For those who do not know me: I am Jaen Wirefly. Harriet has been so kind inviting me to write a weekly blog entry for Virtual Writers. I feel honored and privileged to share the same space as my talented friend Flawnt. My style, subject matter and experience is very different from Flawnt. Hopefully, you will enjoy my posts, I encourage feedback both positive and negative.
When you enter Second Life® I suppose the first writing challenge that presents itself is picking out a name. Sounds easy, but it really isn’t. The name that you pick will need to convey to the Second Life® world who you are or who you want to be—all in a single word.
I decided to give my avatar a nice, unnoticeable, name, (very generic) like “Jane Doe,” fueled by my wish to keep a low-Second Life®-profile. “Jane” was a nice, simple, name “plain Jane,” but this is Second Life®, a world filled with virtual creativity and I wanted to appear slightly“ cutting edge” so I switched some of the letters around and called myself “Jaen,” pronounced— “Jane.”
However, to my disappointment, this juxtaposition of letters doesn’t always translate well and sometimes people will call me “Jean”. So my plan for a nice simple name with a twist didn’t work out so well. However, I did learn that “Jaén” is the capital city of Jaén Province in Southern Spain, which is known for olive oil and fittingly, I really enjoy olive oil.
My in-world writing so far has been primarily as a journalist for Sinatra Style Magazine, which has been an amazing experience thus far. The Sinatra’s put so much time, energy and real money into their Second Life® projects which does show a deep passion to create art in Second Life®. The magazine is looking to hire new writers and I encourage those who wish to improve their craft to apply. Writing is a field that is brimming with competition and any opportunity one has to get their work displayed should be seized. Although, I did receive my B.A in Theatre English, I still consider myself new to the writing field. However, my life has been a bit unusual and has given me lots of topics that I can exploit.
Writing is an art that is both calming and frustrating and the explosion of blogs, on-line magazines and daily chat gives the writer lots of interesting opportunities. I welcome you to join me on my journey as I delve deeper into this wonderful endeavor called writing.
Welcome to Jaen’s World!
-Jaen Wirefly
Harriet Gausman
Therese Tammas
harpyconvair
Lukos Tairov
flawnt
Jaen Wirefly
aah Jaen, great reading, didnt we all had that problem at some point and now..im stuck with my name..just need to learn to like it, Kiss
By: Danutka Demina on November 5, 2009
at 4:06 pm
Thanks for the compliment! I really like your name -Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 6, 2009
at 10:57 am
Hey Jaen, it’s so nice to see you here – great article!
thanks for the kind words and welcome to Harriet’s writer’s guild! I can’t at the moment, think of anything else but NaNoWriMo, but eventually, my mind might turn to things more interesting to everyone … cheers
flawnt
By: flawnt on November 5, 2009
at 5:19 pm
You are one hard act to follow Flawnt! -Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 6, 2009
at 3:57 pm
I like you name! Sounds somewhat mystical and cultivated. For real regrets, try kent nowicka…
First name is my real middle name….and nowicka starts with N, the first letter of my rl last name otherwise I hate Nowicka…though it may be pigeon for “we are out of wicker”. I was afraid I wouldn’t remember it! Loved your bio…keep in touch.:)
By: Kent Nowicka on November 6, 2009
at 2:55 pm
Kent you are a riot!!! Thank you so much for the compliment;)
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 6, 2009
at 4:04 pm
This is a nice little piece you have here. My name also confuses people n regards of how they write it. In rl I posess a BA in Media and English. Please do contact me if you’d like me to be a journalist too.
TTFN
Optrix
By: optrix xaris on November 7, 2009
at 10:16 pm
Thanks for the compliment Optrix! Sinatra Style Magazine is looking for writers; pick up a copy of the magazine @ any Kiosk at the Sinatra Galleria, and drop a notecard to the editor.
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 7, 2009
at 11:13 pm
you’re right, the sl name is important.
)
I loved your words in this column; I agree with you when you said “Writing is an art” and I give your art a capital A.
You hit squarely
By: kikko pinazzo on November 8, 2009
at 2:09 pm
Thank you for your kind words Kikko!
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 8, 2009
at 4:31 pm
In my observations in Second Life I have often run into avatar names that make me laugh, that made me realize they are creative or otherwise are noteable for some aspect of them. I posit that my Second Life name is one that stands out a bit from the crowd in its own way.
