CWC: We've Got a Name

Last night was the first official meeting of the novel group, and as the first official meeting, we weren't ready to critique yet. Yet, there we were, at the meeting, and it felt like we out to at least accomplish something more than just getting the 1st submissions.

Thus - brainstorm session. I don't know if "brainstorm" is as accurate as calling it something like "creative volleyball." One person serves an idea, it bounces around, and then you either score a point or you don't and the ball gets served again. At the end of the game, we arrived at a name everyone liked: Creek Writers Council. Now we're offical.

In other news, I just barely managed the 50 page minimum and realized two things.
1. Wow, I actually do have that much material for my thesis. Exciting.
2. Now I have nothing in reserve to bolster my submission for next time so I've got to get my butt in gear in order to once again meet the minimum. Crap.

A Three-Syllable Name

Sometimes names in a story are more significant than at other times. Sometimes you put a lot of effort into finding a name that's just right.

Right now I'm working on a story and I have it in my head that I need a three-syllable name for a male character. I'm also trying to find a name that's not always shortened, i.e. Nicholas almost always becomes Nick, but Jeremy often stays Jeremy.

Thus far I have:
Christopher
Harrison
Elias
Elijah
Theodore
Sebastian
Archibald
Isaiah
Edison
Gregory
Oliver
Nathaniel
Emerson

Can you help me think of others?

Pseudonym

For my Scottish Lit. class, we're going to have a blog. Since this blog will be out in the public realm, that means the comments of people from my class (and the corresponding undergrad class) will be visible for whoever wanders along. This is fuzzy ground, thanks to the university's policies about student privacy.

Ergo, Margaret has told us that we will all be using pseudonyms to do our postings. Cool, huh?

Of course, this creates a huge pile of possibilities. Should I pick a name which represents some homage to a favorite writer? Should I plug in the name of a character from something I've written? Should I use some kind of name pulled from my family? Should my name reflect my course of study for the class and come from a folk song? Or, given the subject of the class, should I pull my name from a Scottish book, or from folklore? So much to choose from, I just don't know. I get the chance here to call myself anything I want. Fun and intimidating at the same time.

"Come on," you say, "It's just a pen name for a class, it's hardly a major decision."

Yeah, I know. But the writer in me loves names. I love finding just the right name for a character, and if I'm going to be a character, I ought to have just the right name too. Oughtn't I?

I guess the real question here is: if I were fictional, what would my author name me?

How about you? If you were in a book, what would your name be? No, your given name doesn't count.