Entrekin

So, I’m doing my MBA. This semester focuses on consumer behavior and requires a laddering interview. Which is about decisions and finding out why people do what, and all that kind of thing.

So here’s the deal: I need your responses. I’m going to paste the interview after the jump. Think of it as one of those surveys everyone always used to love to do.

I think I’d most like to work this as an e-mail thing. Unless you want to post your response after the comments.

To sweeten the pot: anyone who responds will receive a copy of the first chapter of “Meets Girl,” by e-mail. If you comment, I’ll send it to the e-mail used in the form. If you email it to me (at willentrekin at gmail dot com), I’ll respond to the survey with the chapter.

I’ll appreciate every response I get. I’d love to deluge the course’s submission box with reader responses.

Thanks in advance. Survey after the jump:

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Those of you who’ve read my “The Trouble with Blogging post know that this is something I’ve been thinking about. Hell, it’s part of the reason I’m doing an MBA.

Right now, I’m teaching my students about structure and plot using Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone as a demonstration of a Hero’s Journey plot archetype. Reading it, I’m rediscovering just how excellently Rowling hits every plot point and necessary element note for note, from the Call to Adventure to the Crossing of the First Threshold etc. Harry Potter is really an excellent example of someone who becomes a hero; he certainly doesn’t start out that way. Yesterday, while teaching, I was asking my students what makes people heroes. What do we look for as a demonstration of heroism?

One mentioned worthwhile purpose, and intention.

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Just read a post by Jane over at dearauthor.com: “Books as a Business”. It’s a mostly good article with some interesting analysis, though I would change the title, at least; books are what we read, while publishing is a business.

Which aligns with my previous couple of posts, staying on the theme of writing as creative endeavor and publishing as business endeavor. The other day, I was chided on Twitter by dietpopstar for using the word “monetizing” with regard to writing, and who told me I’d “lost my way” as I’m supposed to be “a fucking artist,” and such considerations were “vulgar.” She’s arguably right about my using the word “monetize,” I admit; I probably should have chosen a different word or phrase, like maybe “I gotsta get myself paid, too, yo.” Which, at least, is funnier.

And that’s the trouble with blogging. Not the funnier part. The part about having to get paid.

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