Welcome to our 112th Road Trip Wednesday!
Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.
We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.
This Week's Topic
If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?
Great question as always. I've always wanted to use my real name. My name -- Paige -- is awesome because I love to read. Paige minus the i -- Page, as in book page. People spell it wrong all the time, but I actually don't mind when they do because my name fits me so well. However, that's not the question.
TANGENT OVER. REAL QUESTION.
For a while I had a pen name when I first started posting my stories online. I no longer use the pen name but I gave me more of a sense of security when I first started posting the stories. The pen name was:
Isabel Charlton.
(I bolded that because...I don't know, I wanted to look cool.) There were a couple of reasons I picked the nane. First, I love the name Isabel and if I had a daughter I'd probably name her Isabel. The last name I randomly picked (thanks, US census list!) and I also thought it was pretty. I picked it because it was far, far from my name and no one would guess who I was.
I think now, if I were to make a pen name, it would be different. I would keep the name Isabel, because I love the name still, but I would change the last name. So I decided to anagram my real last name, because I wanted to be crazy. So in the event that my books are published under a pen name (this is very, very unlikely because I <3 my name), look for me in the stores as
Isabel Schist En Nor
(There weren't a lot of great names. And Schist En Nor sounds vaguely foreign.)
What's on your highway? What would your pseudonym be? Go to Ya Highway and answer.
Paige is a great name. You could still use it in a pen name--I mean, what literary agent could resist a novel by, say, Paige Turner. :D
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, without a compelling reason to adopt a pseudonym, I wouldn't. Not that I think I have the greatest name on the planet, but it's mine. And when I see a novel with "Colin D Smith" on the spine, I'll get butterflies and grin and know that's MY book. :)
Paige is indeed a pretty name :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd well...your made-up last name sounds intriguing :-)
I am somewhat hidden for now in the real world but I did use the opportunity to reveal my "real" first name...