I know this sounds really silly but hear me out. 10 years ago when I started writing seriously, i never wanted to write about being Asian American, or about being Asian in general. i have written a few novels i would be proud to publish, in fact i planned on completing 10 first drafts of different novels and picking the one i wanted to work on and query. but when working on my 4th book, which came about spontaneously, i realized that i didn't want to wait any longer and would like to query this book. my 4th book is a rough reimagining of my life, something like a biographical fiction, except that i'm not famous. anyway, my first 3 books were very European. i grew up reading Russian and German writers and my first 3 books were incredibly affected by this. My genre is literary fiction, that is one of the main reasons i would like a European sounding penname, but obviously, this 4th work that i want to query is widely about the Asian American experience, my Asian American experience. the other main reason why i want an European sounding penname is because i plan on breaking into the French arthouse movie scene in the future, especially if my writing career doesn't work out. i know i could just go with an asian name for this debut novel if it gets picked up, but i want people to see my name and know / recognize my body of work. i have to admit, i don't see anyone being happy or impressed if they see a name like 'Alexis Armand', with possibly an asian woman on the cover, open the book and realize the whole plot revolves around asians. In fact even if my work were good, i foresee that people will hate and even mock me because of this. But, I was thinking, if they googled me, they would see immediately that i am asian. as for my pen name, they'll probably think i married a westerner or that i am wasian. I started thinking of this seriously when I discovered an Asian American author who writes Gothic romance. Her name was very British, turns out she is 100% Chinese but publishes using her married name. I've never seen Asian authors do that, because authors like Ishiguro publish under Asian sounding names even when they write fiction centered around Eurocentric topics/ the characters are all white people. apologies for the long post. I guess my question boils down to this: should i or should i not adopt a European sounding penname if I am not European? (Please state your reasons as well as answers) Pros: i like it and it would be easier for people to recognize my brand, if i publish other more eurocentric books in the future under an asian sounding name, people would be less likely to buy and read. Cons: people will think i am a wannabe, cultural inappropriation, people who do not bother to google me will think i am a European writing a book about the experiences of being Asian American.
Maybe a name that sounds vaguely like several different things? Something like Jean Luc? Seems possibly French, possibly Asian to me. Or maybe not. Lee could be Asian, European or American. Oh, I must have got Luc unconsciously from seeing your username. Didn't even realize that.
When I asked my agent what he thought of pennames, he immediately and emphatically said he hated them. In his experience (about thirty years worth) pennames are generally adopted to cover up a poor publication history or for cross-genre writers to distinguish their work between genres. He added thatif I chose to use a penname, I should pick one I love because I'd be stuck with it. European-sounding names vary from Ian McCain to Elisaveta Munteanu. Asian-sounding names vary from Li Kim to Bolortsetseg Jargalsaikhan. I'm not familiar with Europe, but in the United States, people with Asian surnames are likely to be called Olivia Ang or Henry Lee or Marsha Kumura, as opposed to Ang Binh or Akira Kumura. (Names are my hobby, so please forgive me if this is all TMI.) If you want a European penname, go for it. You could also choose something ambiguous as Xoic suggested: Lee Moon and Mina Park are as European as they are Korean.
Hi Catriona, thank you. I agree with your agent, that was why I asked the question. I do not want to write under multiple pseudonyms and pen names. If possible, I would like to be known by a single name. And you were not TMI at all, I appreciate the information. I think my best option is to pick a name that sounds Asian and European at the same time which will take some research! I was thinking another option was to use a hyphenated name. Thank you, Catriona. If you do not mind, do let me know what white people think when they see an Asian author having a completely European/American name. It can be your own opinion or something as a rule politically correct. I don't exactly keep up with what's the right climate currently, politically and socially. So if you or anyone else could enlighten me if I am about to doom myself, do help me, haha.
Thank you Xoic, and I love your username and profile picture. I love the name Jean Luc by the way, but I think you would find 50,000 Jean Lucs in France, perhaps more. As for Lee, I'd prefer something a little more complex.
