Pen Names

[sarillia]

How do you go about choosing a pen name? I don't know where to start.

I've been going back and forth for a long time about whether I would want to use a pseudonym if I ever actually got published. I finally decided yes because I don't need to worry about my bigoted brother seeing the shameful empathy towards things he disapproves of in my writing and judging me, even if I know that it's unlikely that they would google me and find out that I have a few stories that a handful of people have read. True story: his girlfriend once refused to lend me a book because she had discovered since buying it that it was "immoral" and said that she regretted lending me other such books in the past because she shouldn't be enabling me in poisoning my mind with such things.

Anyway, pen names. Do you have one? How did you choose it?

I kind of feel like I'm getting ahead of myself, but in my defense, I did write today.

Comments

[badass_tiger]

I have one. I didn't choose it for any special reason. It's kind of related to one of the fandoms that I've written a lot in, and when it came to me, I just felt like it suited me. You know, it kind of gave me individuality while also hiding my identity? I'd use one for somewhat similar reasons to yours. If I had to start though, I might look up names connected to meanings or stories that mean something to me. That way I'd be attached to it, like I am to my own name, without my name's attachments.

[sarillia]

I'm thinking of going with a fandom association too. Harry Potter has been very important in my life so I've been looking through last names that aren't too ridiculous (it is HP after all) for one that I might want to use. I kind of want to use a first name that has the same first letter as my real name since I'm kind of attached to the initial so I'll probably just look for any name I like that sounds good with the last name I pick.

[ayumidah]

Haha. I've thought loooooong and hard about this one. Probably since I first started dreaming about getting published when I was 19. So! It's a lengthy story, forgive me but you did ask ;)

So my mother was very protective when I was younger-- still is, to be honest-- and she didn't want me using my real name online, or giving real details out, which is fine, I saw the wisdom in it. In 2002, Drowning Pool's lead singer, Dave Williams, died unexpectedly of an undetected heart defect. I was fresh into the metal/hard rock scene at that point, and this was shocking and terrible and I wanted a way to honor him.

So ultimately I started using Williams as my made-up online name, and years passed with it holding. Then when I began writing more seriously, and doing NaNoWriMo, and considering getting published, I then began thinking of pseudonyms because my mother is staunchly religious (she sounds like your brother's girlfriend, actually, heh) and I don't want my writing judged by her either, I really just wanted to keep the entire process lowkey so none of my family would be able to know without my telling them if I did get published, so for awhile I considered Alison Williams, because Alison was supposed to be the name of my older sibling if it was a girl and it felt like a way of honoring that bond that was never realized.

More time has passed since, though, and I've changed my mind into using "Dahlia Williams" as a pseudonym because I go by "Dah" online, and it'd be an easy enough conversion for my social media accounts if the day ever comes that publication does happen.

Sorry for the lengthy tale, but yep that's the long-winded origin of mine. Good luck with finding your own!

[sarillia]

Sounds like my plan of using Harry Potter for inspiration that I mentioned to badass_tiger just now isn't as silly as I'd feared.

I'm glad you found a name you like. I like the name Dahlia Williams.

[ayumidah]

Is mine silly? I dunno, inspiration can come from anywhere...

Thanks.

[sarillia]

Oh I meant that yours is good so mine probably will be too.

[ayumidah]

Ah ok!

[perfectworry]

My online name, Frances Joséphine, is my (deceased) father's name in feminine. (His name was Francis Joseph.) My last name is usually Haptism, a Gundam 00 joke with a friend, or Hanajima, the chop/hanko I bought when the bank said I needed one, anything would do, to sign my paperwork. (My legal last name starts with "H.")

I'm not sure I would publish under that or my real name. Right now, I do my online writing under a pseudonym and my online librarian social networking under my given name.

My mom knows my online name, actually; so does my godmother. My family wouldn't go looking and if I published, my mom would tell them anyway. I just don't want anyone at work to find my personal writing.

