Myname is Edgar Rider but sometimes write under Bob Eager. There is no completely sane reasoning for this a bi-polar or mulitpersonality disorder may explain. Some ideas seem to makemore sense under a specific character direction.
Well, I've decided to use my Chinese name along with my married name instead of my English name, which all my friends know me by. Not sure that counts as a "pen name" though really since my Chinese name is actually my real birth name...
If you wish to use a pen name for anonymity, you need to consider that at least your agent will need to know your real name if you want to receive royalty checks without a hassle.
If I'm ever published, I'll use a pen name. The main reason for this is that my real name is a bit hard for many people to pronounce and spell correctly. I keep thinking it would be easier for people to find my stuff on Amazon (for instance) if they can easily spell my name. So there's a marketing issue there. Besides, I really like the pen name I've chosen: William Shakespeare. (Just kidding, of course ...)
When I'm published I'm going to use a pen name. My real name is too pretty and sounds like the offspring of two major romance authors. That would work for me if I decided to write in that genre. But I'm leaning towards general fiction and I worry that my real name will prejudice people towards my work. I'm either going with a man's name or initials.
This is especially true in the US after banking rules were changed with the PATRIOT Act. Sheesh, I had a huge hassle because we changed my son's last name and despite it being a legal name change, court order and all, we had to deal with an incorrectly changed birth certificate and the Social Security Department before he could open a bank account.
Please PLEASE don't use initials! It may serve your purpose (avoiding gender stereotyping), but it makes it hell on all those people who want to talk about your work. "Did you read A.B. Smith's new book? He or she is great, isn't he or she?" "No, I didn't read his or her book. As far as he or she is concerned, I have some catching up to do." "His or her characters are wonderful." "I read his or her last book, and I have to tip my hat to him or her. He or she writes great prose." Etc. Have mercy on your readers!
The gender gap in authors is vanishing. Perhaps your given name doesn't meet your image expectations, but don't bury your gender as if you are ashamed of it.
I dont know, id like to because the pen name id use, is so much more awesome than my real name... and that my name actually sounds like 2 first names (which causes confusion quite a lot) soo Lupa Xenon or my real name? i think Lupa
I have and will continue: one reason is my actual name is being used by a number of other people in all the different fields of my interests. So to avoid confusion...
Hahaha this made me chuckle - I guess it's true And @Cog - there's something very true about what you said and yet it reflects the sad reality that many of us, even women, are ashamed of our own gender. Now back to pen names... Does anyone have an opinion on the first name Ka-Yan? (If I ever get published, I'm planning on using that name, so I guess there's not much need to hide it from a forum eh?) In reading this thread, I'm beginning to worry about the hyphen... I had initially wanted to go for "K.Y." because Ka-Yan looks too foreign, until some American FB friends told me what kinda product KY is known for....
Welcome to Writing Forums, Edgar/Bob! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
. Always keen to know the whys and wherefores. Considering the same - but I can turn my name into a female name with hyphenated surname.
I'm not ashamed of my gender - just trying to dodge sterotypes - even men write under woman's pseudonyms. Jennifer Wilde is actually a guy. He writes terrific romance novels but would he have been as successful had he written them under his real name Tom E. Huff? Who knows. I've thought about using a female pseudonym but no name has really stood out for me accept for Kate. Initials - the floating gender ha! Never thought of that but yeah, I guess people would be at a loss to discuss a work especially in articles.
