...if you have one? Someone else posted a thread on coming up with your forum name and a lot of people had interesting answers (not me since I'm shamelessly into yaoi) to include their pen names. So, how did you choose your pen name (and, if you're willing to share, what is it)? __ My pen name: L.G. Talbot Fun tidbit: It has the bonus of being #6 on a Google search (the link of which is the FB page I created for friends to keep me accountable in my writing ). For years I've agonized over a pen name, which ties directly into my desire for a real life that's more suitable. I just knew I wanted "Gabriel" involved in some way since, when I transition and change my name, I want my name to involve "Gabriel". I've been drawn to that name since I was a kid, almost entirely because I love The Prophecy and Christopher Walken's portrayal makes me shiver. This covers the "G" aspect of the name. "L" was fairly easy except that I didn't know what I wanted it to mean. "L" is my favorite letter in the world to write in cursive and I just know that I had to have it as mine in some way. For awhile I just let it mean Lestat because I have/had an unhealthy obsession with that character. I didn't care for that, though, so I dropped it to "L" and left it because "L.G." and "L. Gabriel" sounds pretty cool. "L" does mean something now, though: Loren. Loren is a nice name that, when spoken, can sound gender neutral. So, there you have: Loren Gabriel which I shortened to "L.G." because it sounds good. The last name portion should have been hard, but it wasn't. Originally I was going to use my grandma's maiden name, which she liked, until I realized that none of the people in my family probably want that name tied to the subjects I write about. So what was going to use? The obvious answer was: I-have-no-clue. Then I saw a sign that said "Talbot" and I remembered how much I liked that name, and that beautiful character that found Lestat attractive, and decided that "L.G. Talbot" sounds pretty okay. Long story, short: it's the name I plan on using when I transition and it also sounds pretty awesome (at least to me).
I have several pen names for different genres, but the one for my current WIP, a novel, uses my dad's middle name as my last name, because writing fiction was the only profession he deemed acceptable for me. We disagreed on that, and I did other things, including writing lots of non-fiction. Now that I'm writing fiction again, it seemed fitting to use that as a pen name. ETA: My pen name for my novel is MJ Julian.
An old pen name of mine had 'Lestat' in it, too. Hahah. Mine is a version of my real name -- I prefer the gender neutral route as well so I've published and intend to keep publishing my mainline work as Izzy Todd. There are a few credits from before I settled on that one, but we don't talk about those I've thought about adding my middle initial, A, but I think Izzy Todd sounds snappier and more memorable, so I'd only really want to add the A if it became a differentiation issue. (I also totally picked my middle name on grounds of just really liking A as a middle initial because I'm great at writing it in cursive.) I haven't published anything under my smut pen name yet, but the plan is for it to be Cris (gender neutral) Yonae (an alteration of yoni, because I absolutely wasn't going to allow myself to make a dick joke, but ...).
My pen name is Sarcophagi. It sounds like something an orphaned gypsy boy would babble when he's scared... "Entity! Who are you?" "Sarcophagi..." "Entity!"
Lestat rules. xD Letters are easier to choose and it's nice to see someone else who chose theirs because they liked a letter, lol. @Alex R. Encomienda : A someone who wants to be an Egyptologist, all I can think of is intricate coffins, but that's cool.
I published a book under a female pen name (“Evelyn Elliott”). I slowly grew to hate it. I can’t explain it, but it felt like pretending to be something I wasn’t, somehow. It didn’t feel like “my” name. I probably will never publish under it again. I have a gender neutral name now. I picked out something with more personal meaning to it, and I like it a lot. I’ll post it once I start publishing under it.
A criminally underrated movie! Iain Aschendale is my screen name and my pen name. Iain is an homage to my hands-down favorite writer, the late Iain M. Banks, and Aschendale is still something I keep private. When I came up with it though, Google had only one response for it, and that was some sort of mecha, so I pretty much dominate the legit, old-fashioned SEO for the name, which is good.
I haven't got one yet. Just go by my initials and/or first/last. I hate my middle name. Not sure what I will be able to come up with, but I don't think my screen name will work.
Seriously! It's my favorite, hands down. I dunno...I think it'll work. I'd read a book on the sale basis of it being written by Cave Troll.
A name I came up with recently is Lana Morose. Yes, it's obviously the word 'morose', but you put the stress on the first syllable. The way I say it, it ends up sounding like 'moh-rose' or 'maw-rose' instead of 'muh-rose'. Perhaps it's better to say it's like 'morose', but with the stress on the first syllable, and a British accent? I chose the last name as a nod to me being overly pretentious when writing, hence I'm the stereotypical sad, 'pensive' writer. 'Lana' (lay-nuh) seems like a very feminine name to me, and it's not necessarily that I want to attach myself to something as such that I like it, but rather the femininity itself that appeals to me. I mentioned in another thread that I like the name Aidalee (ay-duh-lee). If I chose this name for myself, I'd call myself Aidalee Johnson. Nice and simple. I noticed people in this thread like gender neutral names. I'd never given it much thought, but I think it's logical to do that. Because I haven't given it much thought, I don't have a list I can draw from to create my own name. Other names I'd consider for myself: Clarice, Eleanor, Maria... I love naming things. Naming myself is a little weird, since I'm pretty okay with my name. I'm only considering new ones since I like my anonymity.
