#strixvanallen

[adrianastrix]

So my full government name is Adriana Araújo Dutra Rodrigues. [Because names in Brazil are VERY rarely a simple two-piece. You usually inherit AT LEAST a surname from your mother and one from you father, but it can get ridiculous fast. I'll talk more about that another time]

I always want a username that also worked as a pseudonym for me, to make it easier for people to differentiate me from the SEA of Adrianas out there (there are a lot of us).

The thing is, my full name is very long for a username. And each individual surname I have is VERY common around here. Heck, without even trying to, I know an Adriana Araújo who is a famous TV reporter and a completely unrelated one who is a politician. So, no dice with my mother's surname. "Rodrigues" is an even more common surname, it's like weeds in your garden. It's marginally less common than "silva" or "costa", but BARELY. And I don't really like the sound of "Dutra", which happens to be the slightly less common surname I have, so it's a no for me (guess which surname the government generator picked to compose my official teacher e-mail?).

The problem with those surnames being so common is that, for every social network, e-mail provider or other internet service in general, I'll NEVER get to be the first one to pick "adriana.[surname]" as a username, with or without dashs and dots. I got a wattpad account AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IN BRAZIL and I was still, like, the 5th or so Adriana Rodrigues. So I had to get creative.

Solution 1: If I shorten my surnames into initials, it becomes AdrianaADRodrigues or AdrianaADR, which just look like I was going to write my name on caps and stopped. Which is an awesome coincidence, don't get me wrong, but people wouldn't understand without knowing my full name. The definitive deal breaker, however, is that there was a modestly famous comic artist called Daniel HDR back in the day, and ten out of ten people I spit-balled the "Adriana ADR" option for a username/pseudonym assumed I was copying/referencing him. So, sadly, not an option.

Solution 2: SCREW THIS NOISE I'LL USE MY MOST "EXOTIC" OC NAME AS A USERNAME

Not someone else's character, because I wanted full ownership of that username, but I decided to use the craziest, the always-available-as-username-est name I had in my roster as my internet pseudonym.

And it happened to be Alex and Rose's youngest, Strix. With her surname, Van Allen attached to it. So, from around 2004 until I published my first book in 2021, I used "strixvanallen" as a username in pretty much EVERYTHING.

THIS is Strix van Allen

The only miscalculation on my part is: Strix is an actual character in said book and I don't feel like renaming her. So, I can't really confuse people by signing the book as her and expecting everyone to separate us. Either it will look like she is the secret narrator of everything, which doesn't make sense (and it's Diego's job, who is very protective of it), or it would make people assume that she is an author avatar/self-insert, which couldn't be further from the truth (ALL my characters are self-inserts, duh). So, I signed my book as "Adriana Rodrigues" (it's common, but at least not in the SF/F niche in Brazil, I guess), and changed my usernames all to "adrianastrix" where applicable - since a lot of people only know me by "Strix".

And that's why my blog is called "Just another Adriana Rodrigues" until I find something better. It's a nod to the thousands of Adriana Rodrigueses in any platform that allows Brazilians. Which, to be clear, don't annoy me nowadays. I have embraced the "common name, excentric personality/interests" situation, and find it funny actually.

USERNAME LORE GIVE IT TO ME NOW YOU ALL

[adrianastrix]

Welcome to Bram & Vlad!

Here is the short story in which all the families come together and we learn that "the power of friendship" in this universe is more than just metaphorical: https://www.deviantart.com/strixvanallen/art/Legacies-640140274

And here is Mina 4 or 5 doing a bit of support work (but don't be fooled, she goes on the field with brother Jonathan too):

I gave a finisher to the strips and the booklets are in indefinite hiatus (although 'hiatus' is a strong word, since they are more or less independent from one another, so there is no eternal cliff hanger going on - the mistery on them was resolved on the strips, they are supposed to just fill in the gaps in lore), but I still love those brats with all my heart.

hey why are the Van Helsings always the Vampire Hunting Family in modern Dracula stories. Abraham Van Helsing might be the guy who knows stuff but his family is off in the Netherlands and/or dead and totally uninvolved in the plot. Abraham's great-great grandson has no reason to be doing backflips and chopping off heads or whatever

You know who is a family who hates Dracula so so much and would totally teach their kids how to hunt vampires? The Harkers. Give me a modern vampire story where the protagonists are about to die when out pops Quincey Arthur John Lucy Abraham Murray Harker the Fifth, armed with a giant knife and an encyclopedic knowledge of train schedules