: Re: Brands to use, brands not to use Inspired by GGx's question Will traditional publishers force you to remove brands? I would probably not want to mention a brand name of a small brand in my

This is not legal advice and I am not a lawyer.
Great question! I think the answer lies in this:

But what about a big known brand, like Google? In a story set in our time, it would be rather weird for the characters to use a search engine that isn't google - we even use 'google' as a verb, as in "why don't you google it?".

When you get to the point that it would sound odd to not use the brand name, that's where it makes sense to use it (if you can).
"Good question, let's Floogle that" sounds weird. If you were in a situation where you can't use the brand name legally (I'll leave whether that's the case for other questions to answer) you can write around it. "Good question, let's check the web" is definitely less awkward that using another search engine.
It's also worth looking into the concept of generic trademarks:

A trademark is said to become genericized when it begins as a distinctive product identifier but changes in meaning to become generic. This typically happens when the products or services with which the trademark is associated have acquired substantial market dominance or mind share, such that the primary meaning of the genericized trademark becomes the product or service itself rather than an indication of source for the product or service.
Thermos, Kleenex, ChapStick, Aspirin, Dumpster, Band-Aid, Velcro, Hoover, and Speedo are examples of trademarks that have become genericized in the US and elsewhere.

Whether this means you can use these without fear of getting a cease and desist letter... I'd check with a lawyer about that.

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: Restarting a Novel In 2015 I wrote the first two thirds of a novel (as part of NaNoWriMo). I stopped at that point because I had written the 50,000 words required for the 'competition' but

: Rewriting User Guides as Stories I'm increasingly having to write User Guides as part of my job and I need routes to make this into a more interesting exercise. Hence, I was actually looking

: Cutting down story length without leaving out locations I'd like to write a story and I have plenty of elements for it, up to and including a set of locations, characters and events, as well

: What software can I use to synchronize corrections and modifications over similar documents? I'm currently working on a large thesis, from which I derive some smaller publications such as papers.

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