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

[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.