I don't expect that people will pronounce my name properly either, Virector, but I'm sticking with it. Partly because I think people picking easy names leads to this sense of whitewashing of fiction.
And I don't like whitewashing.
Also, uh, I have short fiction published in cool places already so I can't exactly change my mind any more!
I'm with Jo Nightshade--I find it hard to remember names that don't correspond roughly with English syllables.
Weirdly, I've had the hardest time remembering Naomi Novik's last name. I keep remembering it as "N<vowel>v<vowel>k" and getting the vowels wrong.
So I'm not convinced that easy-to-pronounce
always helps when it's an unfamiliar name.
...And pronunciation doesn't always help spelling. A large minority of the people here will
always call me "Schweta", even when my username is staring them in the face. So that might end up biting me.
But I figure, if my story titles are memorable, google will help me somewhat for the rest. I google book names to help me remember the author name all the time. Surely I'm not the only one?
Yeah, I hear all of you, but just as dreamsofnever said, I find it extremely hard to contemplate using a name that isn't really mine when I get published. I mean, what's the point of succeeding and getting published if you can't even have your own name on the book??! Oh, dear... I have a headache now...
Many cool people have had pen names. And they
are those people too; it's more a way of keeping your private life private than a way of making the books not be yours.
However. As I said above, I want to put my own name to my own writing, too. I think that's a totally valid way to think. However, yes, it does come with the risk that people won't remember how to spell our names