I've come to a sad realization in my life. I will never become a secondary character.
What? WHY NOT?
Well, let's avoid the obvious answer -- that I am the STAR OF THE SHOW. (Hey, even my college roommates declared themselves secondary characters in our college experience. I tend to aim for an exciting life.)
No, the real reason is because no one can pronounce my name. And you just can't put in a name as ridiculous as mine, because eventually people can get Hermione right. As many times as they read my name, it will just baffle the reader so much that they'll put down the book.
My dream of being a character in a book is forever blown away. Le Sigh.
And NO, I was not a teenage drama queen. Okay, I may have had my moments. Or days... or... um... moving on.
So now I'm asking for advice. As much as I love my name, do I use it in the publishing world? Or will teens show up at the bookstore like, "Um... yeah... I want that new book by that one author with the impossible name."
And OF COURSE the bookseller will be like: "OHHH.... you mean Chersti Nieveen's FABULOUS new book. It's over this way."
So what are your thoughts? Pen name? Initials? Leave the cover nameless. Post your vote below
ps. My name is pronounced SHARE-STEE NEH-VENE. Yes, my last name is exactly like the Prince on The Princess and the Frog. There's no relation, though, I can assure you. *wink wink*
I think your first name is super-easy to pronounce and awesome-unique, and I don't think your last name's that hard to spell, either. I figured out how to spell "Wrede" when I was in elementary school...so how hard could Nieveen be?
ReplyDeleteGAH! I LOVE Patricia Wrede. I think I discovered her in middle school, though. My library wasn't very big. Seriously, I was talking to my sister about it yesterday. We didn't even have library cards. The librarian seriously just memorized everyone's name.
DeleteNo one will every pronounce it properly, but it's got wonderful SEO - keep it!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll admit ignorance. SEO?
DeleteSearch Engine Optimization - meaning, I google your name and it's ALL YOU, BABY! :)
DeleteSo true! I googled just my first name, and my website is the first thing to come up, and then I totally dominate the rest of the page. Never realized that...
DeleteI say keep it- bibliophiles are people who love words, and I for one tend to remember an author better if they have a tricky name because I have to think about it more when pronouncing it. Like David Wroblewski. And Chersti is just fun to say.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a good point! That's how I feel about my favorite authors, too.
DeleteAs a young reader, I never cared how to pronounce my favorite author names. I knew what it looked like, knew the first letter, could find it on the shelf, and that was good enough.
ReplyDeleteI think all you have to do is make sure we can pronounce your character names. So that we can talk about them with all our friends.
I'm curious to hear what your agent has to say about this.
My agent and I have briefly talked about it, but no conclusions really. It's more me just wondering. And I agree that character names should be pronounce-able. Though I seriously just go by sight recognition when I'm reading. If you ask me after I've finished a book, I can't remember the character's name. Sad!
DeleteMissing you at WIFYR! I saw Chris Minch today and we're both excited for you making it to first base!
DeleteMy name is also hard to pronounce but I'm sticking with it! Like Susan said above, being unique has its advantages. People will never confuse you with anyone else, and you're easy to find online. :)
ReplyDelete1) Most people mispronounce Lindsay Lohan’s name. The H is silent.
ReplyDelete2) I’m planning on keeping my name, for the most part. As you can see, the last name is easy to guess, and it will become progressively more familiar as Anime and Manga become popular.
3) Despite what I said in 2), I think you should be open to changing your name, based on market reality. My favorite author, John Hemry, had some book sales go down, so the big bookstores didn't want him anymore. He adopted the pen name of Jack Campbell and fooled the bookstores' computers, and is now a bestselling author. Others change their name because of genre: They don't want someone who admired their young adult writing to pick up one of their more adult novels. For these and other reasons, you might adopt a pen name. Once you realize there are other reasons than concerns about pronunciation, it becomes less of a big deal.
I say keep it. I don't have any scientific reasons, just this sense that your name fits you and your writing. It's fun, it's adventurous. It's you. Own it. :)
ReplyDeleteChersti, I have the same problem/opportunity with my name. Someone once said that because they had to ask, and think about it, it would be stuck in long-term memory. There are worse things to happen to you, the next best-selling author of the year. I vote you keep it and let them ask.
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A lot of authors with unusual names haven't had much of an issue with this. Paolo Bacigalupi springs to mind. I know how to say it (Batch-i-ga-lu-pi) because I know him, but I think most people just recognize how it looks. Mishka Shubaly (stress is on the second syllable of his last name: Shu-BAL-ee - you can't even tell the gender of that one on sight; again, I know it because I know him). Linda Demeulemeester is a friend of mine (and a great middle grade writer). Honestly? I think it's a plus to have a name that's so unique looking. What I find trickier is to have a name that's easy to pronounce but also easy to misspell. People look for me as EM Tippets, Tipits, etc. As for my first two names, no one can pronounce Emily Mah. I get called Emily May, Emily Man, etc.
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