Aliases/Pseudonyms/Noms de Plume

I have several when it comes to names-that-are-not-my-name, but I can't tell you all of them!

1. First one I'll share is"Veronique", self-picked for my French class in high school. We were given a list of names, I'm sure you're familiar, and then for the rest of the year we referred to each other with our French names. Definitely made it difficult to know anyone's real names, there was one guy who chose Mustafa and I honestly cannot remember what his real name was. So, for four years of French, I was Veronique (imagine an accent aigu on the first "e"). Ensuite, s'il vous plait!
2. This one is a little strange and I still have no idea if this guy was messing with me. Let me take you back further, middle school (the terrible years of adolescence) where in a certain gym class - Tom (Fake name to protect the not-so-innocent namer) - this Tom fellow was playing ping pong with us and we were learning each other's names. He thought my name was "Philadelphia" - I don't know about you, but I think of the cream cheese first, then the city. Who would name their child Philadelphia? Although if you look at the current situation of celebrities and their babies, there are an awful lot of "unique" names being thrown around. Anyway, what a disaster and he still didn't know my name!
3. Fast forward to the present, I'm actually still in this class, and the teacher thinks my name is "Mary". Can't fault her for the first letter, but we're still a ways from Megan. Now, you may be thinking or wondering why I don't correct her. "Come, Megan. You know your name is not Mary," you might say. Very true, I do know my name, but some people are difficult to correct. They just won't listen and now that it has been a few classes, I think it is ingrained in her memory. Ah well, it adds another pseudonym to this list.

Three is the charm, isn't it? I've got several others, but not as many stories associated. (Marilyn, Morgan, other names of the female persuasion beginning with "M"). Still this gives you a hint and I suppose proves one point that I can be many people. Apparently, my face fits a lot of names - I'm still trying to figure out if this is good or not. Alas, I fear there will be no end to the mistaken names that get placed upon me, such is life, and I intend to keep on living.

Do you have any aliases?  OR  What are some of your favorite names?

Comment below, I'd love to hear them!

Why We Read/Why We Write

For Readers:

"We read stories because we want to escape the present moment and dive into something so interesting that it captures our attention and makes us feel alive."

I am alive in that character. The one that I am reading. I experience what they experience; I am privy to their thoughts and reasons. Their actions are ones that I feel in my body; their pain is mine, their sorrow is mine, their joy is mine.

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For Writers:

"We write because we have words bursting from our chests and storylines flowing in our veins. We write to feel alive."

Choose the right story -

"When you try to force a story, it slips away and you lose interest -- that story is not for you. Choose the stories that make your head sing with joy and that enraptures your heart so that you can see it to the end."

In case you didn't notice the theme, but for me at least, as a writer and reader, I do both to feel alive and hopeful, entertained, moved, etc... Books are windows to our subconscious and keys to our emotions.

I Choose You! (Finding the Perfect Prey for Interviews)

Have you ever had to interview someone?

I've done many for the yearbook and it's always a nerve-wracking experience. First off, I'm an introvert and quiet, so talking to strangers is not really my cup of tea. I go to events and then I sit there for, I don't know, five to ten minutes just staring at the crowd, trying to find the perfect person to start the process. The first one is not usually good, but it's a warm up, a test run of the night so that I can feel more comfortable just walking up to strangers.

And how do I pick this perfect prey?

With some small deductions, I usually look at who they are in relation to the crowd. Are they standing alone, are they looking at their phone? How far in do I have to go to reach them? What are they wearing (this can give me details like their college of study)? I like to pick the loners, the ones that are there, but at the moment have no one to talk to, they're not busy, they're just there, so I stroll on up and throw some half-garbled question while recording it on my phone.

Oh, I always ask beforehand if people don't mind being recorded, and for the most part, I think I take them by surprise so they don't think about it and mumble out a "sure, go ahead" before their mind can catch up with their mouth. It usually doesn't last a minute, a few seconds, a couple of questions, and I'm turning off the recorder and thanking them for their time. Then, I'm off to find my next prey.

Ask the "hard-hitting" questions, by that I mean, don't let them get away with a "yes" or "no" answer. Make them give you a statement, otherwise it's not worth talking to them anyway. People will say some amazing things on their feet, you just have to guide them in the right direction, not a manipulation, just a probe so that they're not throwing in lots of "Um" and "I guess" and "Yeah, sure."

Interviews also catch people in speech patterns, especially if you record it, you can listen to where they pause, how their words are ordered, stuff like that. It's good practice and although it's not natural dialogue, it still gives you a taste, so when you're working on dialogue for characters, learn the stumbles, the unnatural bits of conversation and just give the reader the good, entertaining parts.

I can't remember where I first learned it, but essentially dialogue is writing unrealistic conversations realistically. By that I mean, make it sound plausible, but interesting, where each line of dialogue has purpose and follows along with the story.

Scent Sensations

Olfaction, our ability to smell things, whether good or bad, it's useful and plays an important role in our lives. It is also one of the underrated sensory perceptions used in writing. Most writers know how to do visual descriptions, we're around visual stimuli all the time, but when it comes to the delicate sensibilities of our noses, sometimes writers fall short. I fall short, in some ways I forget that characters even have noses. What's an angel supposed to smell like anyway?

What is amazing and fascinating to learn about, are all the ways that our sense of smell has an unconscious role in how we relate to others. I'm about to get a little scientific here and throw in some of the ideas I've learned from biological psychology, but as I said, it's fascinating.

Did you know that we use our sense of smell when selecting partners? It's an evolutionary advantage to have someone with a different immune system than you because, when you procreate, your offspring will receive a wider selection of immunological genes and have a greater chance of survival. Ah science, it disgusts and surprises us, the t-shirt study explains this in particular, those poor women who had to smell those shirts, a moment for them and their noses.
So, there is an immunological function, what else...

Another interesting difference is how when a male smell a sweaty woman, he feels aroused, and when it is the other way around a woman releases cortisol (stress-chemical). I'm sure there are plenty of explanations for this and reasoning behind it, but I won't go that way, this time.

Pheromones are another interesting part, and in some ways they are a vestigial sense for us, but in other ways we still use it. Apparently are vomeronasal organ is very tiny and has no receptors. However, some of our working olfactory receptors respond to pheromones anyway. Women who live in close proximity and are around each other may sync up during their menstrual cycles; you know when those little trashcans get full in the bathroom and everyone takes forever when you just want to pee. There may be other pheromones released by other animals that we can detect, but there is still a lot of research that needs to be done to conclude anything.

How does this relate to writing? As mentioned above, smell is underutilized, so open your nostrils and take a sniff. Fill your writing with smelly scents.