#pen name

[sinclairsting]

Anyone else get a huge kick out of it when people refer to you by your pseudonym?

Anytime someone refers to me as "Sinclair" it puts me halfway between "IT'S ALIIIVE" and "Nobody cared who I was, until I put on the mask."

[fir-fireweed]

Aha, your name must be Fircival

[bloggingboutburgers]

how do you pronounce your name? Is it an acronym? out of curiousity

It's a very very obscure decision that I made when I was 12 years old actually 🙈

I wanted to start sharing my art online and didn't want to do it under my real name for obvious reasons. My first name is Agathe, which is pronounced like the agate stone, so I looked up the etymology behind that, and I found that it came from the word "akhates", which was, in Antiquity, the Greek name of the Dirillo river in Sicily, in which you'd find a lot of agates.

I thought "Akhates" would be a cool pen name if only it wasn't so long, so I took out a bunch of letters to make it "Akhts". That I now like to stylize "AKHTS" a lot of the time out of habit. I literally don't have any other excuse, it's just habit. And I've gone under that name online and in art ever since.

...So I guess "Akhates" would be the technical correct pronunciation? But since it's not obvious at all due to my life decisions at 12 years old, I'm happy with any pronunciation at this point haha 🙈

[screee-ee]

I made this my pen name as a joke after suffering yet another depressive episode during the 3rd complete rewrite of my sci-fi novel and it worked surprisingly well.

I lose my shit every time I scroll to the top, no matter how many times I see it. It isn't even that funny, but the small joys are what keep me going.

[uwudonoodle]

[academic-vampire]

Is it a sin to admit I never knew his name wasn’t actually Mark Twain …?

(His real name is: Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

(P.s. from Google: “Mark Twain” was a call used by riverboat pilots to indicate that the water was 12 feet deep, or two fathoms, and safe for travel)

[quillfulwriter]

Pen name comparison

I'm just curious before I settle on one, since this poll on Helene as a pen name came back mostly neutral. Please share this as much as possible to give me as much feedback as I can get!

Here's a quick creative summary of my work/style for context:

Writing is generally hopepunk in destination, grimbright in journey. Recurring themes across all work include systems failing people, found family, queer identity as intrinsic, the question of complicity, and mourning and hope held simultaneously.

Which pen name do you like best for the above tone and style?

Helene Vesper (current)

Marlowe Ashwren

Fen Wilder

Corvin Rune

Voting ended onJul 6

This is to help narrow things down, and I appreciate every vote! 💕

[pacific-rimbaud]

Might your pen name be a nod to George Eliot? If so, 🤌

June Eliot is a nod to two things very near and dear to me, and to my beloved Anne Elliot, George and T.S., Elliott Bay, which fronts downtown Seattle, and the Elliott Bay Book Company. Elliott Bay Books' magnificent original Pioneer Square location was a central hub of Seattle literary life and home to Seattle's first bookstore café, one of the earliest pioneers of that business model. The café was also part of the cultural infrastructure of Seattle's early specialty coffee and espresso scene in the 1970s and 80s. Once, when I was a child, I met Allen Ginsberg down in the Elliott Bay Café and he asked me where I went to school. This is much more than you asked for, but it was critically important that my pen name felt like it belonged to me, and both parts of this one do. <3