One of my main concerns was that I wanted it to be pretty. I also wanted it to stick out. I wanted people to think "That's a pretty name." or "How the heck do you pronounce that?" So maybe they'd be more likely to remember it.
While my real name Miranda Elizabeth is a beautiful name, but 'Miranda' is fairly common, as is 'Elizabeth', and so is my last name.
Since I love Gilmore Girls, and love the name Lorelai, I thought about that. Then I saw a lot of pen names that were either the same, or similar so I decided not to use it. I still love the name, and if I have a daughter that will probably be her name, but its just too wide spread for my pen name.
While I wanted it to be unique, I didn't want it to be so far out there that it sounded like something out of science fiction, or a preservative in a Twinkie.
I also wanted my pen name to be mysterious and sexy, without being stripper sounding ( please welcome our guest blogger, Trixie McBimbo), and I needed it to be flexible enough that if I decided to branch out of the romance genre, it would still fit.
I first heard Honoria on M.A.S.H. and I thought it was gorgeous. I'd never heard it anywhere else. Ravena comes from my favorite character in the YA paranormal, Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (I'm still in love with Nikolas). This is the novel that inspired me to write when I was twelve. I still re-read it if I have writer's block. So Ravena seemed like a fitting tribute to it.
Now, after all this thought, I still wasn't sure if I wanted a pen name. I mean, wasn't the whole point to see MY name on the cover? But the first time I saw it on the cover of Fear of Darkness I knew it was perfect (which is a damned good thing considering it was already on the cover). I get the same perfect feeling every time I look at one of my covers. I think I've made the right choice.
