I never thought that having an alter-ego would be so tricky.
Do you give much thought to your name? I do whenever it's misspelled. I thought I'd abandoned that problem when I switched from my much more complicated maiden name but that isn't so. Most of the time, I give little thought to my name which is why I often forget to tell people that the Erika Chase on the cover of A Killer Read is me. Not good when you're trying to flog a book to a hometown audience.
I found that at Malice Domestic, there were a number of people who remembered me from years gone by -- and it was a long time since my last Malice -- and had no idea that Erika & I were the same person. I was so into the 'Erika' persona (even my name tag) that I at one point, didn't answer immediately to 'Linda'. Which is good and bad. It can also make it tricky when signing books. I've decided that if it's someone I know, they got both names, otherwise, I stick to the cover name.
Richard Castle is another interesting name game. You know the TV show, Castle -- one of my favourite, I might add -- well, the book that Castle first wrote in the show was published in real life under the name Richard Castle. Of course, Castle is a character...who writes a book in the series and, so it would seem, also in real life. It's a clever marketing scheme but you really do need your wits about you when thinking it through.
I don't feel any different, regardless of which name I happen to be using. What about you? Do you use a pseudonym and if so, who are you at this moment? Is it really you?
Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com
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