What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
I have trouble with names. Not in remembering them, mostly (although I once had a GP I could only ever think of as Dr Hyphen-Thing because I saw him so rarely that the only fact that stuck in my brain was that his surname was double-barrelled). No, my problem is my own name. More specifically, my name in relation to book covers.
Having given the matter some thought, what's letting my novel down is not its title. Looking For Buttons sums up the tale neatly, and I've always been happy with it and its Cinderella connotations. But my name is not terribly authorly. It's not snappy or modish. It's also only a few syllables away from a Famous Author, which could lead to complications. So I think I need a pseudonym.
But what to choose? I could Make Something Up. I could reverse my school nickname, but May Brian is more family saga than romantic comedy. (Yes, my nickname was Brian May. It's a hair thing. Life is too short for straightening irons.) I could seek inspiration from my ancestors, but one of them was called Euphemia and that's even less apt.
With the WIP (work in progress), the problem is reversed. I've got a great pseudonym, a no-nonsense thriller writer's name (conveniently, the book is a no-nonsense thriller). Fab. Except I can't think of a title for the book. I'm a third of the way through and I haven't the faintest idea. Nothing quite fits.
So I sit and I type and the Untitled on the title page sits there and sniggers at me. Heigh ho.
