(no subject)

[valarltd]

[Poll #811594]

I'm strongly considering just using my own, real name. No matter how fake it sounds.

Comments

The D-Man checks in

[(Anonymous)]

I'll go with my old favorite (and collaborator), Michael Raleigh.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized Angelia was your real name, but now that i do, am strongly in favor of it.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I'm just thinking it's going to make autograph sessions at cons easier, once I get some stuff in actual print format.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

I like your real name.

Also, it will give you a story to tell on con panels.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Not only is it an elimination of pain-in-the-ass to use your real name, but you have a COOL real name. Angelia is unusual enough that people will remember it, and it does not seem fake (even with Sparrow, which is a good audio balance with Angelia). Angel, however, does.

[jedi-penguin.livejournal.com]

I think it strongly depends upon what sort of book it is because different audiences will expect different things. Angelia (which is a beautiful name, btw!) wouldn't fit a romance novel, because it sounds like the name of a woman who would produce sappy dreck and I think you're too strong of a writer to live up to those expectations. The people who would enjoy your work wouldn't pick up a book written by Angelia Sparrow, and the Harlequin lovers would probably be disappointed in anything that smacks of literary merit. On the other hand, Angelia Sparrow is a kickass name for a cyber punk sci-fi writer, though some of the teenage boys who read sci-fi are so misogynistic that they won't touch anything written by a woman. Maggie O'Neill and Cynthia Sparks are both all-round names that would match any genre. (I went with the former because my college librarian was named Cynthia Sparks and I can't shake the identification. *laughs*)

Actually, after I've already voted, I think I like Angelia Raleigh. Raleigh is a somewhat stodgy name (to my ears), and balances out the exotic sound of Angelia perfectly. I'd definitely pick up and read the back cover of a book by Angelia Raleigh if I happened to stumble across it.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I dropped to using Angel in college because everyone either misspelled (Angela) or mispronounced (an-juh-lee-uh) my name.

Actually, as I said, I was thinking it'd be a huge elimination of PitA.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I was recently asked "They don't kick you out of the porn writers' guild for being too well read?" because I'd included Homeric hymns to Athena in a story.

Amusingly enough, I am currently working on a cyber-punk novel. Complete with m/m and m/f/m sex, net running, grungy future and a cmplete psychopath who mutilates net-runners to enhance their cyber efficiency.

Wow on the C.Sparks. Sparks is a family name, and my father considered changing my name to Cynthia once upon a time. (You want fake sounding? Truelove Sparks, who fought in the Union Army)

[skogkatt.livejournal.com]

f you aren't sing a pseudonym because you want privacy, I say use the real one. it's great! Barring that, I still like Cynthia Sparks.

[sailorcelestial.livejournal.com]

I remember posting a similar question in my own LJ a while back. The general consensus then was use your real name. I've come to agree, strange as it seems to me. I've always said I would use a psuedonym, because I don't think my real name sounds "authory," as I like to put it. But... you know, it's my name, and in the end it might save me a whole bunch of unforseen legal/financial/general issues just to use it.

Just my opinion.