My husband thinks I should just write under my own name. I'm still not sure what I'll do. But that is still a long ways off as I'm still only in the research stage of my book.
What about Initial Initial Surname that starts with your last initial but isn't? Like if J. K. Rowling had published under the name J. K. Ronald. Or Rathbone, depending on how different you want it to sound.
Rathbone? Sounds like a porn name... And speaking of porn names (middle name + street you grew up on), I'm still debating if mine, Steven Hollywood, would be a viable pen name. It's certainly got a ring to it, but gravitas? Maybe not so much.
One of my pen names is an adaptation of my porn name - Catherine Annadale sounded a bit flowery, but Catherine Dale? Done!
Pen names. Clark Kent's running to the phone booth. One period then you can be Superman. Change your mind set to change the view.In my option, a new name is needed.
Hi guys! I need help. I'm working on a book for a wide English-speaking audience, but my name is Lithuanian. What do you think, should I try to come up with a totally new name, should I work under my real name or should I think of a variation of my name that would be easier for others to remember. My name is Vaiva Vareikaite. Variations could be something like Vaiva Var ; Vaiva Vareika ; Vaiva V. What do you think?
I'm really on the fence about it. I would really like to just use my real name for all the usual reasons. The problem is that many of my characters and scenes are loosely based on real people. Although in my WIP I have drastically changed a lot and fictionalized even more, some of these people will still recognize themselves on the page. They could also recognize that the entire plot is based around my own personal life fulfillment, in that my MC and all that happens to him is more or less how I wished it would have actually been. It's sort of my own personal fantasy, and they'll know it. These same people were very critical of me in real life, and in my life as a songwriter, so there is no reason to think they would be any less so regarding my novel. Luckily, I have not painted anyone in a bad light, but they're not particularly likeable either. Anyway, they're not readers, so they probably won't even pick it up, but if they see that it is me that wrote it, they just might have a look. I would just assume they don't read it. If by extreme happenstance they do, I don't want them to know that I wrote it. On the other hand, I have a very large group of friends and supporters that I won't be able to reach directly. It's sort of a quandary, but ultimately I am not writing this for friends and family. I'm writing because it's a good story and I want the world of people who don't know me to enjoy it. I think it would be easier to get the ball rolling in sales and interest if I wrote under my real name, but the returns might be less than if I slog through and pitch it under a pseudonym. My question to you who do write under a pen name is how hard is/was it to gain a following of readers? How much more work is it beyond using your real name?
