Just wondering.
I took the easy way and used my real name as I wished to also publish and sell, so I started as I intended to go.
I do have a nickname I was given back in the 1960s in Primary School of Deadly Ernest due to a new TV show on local late night TV on a Friday and Saturday with the name of Horror Movies with Deadly Earnest and the host was done up as a Zombie and called Deadly Earnest.
I've always felt that I was on the fringe of any group I was part of: the geek who played sports in high school, the guy who's a good coworker but not really someone you hang out with... an outsider trying to fit in.
My initials but formatted in a way to keep it near the top of the alphabetical author list. The first step to being discovered is being noticed.
From reading. Palamedes was a knight from Arthurian legend and Greek mythology is a prominent figure in post-Homeric legends about the siege of Troy.
I wanted to name my son Blayde and call him Switch (as in the switchblade knife). But my wife said, "No way!" So I chose Switch Blayde as a pen name (there's a band with that name now. I wonder if they stole it from me).
When I began selling on Amazon that name sounded too amateurish so I turned it into S.W. Blayde.
I thought I had made up the name Blayde. When I do a search on Amazon/Books there are people with last names of Blayde and Blaydes. The good news is my novels never used to show up near the top when I searched on "blayde." With their current sales history, they are now.
I just googled "blayde" and found an urban definition for it: "A demigod among men. A person who leads with character." I had no idea. But if the shoe fits… LOL
Simple, it is a nickname I got when I was in the military.
In short, I was always "Kept in the dark and fed bullshit". And I have used it for over 30 years now.
I have known authors who have for one reason or another decided to use the name of one of the main character of one of their stories.
AmigaClone
12/10/2020, 2:07:40 PM
I have known authors who have for one reason or another decided to use the name of one of the main character of one of their stories.
Because the story was in first person?
It was the name of the first erotic story I ever wrote and, since I was going to post it here, I used it as the pen_name.
Mine is my go to RPG character name, usually as a last name. However, my first D&D character name way back in the 80's was Rycliff valkyrie and its just stuck.
When I first started writing, I was infatuated with Cutey Honey and Sailor Moon.
That's why my author name is
Honey Moon
It also sounds sort of sexy, like what couples do on their honeymoons!
I was 14, I was in some computer class in junior high and we needed to pick a webhandle for something, I don't remember what. Sliver was a Nirvana song I liked. Red got added to the front of it, I don't remember why. There was a redhead in the class I liked, maybe her? Maybe because Raphael was my favorite ninja turtle.
And I've autopiloted Redsliver for 23 years now.
My name is derrived from when I first went on line with an ASR32 teletype in 1970, with a small group from the bay area. It is after my car a 1966 Baracuda, metallic gold.
I very-much wanted anonymity when I began writing; i used a Finnish anonymous-posting group.
My first 2 attempts at a 'Nym were rejected because others had got there first. So I went with a 2-word name.
I got it, but ego-searches keep turning up long lists of movies.
Forum: Search Results
This discussion has come up before.
"Where do you get your pen names?
Posted: 10/19/2015, 4:29:26 PM"
As a kid I loved the story of the talking elephant so I went with that and I called myself Barbar. Imagine my surprise when I got around to researching the elephant story and found out that it was actually called Babar.
ps. References to Babar appear in a number of my stories.
I wanted a somewhat unusual name, but not too far out. There was a character in a series of books sci-fi books by Brian Stableford (the Dies Irae series, who was a sort of semi-hero, so I picked that, and added John as a first name. Although it would probably have been better not to, I used that name for my protagonist in my first really long story (which is still not finished).
Once upon a time I was "Barron of Ideas". Sometimes re-spelled "Barren of Ideas". I should have spelled Barron with just one r, but I was preparing to be Barren.
I suggest you don't pick a pen name, axe one. Or pickaxe one. So you can cut it out of rocks.
Rev_Cotton_Mather
12/25/2020, 6:29:43 PM
I thought it was humorous to write this stuff using a name like this.
And it sure was fun to read it!