like to put out with my author brand. I chose the name "inksplattered musings." 

It wouldn't work as an email address or a social media handle, because I'm not always musing. But it was a good title for a format in which I was sharing my thoughts. When I started this blog, I chose to use the same name for the title. But my username on both is still thetomatowriter. 

It's not a perfect solution, but I think it possibly satisfies what I need for now. By using thetomatowriter for the handle, it makes it easy for people to find me. However, the vibe that they're met with when they go to that handle immediately dispels any imagery of tomatoes and farm life. At least, I hope it does. 

So at the end of this, I may have in fact been overthinking the whole rebranding thing. I think for now I can leave thetomatowriter to do what it does best: give people a way to find me. Then I can use my personality to tell them what to expect.  

 

The Refusal of the Call - And Other Options

 

I love the Hero's Journey. I'm a sucker for a classic story about heroes and adventure. Stories of protagonists who achieve impossible goals but only after suffering crushing defeats and almost giving up hope several times along the way. 

I don't, however, agree with the common claim that the Hero's Journey is a universal plot structure that every story adheres to, or that it's the only way to tell a story. For one thing, the Hero's Journey is an often western story structure, and there are non-Western, non-colonial story structures, some of which predate the Hero's Journey. And there are even popular Western stories that do not follow the Hero's Journey. 

There are better discussions out there than I'm equipped to lead about alternatives to the Hero's Journey. But I do think, at the very least, the classic Hero's Journey beats that we know so well can stand to be flipped around occasionally. Lately, I've been thinking about the Refusal of the Call beat and the way it tends to appear in my stories...particularly the way it doesn't often appear as a "refusal" in my stories.

What Is the Hero's Journey?

Joseph Campbell, the American author who popularized the concept of the Hero's Journey, described it as:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Campbell broke this journey down into three acts: departure, initiation, and return. Campbell's original structure had seventeen beats across those three acts, but I learned more based on Christopher Vogler's 2007 revision, which truncates this into twelve beats:

1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor
5. Crossing the First Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies
7. The Inmost Cave
8. The Ordeal 
9. Reward
10. The Road Back
11. The Resurrection
12. Return With the Elixir

 But for today, we don't have to worry about all twelve. Let's just talk about the Refusal.

Refusal of the Call

Your hero has seen a glimpse of the extraordinary. They know there is more to the world than the ordinary life that they've known. But something keeps them from taking the next step. 

Usually, it's fear. Adventures are, by their nature, scary. It's more comfortable to go on with the ordinary. And the hero might not feel that they're ready yet. Sometimes it's obligations in their normal life that hold them back. Sure, it's an ordinary life, but it's their ordinary life. They have family, jobs, hobbies and interests. They can't just drop those things on a whim! Or -- as anyone who has ever played D&D can tell you -- the hero might not be interested in the call until they know what's in it for them.

Whatever the reason, they need an extra push in order to actually begin their adventure. And from a Doylist perspective, there's a good reason for this. You want your story to have tension and conflict. Push and pull. It's just not as interesting to tell a story that goes, "Someone asked the hero if they want to go on an adventure, and they said, 'Yeah, might as well.' And then they did it and it all went super well!"

The Refusal also tells you what the hero has at stake. What they're afraid to lose. What they care about, what they're afraid of. And it does this very well. There's a reason storytellers have been using this method for thousands of years. There's a reason why I eat it up every time.

...Unless Your Hero Wants To? 

What I've noticed in my own writing, however, is that I tend to write a lot of very willing protagonists. Sometimes a little too eager about the adventure they're going on. Their reasons vary depending on their personality and their story, but at the end of the day, most of my heroes want to go on that adventure. Which means sometimes they skip that Refusal beat to get to what they think is "the good stuff."

But. That doesn't mean that the story has to lack tension and conflict if you have a willing protagonist. And sometimes you can tell the audience something vital about your hero in the way they accept the call. What are they hoping for? What do they think the call will give them? And why are they so eager to throw themselves into danger to get it? 

So let's talk about a few alternative beats to the Refusal of the Call for those gung-ho heroes within our stories.

The Call Refuses You

Your hero is itching to go on an adventure. They're positively bored with their normal life.  When they see an opportunity for an adventure, they jump at it -- only to be stopped at the door. "Sorry, kid," the adventure says. "Not you." 

So what then? Does your character try to prove themselves? Sneak their way in? Or do they go home dejected until the spy a little glimmer of hope and seize on it? And before we get to that point, why is your hero rejected from the adventure initially? Some flaw of theirs, or is it someone else's bias? Or someone who really doesn't want them here? Maybe the villain is working behind the scenes and knows that if your hero sets out on this path, they're done for.

In Chronicles of Luminhaven, a fantasy school series I'm currently working on, one of the protagonists -- Auri Thistlehawk -- desperately wants to go to Luminhaven Preparatory School for Legends. She's been dreaming of it her whole life. She's willing to defy her own parents to sneak out to the entrance trials and secure herself a spot. 

But when they announce those who passed the entrance trials, Auri's name isn't among them. She fails. Her parents, who very much did not want her attending Luminhaven, are all too happy to take her back home and forget about the whole thing. That is until someone shows up at the door a few days later to say, "Changed our mind! Pack your bags, kid, you're in!" 

