My real first name is very close to Mike. Real last name has nothing to do with Hill, that comes from my favorite series King of the Hill. My school isn't the worst but still you wan't to be known as the writer. At least with the guys that's the attitude. Also I use to think that I should change my names to English version like the immigrants did because English speakers have a bad time trying to say my name. Then I read Schwarzenegger's book. There he said that you can turn all your oddities from negatives to positives.
My WIP will be published anonymously as a matter of principle (well, several principles). Not that I think every book should be anonymous, just that this particular project is a very unique type of work that lends itself best to anonymity. I might actually publish it under the name of the protagonist. Which would still technically count as anonymous, but it would make sense since the story is told in first person. I cannot think of a reason why I would ever want to use a pseudonym. Maybe I will discover reasons if I continue to write.
I've thought about this, and decided that when my novel goes public (soon!) it will be under my real name. Which, unfortunately, is triple-barreled. Not in a hyphenated snooty-upper-crust sense, but because I intend to use my maiden and married names. I want people who know me, or knew me, to be able to find my book!
I write under a pseudonym. This is mainly because my first book was true life and I needed to change the names of everyone in there, especially my children as the book is about adoption. When I decided to start writing fiction, I them had a choice to make, stay with the pseudonym, use my real name or pick another one. I decided to stick with the pseudonym. It is pretty strange that some people only know me as Elaine (pseudonym) and sometimes if people call me that, I forget that they are talking to me ... But on the flip side, I rather enjoy being two people. (I'm also a Gemini, which helps) I'm also aware that makes me sound like a mad person!
Yes I do write under a pen name and I do prefer to write using my pen name instead of my regular name.
I have three different pennames. Which is another advantage, one that I don't think has been mentioned yet. Your name is your brand, and you may need to have different brands depending on what you're selling. So I have one name for m/m romance, one for m/f romance, contemporary YA and contemporary NA, and a third one for fantasy and YA fantasy. It's a pain to keep STRONG social media presences for all three names, but I'm not sure that a strong presence is always an asset. And I'm playing with the idea of acknowledging the connections between the names, so I could have one 'master persona' that would subsume all the sub-names. Not sure if I'll do that or not...
I actually write under a guys name on another site. I wanted to see if I would be taken more 'seriously'. Peachalulu sounds kinda flighty. An interesting thing happened. Someone commented on one of my stories and said that from a woman's pov they were a bit uncomfortable with my ending. I lol-ed. Part of me likes using a male pseudonym but part of me feels stifled using it - I find myself going whoops - this doesn't sound like a guy. I rethink every statement. Are there issues with new female writers? Is it a genre thing? I imagine guys have it equally hard if they want to write a romance. Though Nicholas Sparks seems to have done okay.
I use Adenosine. It got it from the neurotransmitter of the same name, which promotes sleep and is blocked by the stimulant drugs caffeine and theobromine. Thus, it represents both energy and calmness.
If you search Amazon for gay male erotic lit, you'll find a plethora of female author names. I'm left in the dark as to whether this is really the case or if men are using female pseudonyms in order to sanitize the "dirty guys writing for dirty guys" image? I have no idea, no research other than noting the large number of female names for clearly boy-on-boy stories.
Most m/m romance and erotica is written and read by women. There's some frustration from some gay male authors wanting to write, presumably, for other gay men, and some attempts have been made to segregate m/m romance and erotica from gay literature (which may or may not be romances or erotica). ETA: There are actually quite a few women in the field who use male pseudonyms, so the number of female authors is actually even higher than it initially appears just by looking at pen names.
Your choice but I would go for the one that you remember the easiest and can sign more fluently than the other.
My real name is A. Wagner. It's quite annoying to explain all the time how to pronounce the first name in English. My buddies call me Wagner anyhow.
If I was ever going to write under a pen name it would probably be Leela Wallington, which would have been my name if I'd been born a girl to my mum and her partner before she met my dad. Although my mum would have spelled it Leila. The only fake male name I would use is Chris Andersen, and writing under that would likely be problematic since it's the same name as a relatively famous basketball player.
I've never heard of Chris Andersen but then, as far as basketball goes, I know one player's name and that's Dennis Rodman. Come to think of it, I'm now not even sure if he was a basketball player or a baseball player. My point being, would it really be that problematic to have the same author name as another 'famous' person that some people would know?
I read somewhere to keep your last name towards the front of the alphabet so you'd have a better spot on the shelf at the bookstore. Wagner Asaph. Although I like Ed's suggestion - A.J. Wagner.
Rodman was a basketball player, yes. He's more famous these days for going to N. Korea a few times though... I'm not really sure how problematic it would be. It certainly might confuse a few people though.
Well, here are eleven of them to start you off ... http://mentalfloss.com/article/54437/11-pairs-unrelated-famous-people-who-share-name
