Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A rose by any other name...

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.




This Week's Topic:
 
If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?
 

This IS a pseudonym actually. So probably Beck Nicholas...
=)
Why... well Beck is what I'm called usually anyway so it's kinda my real name. And I'm scientifically published under my last name so that's like a different side to me. Nicholas is someone i adore's middle name.
If I had to choose a different name altogether I would still use Beck of some sort because I can't imagine answering to anything else. As for last names... It has to matter. Cos if i get to choose I want it to mean something. And sound okay. And not spell out something offensive.
What about you? What matters to you when choosing a pseudonym? Does the name have to link to your family/life? Can you answer to a different first name (am imagining all those signings in my future)?

20 comments:

  1. I hear you, about wanting to keep Beck.
    If I had to choose anything else than Juliana, I would go for Julie or something that would remind me of my own name ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Juliana is so pretty though, i don't think you should change!

      Delete
  2. Ooo... good point about book signings. Can you imagine if JK Rowling had gone with something like Geraldino Manciewitziskiownsky? She'd have wrist cramps after the first 100 books!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I reckon with mine I could do the 'N' and then kinda scribble. Nice to think about.

      Delete
  3. I use my maiden name for writing. Still to this day, I find it difficult to answer to people calling me by my married name. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In real life I switched to my married name in a heartbeat. My mother had long since changed her name and i didn't feel so much attachment - maybe cos my maiden name was impossible to spell/pronounce.

      Delete
  4. Like you, if I used a pen name it would have to have meaning. A family connection of some sort. And I could never imagine being called anything other than Theresa, that would just be weird.

    New Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome!
      Meaning matters as well as being able to recognise myself. Am Beck all the way!

      Delete
  5. It's tricky- I do scientific pubs under my real name, too, but it doesn't bother me. Because nobody reads them except my mom. :0)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My mom didn't read mine... too hard. Not sure anyone but some students in my lab have read mine... poor fools.

      Delete
  6. Convenient RTW topic! I use a pen name too, but I also kept the first name I answer to. Otherwise at writing conferences, etc, it would be too confusing! I like Beck Nicholas as a pen name a lot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea, I thought about conferences too. Wouldn't want someone calling Clara and me not look around.
      =)

      Delete
  7. Beck is a very cool name. Can I use it for a mysterious hero in a YA paranormal?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course! Writing sci-fi i liked that Beck was a bit unisex...

      Delete
  8. I think I'd use a family name so that I felt like I could connect to it (if I had to choose a pseudonym). Beck is cool for a chosen name =)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like Beck!

    I chose my pen name (Arianna Sterling, haha) because I love the name Arianna ever since a book series I read back when I was a kid, and Sterling...well a friend said it sounded cool with my choice of first name. She was right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounding cool is important too. Wouldn't want a yuk flow...

      Delete
  10. Beck is a nice name :-) and I understand why you want your last name to still mean something to you if you cannot use yours. I mean it becomes part of you as well in a way :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right. Glad someone gets me and i make some kind of sense... even a little.

      Delete

i love comments. they make me happy.