Authors using pen names?

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readertim109
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Authors using pen names?

Post by readertim109 »

I guess a lot of authors using pen names. Which authors use pen names? Does anyone know their real names?
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Linda
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Post by Linda »

i don't really kno any offhand but i think the idea of having pen names is so cool. usually people are all about taking credit for their work it's nice some people rather remain unknown.
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Herstory
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Post by Herstory »

Stephen King has written under at least one other name,
so that when he publishes non-horror works his works are judged
on their own merit and not his "name".
Lothlauren
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Post by Lothlauren »

Anne rice wrote as A.N. Roquelaure
Stephen King wrote as Richard Bachman
Dean Koontz as several different pen names (Brian Coffey, K.R. Dwyer, Deanne Dwyer, Richard Paige, Leigh Nichols, Leonard Chris)

As can be seen here most authors have a pen name when they want something published without it being linked back to them.

In some cases they dont want the work associated with them in other cases they want the work weighed on its own merits and not on their influence or acclaim
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msstroda
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Post by msstroda »

I use a pen name for my romance novels, because my name sounds too much like a man's name and the romance publishers do not want romance written by a man. I actually had to prove I was female when I submitted a novel to Harlequin due to my name being Mickey. I can't help what my name is and I don't like having to use a pen name becuase I am proud of all of my work. Ahh well, life goes on.
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DuchessAngel37
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Post by DuchessAngel37 »

I use a pen name when I write something that goes past a R rating. Sometimes I just get in these moods and what I end up writing down is just so... WOO! That I'm like, I can't even take credit for this.

So back in the day when my friends and I were all goofing around coming up with porn star/stripper names for ourselves, I ended up with Chesty Michenzi (pronounced Mackenzie), and that's the name I use. It's up on my website, with a link to "who is Chesty Michenzi?", which has a brief bio of this brash, sexual woman, who's not afraid to get down and dirty.


In very very very tiny font at the end, it mentions that Michenzi is the alter ego of Melissa Byrd
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Post by NSUSA »

Some authors may use a pen name because the name is more easy to remember. That way people will be able to buy more of their books and tell their friends about the author.
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Post by GKCfan »

There are tons of authors who use pseudonyms. It reminds me of one of my favorite clerihews:

Samuel Clemens
Would look inane
In clothes Eric Blair
Wore well.

Think about it.
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Post by saturday+deviant »

I know that Erin Hunter is a pen name for two women that write the Warriors series for children. In this case I assume it's because having one name is more appealing to children than two authors taking up equal amounts of cover space.
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LeeMa
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Post by LeeMa »

Ayn Rand = Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum
Dr. Seuss = Theodor Seuss Geisel
Lewis Carroll = Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
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Post by Brandi Noelle »

I once read the reason behind some authors using pen names is because they want their books located on a certain level of the shelf. Front and center is preferred, so if their real last name starts with a Z and they are more likely to be located at a lower level, they might choose a pen name that would put them more at eye level, alphabetically.
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Post by ReyvrexQuestor Reyes »

I agree that a pen name could lend some advantage or benefit to the author. A nice sounding name, for one, makes it easy to remember. And for writers of Romance Novels, a feminine name is preferred. War or Action Stories will have to be told by a man. These are some restrictions on name choice if one has to have a pen name.

Remember George Eliot? If the woman's name, instead of this pen name, appeared in the novel of a masculine theme, had it been more acceptable?
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Post by Lincolnshirelass »

I can see why writers use pen-names and in my own very limited writing life have flirted with them. It's a useful device for hiding a famous name and having books judged on their own right (eg JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith) or for writing in two different styles, to separate the identity. But I will admit I find it puzzling that the books Ruth Rendell (whom I love in any incarnation!) wrote as Barbara Vine at least originally came out with the fact that she WAS Ruth Rendell plastered all over the cover - this seems to be defeating the object!
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Post by SPasciuti »

Isn't Cassandra Clare not the author's real name?

I think it's useful but sometimes it can be kind of sad. For example, J.K. Rowling and Rob Thurman who both didn't use their full first name due to the fact that publishers thought their books would be less well received if it was immediately known that a woman had written it.
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Post by Crystallex+ »

JD Robb = Nora Roberts

While the writing style is similar, the genre is different and the pseudonym removes the preconception that the books will follow the “Harlequin Romance” style Nora Roberts originally followed.
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