Insight is perceived by many as denoting someone who is philosophically inclined, possibly, or has a way of seeing into someone’s soul.
As Jaen as said, it can be for many people, a difficult choice when we come to that point; we are confronted with an empty box into which we are to type what becomes our first name, in a world we know too little about. With our real world perspective we question what is in a name.
My choice of name was actually simpler than some people have faced. In peer-to-peer chat, and on many web boards, my screen name is Insight Driver. For my foray into Second Life, I chose Insight then we confronted with a list of “last names.” I found that I could not duplicate the familiar-to-me screen name I had been using online for nearly an entire decade.
I end this with the reason I chose Insight. It’s the name of the brand of car I drive. A Honda Insight. A two seater gasoline-electric hybrid.
By: Insight Homewood on November 8, 2009
at 4:53 pm
Love the name Insight; never would have guessed you named yourself after a car!
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 9, 2009
at 1:52 pm
Unfortunately SL does not come with an user’s manual for the selection of names. I am sure, as I see the John0234 and the iamsexy, that many probably could have benefited from a bit of advice and things best not to do. Well, there is always the next incarnation.
Now you might ask why would one choose the name ‘Raven’ and then select light hair. A good question. Ask me sometime! It was not because I have a car called Raven!
An entertaining and a well written story, Lady Jaen. My compliments.
By: Raven Brunswick on November 10, 2009
at 2:02 pm
Some of the names in SL really are hysterical! Thank you for your kind words Raven.
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 10, 2009
at 4:17 pm
I’ll be talking about this very thing (“clothing your avatar by starting out with a name”) a week from Thursday to an academic group on campus. SL is relatively unknown to most people at my university except for my colleague in anthropology. Yes indeed! I sometimes regret the name I chose–it’s not easy to spell (Hypatia!), but I chose it because it is one of Italo Calvino’s invisible cities (not to mention the name of a woman martyred for her intellect in the wee years of early Christianity). And Pickens, chosen for its alliterative punch gives her a prim, victorian presence. But it’s also the initials for “Hollow Pursuits,” my favorite Star Trek episode.
About a man who goes into a Virtual Reality of his own making, and here I am!
By: Hypatia Pickens on November 10, 2009
at 11:38 pm
Your comments were really interesting. It really is amazing how much thought people put into their names. The funny thing is, as we develop in Second Life our goals change. I started out wanting to keep a low-profile…LOL.
Love your name BTW!
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 11, 2009
at 1:55 pm
Who would have thought that transitioning into SL required planning so early, I have watched avatars repeatedly editing themselves to change their look in search of the perfect pose, and yet with this theme in mind the “first impression” tag was given before they understood the impact.
That said, I hope we do not end up imitating our names in SL !
By: Stuart Idlemind on November 12, 2009
at 3:20 pm
Stuart, I have played nip/tuck with my avi so many times, I’m surprised she doesn’t rebel.
However, do not worry about your last name, you have a wonderful mind!
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 12, 2009
at 4:52 pm
I have to admit that I wanted a name that sounded sensible. So I chose Harriet Gausman. For the longest time I was calling myself Gauseman (pronouncing it Gorseman)- that is the last name I had intended for myself. It wasn’t until I had been inworld for some months that I realised I had been pronouncing it incorrectly.
In quiet moments, alone, as an act of rebellion, I call myself Harriet Gorseman.
By: Harriet Gausman on November 12, 2009
at 7:30 pm
Harriet, you are a riot!!
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 12, 2009
at 7:38 pm
I enjoyed reading your blog so much, and also the replies. It’s pretty amazing how our SL names become part of us. When I was deciding what name to use, I knew I wanted a last name that sounded a little sophisticated (laughs), but I also was in a hurry to go in world an explore. So I didn’t look much and picked the first last name among my options that was long and not that common (pffft). Now I’m stuck with this long last name that some people have problem typing. I have to admit that I had a few good laughs with the comments they made after trying to type that long name…”Good evening Ms B….ahhh forget it, i’m never going to be able to spell it”…
Way to go Jaen…I will be one of your followers in this journey…Enjoy it.
By: Adriana Beningbrough on November 14, 2009
at 2:33 pm
Thank you so much for your support and sharing your story. I actually love the name Adriana Beningbrough, it sounds royal. I have no idea why I picked a last name associated with an insect.
-Jaen
By: Jaen Wirefly on November 14, 2009
at 10:53 pm