When I publish my novel I'm definitely going to use a pen name, but I haven't started thinking about what it'd be yet. I'll see. Maybe an English, unisex name. I'm not sure, but I think that readers tend to prefer buying books that are written by authors of the same sex. (I'm not included in this demography). I wouldn't mind increasing my odds. Furthermore, if I ever became a professional writer, I would NEVER include a brief biography of myself in the book. I'd rather remain a mystery.
I would like to use a pen name because anonymity is comfortable and I get embarrassed by praise (especially face-to-face), but I work in a library and I would absolutely want to use that connection for marketing purposes. Plus I'll definitely be bragging to friends and family, embarrassment be damned. Thus, even if I use a pen name, everyone I know face-to-face will know it's me anyway. So kiiinda pointless.
I'm very curious about your name now lol. Jimmy-rigged names aren't always bad - I do that all the time for my fantasy characters and am absolutely in love with the name Arlia. Everyone I've told the name to have said it's a beautiful name so far Actually, a long time ago, back when I was a teen on another forum, I met a Brazilian girl whose name was Luniah. She said her mum made it up. I've used that name in the same novel for a dryad character. Always thought it sounded lovely. But yeah, would be hesitant to actually do this to a child You could always change your official name if you dislike it so much? Or keep it and introduce yourself by your middle name? Lots of people do that. ETA: I hope my own daughter won't hate me because I've subjected her to the same fate as myself: English-Chinese-non-female-Czech name. Growing up I hated having to explain my name to everyone but now as an adult I rather like it because it expresses all my cultural/personal identities. But yeah, hoping my daughter won't hate it...
The story goes that the family on my grandmother's side was heavily Catholic. My grandmother's older sister had a child out of wedlock, and the family shunned her. So, I was named in her honour, but my grandmother couldn't remember how to spell it. Hence the jimmy rigging. Though I've tried all variants of the spelling, and I'm pretty sure my mom is full of shit. It's just a made up name. Those are both lovely names. When I was a kid, I hated my name. HATE. I was born in the 80s, and I very much wanted to be a Jennifer or a Stacy not a poorly garbled first name called out by a furrow-browed substitute teacher. I could go by my nickname, which is Reece. It's spelled in the masculine way, so it's nicely androgynous.
There was this book series I read in middle school (a YA series). The main character was the "author" and it was written in diary format. in the authors bio, it said "living a vagabond life hunting down magical artifacts that will help me in the war against evil" or something like that it pissed me off lol! I wanted to know who the author was! I STILL dont know who the author is