[sarillia]

I'll probably tell my mom about anything I publish and the name I use too.

I'm feeling better and better about thinking about using a fandom name after all these responses.

[lunabee34]

I probably would not use one. I am so vain. LOL I want to see my own name on the cover. :)

[sarillia]

Part of me would like that too but not enough to get past my worries. I'm actually only just coming to terms with the idea that I'd like some positive attention for my writing. I've always been someone who didn't like attention, positive or negative, and that has felt like part of my identity, but that seems to be changing so I'm trying to get used to that.

[lunabee34]

No, I hear ya. I do mostly memoir type writing, and I've pretty much resigned myself to not writing about many things until my parents are dead because I don't want to do the pseud thing, and I also don't want to live through the drama of them being pissed at me.

But I'm also the weirdo who *never* posts anon on FS and fails at it even when trying to do it as in that games thread a couple nights ago where people were supposed to guess who you are and I just posted non-anon like a dorko. LOL

[lunabee34]

Plus, I forgot to mention that since I'm in academia, anything I publish, even fiction and etc., counts to some degree towards my yearly evaluation, and even if I did end up publishing fic or memoir under a pseud, I'd have to out myself to at least some people to get credit for it.

[inkdust]

I've gone back and forth about it too, but I've nearly always ended up in the pen name camp, even when I was just leaning toward something JK Rowling style. More recently for me the bottom line is twofold: on the one hand, I don't really feel a connection to my given name. The only reason I wouldn't change it is that I'm used to it (and changing it would probably hurt my parents). On the other hand, I suspect that seeing my given name on a book cover somewhere would make me feel very self-conscious even if no one in the store knew it was me (high hopes here, lol). So basically I want to use a name that I feel I identify with without it feeling so personal. So I can be like, hey look that's me, and feel proud, but also sort of direct the pride at a third party I can detach from. If that makes sense, that was a ramble. I don't intend to hide my pseudonym from anybody - if I manage to get published, conservative grandparent discomfort with my lesbian romance is going to happen and they can get over it.

Anyway, I've been set on the first name for years, going with a nickname one of my friends started calling me in high school that's an actual different first name. A number of friends have used it over the years and I "feel" like that name and feel proud of it in a way I don't with my given name. The last name I've never been as sure about. A couple years back I decided I wanted to just pick one that I really liked and would like being referred to by without a first name, like in newspaper articles and stuff (more high hopes, lol) and at that point I chose Quinn. That was when Glee was still reaching its peak and I realized Quinn could be a girl's name and I thought it sounded very pretty. But that seems like sort of a dumb reason to choose the most significant half of my name, so I've never felt like that one was set in stone. I think part of me is still waiting to stumble across something that feels indisputably perfect. I don't know if that'll happen.

[sarillia]

I don't feel much of a connection to my given name either, but I surprised myself by realizing that I do feel a connection to the first initial for some reason. So I want to keep that at least.

Quinn actually makes me think of Daria instead of Glee.

[inkdust]

Ah, never watched Daria.

Keeping the first initial is nice, that could also give you a good springboard to narrow the vast array of options out there.

[caecilia]

I can see you as a Quinn. Quinn Mc-something.

I'm probably gonna think of you as that from now on.

[inkdust]

Hah, that works for me. Though I'm planning Quinn as the last name.

[caecilia]

Awwww.

Well maybe I'll use Quinn Mc-something then.

[inkdust]

XD

[caecilia]

My real name is pretty unique, so yeah I do want to use a pen-name. But I haven't really settled on one that fits me. I think all I can do is...get published, put one of the many names I've thought of as the name, and then stick with that. I come up with them the same way I come up with character names: generators and lists that are all over the internet. Then I google to make sure it's not being used by someone else. If I get a bunch of nonsense hits or long-dead people or no results, it's good. If I get a professional photographer or a quilt company, it's not. I also like to take words or real last names and alter their spelling a bit so it sounds like it could be a real last name, but it's likely that nobody's ever had it, ever.

