Captain Von Delgo is such an obscure name that, for a blog name, I don't know if it fits or not. How many people, if any, come across this blog of mine, read it, and think, 'who the hell is Captain Von Delgo? Why does he blog? And why doesn't the author, Peter Van Werkhoven, who actually writes the blog posts, whose name is actually on the side of the blog above a very brief bio, have his name in the title of the blog instead?'
It's a difficult answer. My name is Peter Van Werkhoven, I am an 18yr old from Australia, I enjoy writing and acting and am studying a BA in Professional Writing and Publishing and work as a kitchen hand in a restaurant. And that's me.
Captain Von Delgo, on the other hand, is also me, but a lot more complicated. Captain Von Delgo is a name that has a long history with me. The name itself is 5 years old and morphed from the nickname I always wanted to be called as a child -'Dingo'.
Dingo was the nickname of an Australian conman in one of the books in the Three Investigators series that I used to read as a kid. I read it, thought 'hey that is awesome, I want to be called that' and organised with my sister that we should call ourselves Australian animals as our nicknames. She choose Queen Brown after the snake and I called myself Dingo. The nickname lasted for a day because the only one we told the name to was our younger brother. The failure was probably due to the fact that I was close to either 11 or 12yrs old and had close to zero friends I could tell the name to.
So, fast forward to August 26, 2010, I was introduced to an online site called Shelfari. Shelfari is an online virtual bookshelf. On this site you can find any book you want, if you can't find it then you can create it and, once created or found, you can add it to your 'shelf' so everyone can see the books you have read, are planning to read, and are currently reading. To a 13yr old who loved to read this was fantastic sounding and I wanted an account. Just to put it out there, Shelfari is the first online site that I ever joined so it was equally exciting for me. I'd been on sites previously but they were always on accounts belonging to my Mum. This Shelfari account was to be mine, all mine. I could add the books I wanted, I could join the groups I wanted, I could write my own biography on my very own profile, I could even talk to who I wanted without having to begin the conversation with 'This is Peter' so that whoever I was talking to would not get confused thinking they were talking to my Mum. As a homeschooled kid this was my idea of a fun time.
However, before I could begin the exploration of this marvelous site, I had to create a username. Well, to a 13yr old who had no experience in these things the option was simple, 'Can I use my name?'
'Sorry, no, you can't use your own name for security reasons. You have to keep that private and choose a name that people won't be able to link back to you. You have to be careful of stalkers and be careful of people who pretend to be other people.'
That was not the answer I received in reply, but it was, however, all the warnings I did receive from my parents and older siblings.
Dilemma, what was I to do? If I couldn't use my real name I would have to think of something else. So... Dingo was the nickname I wanted, but the problem with me was that I could not for the life of me remember how to spell it. I spelled it wrong, but to me it looked correct so I kept the incorrect version which was 'Dengo'. But Dengo sounded so boring. What rhymed with Dengo? Delgo! It was at this moment that I began to add a little of my real name into the mix. I wrote Dengo Van Delgo. It was good, I was pleased, but it didn't quite sit right. Something was wrong. It didn't slide off the tongue. Van was Dutch, yet German's used 'Von'. So, Dengo Von Delgo. I liked it better. But, then, on further thinking, I realised that I had spelt Dingo wrong. Oh the embarrassment. Dingo Von Delgo I did not like so it had to go. What else could I put in to make the name sound better? After some serious thinking I decided that I would put a rank in there. I would be a Captain! I would henceforth be known on the virtual bookself site Shelfari as the Captain Von Delgo!
If you ever want to find me on a site I can tell you now that almost every single one my username will be Captain Von Delgo. I feel just as connected to that name as I am the one I was born with. The thought of naming my blog as 'Captain Von Delgo Blogs' just seemed the natural choice. However, if I want to be known as a writer and as an actor, owning a blog that does not even have my name in the title means that searching for it makes things very difficult. Unless you know I go by Captain Von Delgo how will you find me?
A while back I did change the title of my blog and put my own name in it, but I never really liked it so I changed it back to having my alias in the title. Now I am thinking again that maybe I should go back to using my own name, but it's difficult when I'm just as much Captain Von Delgo as I am Peter Van Werkhoven.
I would, and I have seriously considered it, use that as my pen name, but seeing as Captain Von Delgo is the name of my main character in my fantasy series that would look a little strange. So, because it is an obscure character name that no one really knows, it should go. When I think of a better title for this blog, that is...