Auri, as an extremely eager thirteen year old, isn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. But everyone else has to wonder: what changed in the past few days? What makes the school who rejected her so eager have her there now? 

In this case, it's still a refusal of the call, but your hero isn't the one to refuse the call. And the fact that you don't know the motivations behind those who did can add an extra sense of suspense. This is also a great option when you have a sort of plucky underdog of a protagonist. Show the reader how determined they are! 

Answering The Wrong Call

Just because your hero answers a call to adventure doesn't mean that they answer the call that's right for them. Maybe your hero is promised adventure and glory by the villain or told that there is a dire need for them, that the fate of the world rests on them, all the while hiding their ulterior motives.

Or maybe it's not so nefarious as all that. Maybe the hero is just so focused on what they want that they don't realize what they need. The point of this one is that the hero thinks they know what will help them, whether through their own biases or through external manipulation, and will have to reckon with the way they got it wrong as the story progresses. They may have to adjust their expectations, or they may have to pivot in their mission entirely.

I've been reading Wildwood by Colin Meloy, which I think has a great example of this in the character of Curtis. Mind you, this happens a bit after Curtis and Prue answer the call to adventure. But there are a number of calls that the two find inside the Wildwood, and not all of them are the right ones. 

Curtis finds himself captured by the soldiers of the charming but ruthless Dowager Governess. When he meets her, however, she's actually kind to him. She feeds him and clothes him, she listens to him, she treats him like he's special. She "shows him the world." And she explains her side of the story: that she was wronged and exiled, and she now intends to tame the Wildwood and bring it under an order that would be good for everyone. She asks Curtis to join her, to be her second-in-command. Even her heir. Even her son.

And he does, because this is the boy who still draws superheroes and admires stories of bravery and heroism. He helps her and fights with her...until the moment he accidentally stumbles on her true intent. At that point, he has to reckon with everything he's been helping her to achieve and how to make right his mistakes. And he suffers the consequences of that. 

Another example of a protagonist answering the wrong call is Del from my elemental fantasy adventure in progress, Fox Eyes.  Del was bonded at birth to a nature sprite that takes on the form of a shower of sparks. When Del is upset, or afraid, or a little bit clumsy, fires tend to start. Worse, her first memory is waking up in a house that was on fire as the only survivor of that house. She has lived her whole life with the weight of killing her family on her shoulders.

So when she runs into Promise, a wilder who seeks to find her uncle's severed sprite, Del sees a chance to be rid of her sprite once and for all. She thinks that getting rid of her sprite will fix all her problems, and she joins Promise, though she lies about her intentions. But is being severed from her sprite what Del actually needs? And if she realizes along the way that she actually can harness this power, how does that change her journey?

Answering a Call You Don't Understand

This one is similar to answering the wrong call, and it actually happens in most stories even when there is a refusal of the call. The hero thinks they know what they're getting into. They think they know what they're setting out to do and how to achieve it. But the truth will inevitably surprise them along the way.

This offers the opportunity for a somewhat later refusal of the call. When the character realizes that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into, they might stop and say, "Wait, this isn't what I signed up for!" Again, similar to Curtis in Wildwood. I think the difference here is that in Answering a Call You Don't Understand, you might be on the right track but you don't have a map -- or the map you have is flawed. In Answering the Wrong Call, you're sent in the wrong direction entirely. 

I think this is the one that best fits Celin, the protagonist of my debut novel, The Wounds of Wisdom.  In Wounds, Celin manifests the ability to heal others by taking their pain onto herself. This is considered a Wisdom in her kingdom, and Wisdoms are highly valued. She is sent to court to train with the other Wise Ones, and she's quite excited about it. She's grown up as the illegitimate daughter of a duke and a blacksmith, the granddaughter of a foreigner. She's grown up with dreams of becoming a knight that, until now, she did not think she would ever be able to achieve.

It would be a disservice to Celin to say that she doesn't expect people at Aslemor to be prejudiced against her for a number of reasons. She's grown up with that prejudice even in her small town, and she knows that prejudice is what drove her mother away from her relationship with the man she loved. But Celin still has an idealism about it all at the beginning of the story, that there is a nobility in being used for good, that she can prove herself worthy enough and be accepted as a knight. And she does have a naivety and an insistence on believing the best in people.

The actual journey she goes on is very different, as the world of Aslemor is very different than she expected. She still believes in the core of the call she answered, but she has to reckon with how wrong she was about what answering it would entail. 

Promise of Fox Eyes also might fit this bill. Promise sets out to save her uncle. They're told the mother who abandoned them is the key to getting into the realm of the elementals, where she'll allegedly find her uncle's sprite. But Promise isn't interested in getting to know her mother. They only care about saving Zire. And they don't realize how much of the call they've set on will relate back to her parents and the history she doesn't want to know about.

At the end of the day, the Refusal of the Call is still a great beat and a fun way to have your character respond to their first call to adventure (or their fiftieth...maybe that's why they're refusing it now). But if you want an alternative for a hero who is a bit more ready to go, these are a few of my favorite options.

Do you have a beat of the Hero's Journey that you love to shake up? Give me a recommendation and maybe I'll write another of these "other options" blogs.