Considering how prejudiced humans can get over certain names, I'd choose one that would increase my money-earning possibilities. BTW I agree. It's easier to substitute when you don't like your birth-given name anyway.
I'd not use a pen name because: A, my name is awesome, B, I've already got a story published under my name back when I was too young and dumb to trust myself with a pen name (ie: I was smart enough to know I'd pick something dumb, but not smart enough to come up with anything better). It's the right genre and has decent enough connections I'd see no point in pretending that wasn't me, no matter how I think the story sounds now Also C, I'd be muscling in between some pretty hefty names: to give you a clue, I'd be right next to Pratchett on the average shelf, so hopefully I'd get a bit of attention just from people who browse too far down the line and run out of Discworld. No point using another name unless I looked up who else I'd be able to lurk in the edge of the spotlight of. My mum's a published author, and she got published during her first marriage. Been married 3 times overall, and always kept her first marriage name for her published work/official things like that. No point trying to establish a name again and again and again. She's had that surname so long as her writing surname it's more of her "real" surname than her maiden name or the surname she got when she married my dad... So when my parents split up this year instead of reverting to her maiden name, she legally changed her surname to the one from her first marriage.
Maybe. I really haven't decided yet. I want to live a life where i can write peacefully and in my own luxury, (not riches, but at my own comfort.) I do not expect to make a profit or do i care about it, not really. I write because i enjoy doing it.
Profit and enjoyment aren't mutally exclusive. If they were then Asimov and all others who made money hand over fist would have been either miserable or less joyful than those doing it for free. But there is absolutely no evidence that they were. In fact, a case can be made that earning money from writing increases the joy of writing by adding another incentive.
I love my real name. I think it's very dynamic and would probably use it for the category I write most in. If I needed to pick a pen name, say if I wrote something in a completely different genre and didn't want to throw off readers, I'd use Alice for the first name. When I was 3-4 years old, I insisted everybody call me Alice to the point where my mom put that name on my preschool registration haha. But then, for a last name, I'd want something really out there that there's no way anyone else would have.
No but you can have a trademark on it. There have been cases where people have been preventing from using their own names because of a trademark on, say, a last name. But generally it seems to go the other way.
Christopher Stile is actually a pen-name. My real name is actually very unique, almost too much so. I think a simple name can actually stand out more than a complex one.
Hmmm, well technically I have two first names, and people always assume my second first name is a middle name. So I end up being called by my first name. The problem is both my parents and I prefer my second first name or the "nickname" I was given. This wasn't really an issue until we moved to the States. But anyways, I would probably go for a pen name. Probably going under my nickname, since I think it's actually fascinating how my parents combined their first names to make that nickname.
Pen name because I have a feeling what I write could cause some major upset with my family. I don't like drama and there's no need for anyone to know my name anyway. I'm perfectly content for people to never know anyways. I'm an introvert and the idea of being that well known doesn't sit well with me. So several reasons there.
^ Surely your family would be proud of you. I do agree with the well-known thing though but always assumed I wouldn't write anything good enough for it to be a problem.
You'd be surprised.. lol They're more conservative than I am. Well.. I hope I write something good enough to be published! Just have to keep working at it!
^ Good luck though I'm sure if you're willing to keep working at it then you won't need luck. And hopefully your family will appreciate your writing too.
If I ever get published I will go under the name J.S. Wood. The first two letters being my actual initials and the Wood is something I added on later for some reason. To be honest I'm not really sure how that came to be, but it has been my "alias" for some time now. I don't want people to know it's me who writes. I especially don't want my dad reading my stories... I also like the thought that no one can tell my gender from the name. I think some readers are a bit judgemental on that.
Really? I've found people are generally harder on female writers. Not in my own experience but through stories I've heard about female authors trying to get their work out there. Hence a lot of them going by initials and a last name. Ohhh my dad read a page of one of mine several years ago. He said it was good but I was not happy about it. I specifically told him not to read it. Probably my first mistake. I may as well have put a giant neon sign on the notebook saying "READ ME NOW". Awww thank you! That is very kind of you.
Depends on the story or how I felt. If I didn't want all the attention or publicity, I'd use a pen name.
lol I always feel tempted to go against the grain when someone says "no" to me. Sometimes it's because I feel I need to prove something to them or to myself. As for what my pen name would be, I'm not sure. I was thinking of using a name I like. Probably something gender neutral so it would be harder for someone to figure out who I am.