[sarillia]

I've actually had people tell me that they like my name and could see it on a book cover so it's kind of a shame that I feel like I need to hide it, but all in all, I think I would feel better with a pen name.

I was going to use a generator or something for the name but I like the idea of it having some sort of meaning. I will definitely check google to see if whatever I choose is used already. Thanks for the tip.

[caecilia]

Well, I just use generators as a starting point. It can help you lead to a meaning you weren't thinking of before.

[inevitableentresol]

I also have a unique first name so that's my reasoning too. If I go a google search, I'm the only person that comes up.

I also googled my pen name before using it for the first time. It makes sense.

[rejectionchallenge]

Oh, jeez, I was just angsting about this today / last night! Part of me really wants one but fears choosing something I'll hate in six months and having to start over, another part of me wants to just say what the hell and let my real name accumulate everything. I'll probably end up settling on a pen name because I have too much baggage to publish without one (and then I worry about not being able to put those publications on a resume, which is extremely relevant to my career goals -- I actually have no idea how that would work or how employers would confirm that I was the same person, and doesn't that defeat the purpose??) but I don't know -- no name really feels like "me" or even "persona I like enough to stick with for the forseeable future."

[inevitableentresol]

I would 100% go with a pen name if you have family that would be offended by what you write. I use a pen name myself.

How I chose my name (this is a bit like those porn star name generators):

First name: a variant on my real, rare first name (it sounds like it, but isn't spelled like it, to foil any googlefu)
Middle initial: from my religious name that was given to me as a kid, which I don't often use, and hardly anyone knows about
Last name: the first name of a recurring character from one of my favourite writers.

[serria]

I think I would use a pen name, because when I inevitably become rich and famous from my smash hit future novel, I would like some semblance of personal privacy. ;)

Seriously though. To be honest, whereas most of my family would not appreciate what I wrote, I don't care what the extended family thinks. But I'm not sure if I'd want my mother to read most of what I read. She's supportive, but I don't want her reading my gay erotica, or dark, weird things. But I wouldn't want to hide my writing from her, either, especially since I know she'd want to read it to support me if I ever were officially published. I guess it'd be one thing to self publish something small, but anything big, yeah.

Kind of getting off topic there, but I'd probably use a pen name no matter what. Or I'd at least initial my first name and use only my last name - I'd rather things be gender neutral at least.

[splinteredstar]

Yeah, the gender issue is a whole other bag of worms. Might be fun to watch people guess...

And as far as your mother goes - while mine has always supported my writing and read a great deal of it, there are specific pieces she has said she would not read because she doesn't think it would be her kind of thing. (Which has nothing to do with the fact that there's a lesbian in it everything to do with the fact that the main character's part spider.) So it'll probably be fine.

[splinteredstar]

I don't think I've considered it in years. I mean, there's one piece out there with my real name on it, so, perhaps the ship has sailed as far as that goes.

I can see value either way. On the one hand, privacy and psychological safety of a pen name - on the other hand, I kind of want to be interact with people as myself. Be able to go to a book signing or something and talk to people in person. But I don't know how long that would tolerable.

Hm. When I was younger I liked a name drawn from Chrono Trigger, but now I'm not sure. Might have to have that in the back of my mind.

[inkdust]

I've never considered a pseudonym and book signings as mutually exclusive. I sort of figure my real name will end up out there, associated with my pen name, but I'll be able to be referred to by my pen name for professional events and such. Maybe that's inaccurate and me trying to have it both ways, but my use of a pen name is more a matter of preference and professional persona (what alliteration!) than actually concealing my identity.

Ps, your PM is on my to-do list.

[splinteredstar]

Hm, interesting idea. I'd always considered it a matter of concealing identity, but I suppose it could work either way. Multiplicities of identity and that.

(It's fine! Considering how long I took to reply...Take your time!)