Internationally, this depends somewhat on where they're from. For those from Hong Kong, they adopt an official English first name, although AFAIK, it doesn't appear on their official ID documents, so you end up with Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee. That's less common for those from mainland China, although it does happen. That's a legacy of the colonial period. There's no tradition of that in Japan, so many Japanese authors, actors and other creatives go by their Japanese names (e.g. Haruki Murakami), but in Western order (i.e. not Murakami Haruki). These days, it's more common, but also, the Japanese government has decreed that Japanese order will be the preferred way of writing names in English so that may change. In Thailand, there is no tradition, but even so, some fully Thai people will use a European stage name, such as Tony Jaa, and most, if not all half-Thais will have a western nickname - it's just seen as cooler. In Tony Jaa's case, his stage name was chosen specifically to appeal to western audiences - he's not known as that in Thailand.
White people aren't exactly a generic group. I went to high school and college in an area with a large percentage of people who were of Asian ancestory. Those with a non-Asian fatherhad names like John Anderson and Kathy Sherman. No biggie to me. Some folks use both their father and mother's surnames, such as Amanda Hashimoto Clausen.
Honestly, I don't think anyone cares or even notices. I can't remember anyone commenting about the subject one way or another. Even in real life, I know plenty of White people with Black names and Black people with White names. Asians, Hispanics, Asian-Hispanics all with names that don't necessary reflect their racial ancestry. Seriously, any reader who seriously investigates this is probably inclined to find any one of a thousand reasons to put a book down, from the color of the cover to the use of Roman numerals instead of regular numbers for the chapter heads. I wouldn't worry about it.
Seems it'd be more distinctive if you retained your Asian name, or some part of it (Asian surname, Western given name, as suggested). If you're writing about the Asian experience in the West, it gives you more authority. If I see a white-bread Anglo-Saxon or French author name on a book like that, I'd be thinking, "What does he know?" And if I found out your heritage was Asian after all, I'd shake my head and wonder, "What was he trying to hide?" Sounds like your hangup is your earlier, Eurocentric books. People do have different pennames for different genres. If you prefer only one, and it's mixed Western and Asian, readers likely won't care. They'll just want a good read.
you're right, every person will have different reasons to put a book down and I should stop trying to please everyone. Thank you for your reply
astute observations! I think that people would think I have a 'social disease' of wishing I was white in a very euro-centric globalized world, and I am afraid of that. But I don't agree with you thinking I would be trying to hide something. I think it's quite common for Asiatic artists to have a Western penname or stage name. I think it might be necessary in some cases because of how Westernized the whole world is.
I don't know if you're asian, but you need to know why Japanese names wouldn't hurt the chances of the work being obscure or judge unfairly because in the artistic field/scene Japanese people are widely respected. It's becoming increasingly cool to like and watch anime in the West, and thanks to people like Ishiguro and Murakami, most people have high opinions on Japanese artists and authors, but it is not the same for most other Asian/Asiatic races. When a non-kpop affliated Asian singer or artist does well globally people assume automatically they are Japanese. Keshi the singer is a Viet but he uses a Japanese stage name. Japanese people are respected widely generally, so if I were Japanese I wouldn't have posted this thread. Just ask your fellow westerners if they have heard of Tony Jaa, I bet more than 99.99% of them have not. In fact because you mentioned him, if I had to make an educated guess you are Southeast Asian or have family and friends there. Thank you for your comment, this was a good discussion.
Most people I know have heard of him. Have you watched Monster Hunter? I'm not really inclined to get into a discussion on which Asian country's (not "race") names or culture are better than which. Suffice to say, I know a lot about it.
I don't see why not (speaking as a European here). European names are very universal now unless you're talking old European (like "Elric" or something, and you know what, it wouldn't even surprise me to find a few of those in Asian cities - parents can be wacky, I guess!) - I've come across genuine Euro-centric names used by actual Asian people in real life Asian environments - Sean, Maria, Maddie, Ash. I suppose the only thing might be if readers pick up a book by "Stephen Somebody" or "Kelly Whatsherface" and have a certain expectation of author appearance which you then confound, they might feel odd. But that's very minor.
I wasn't saying you'd actually be hiding anything if you wrote Asian-experience stories under a wholly Western pen name; rather that your audience might think you were when they discovered your heritage.
