June 29, 2020
Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, would you ever consider it?
I decided not to use my legal name for my writing back in the Dark Ages, when my focus was poetry. There were a number of reasons’ the main one being that my name was rather boring. I needed a hippie name. And so, I became Bobbi Jo Aspen, in part a tribute to the trees that give the Rocky Mountains their fall colors. I actually had a few poems published under that name, but I doubt there’s any evidence of that left except for my copies of the magazines that are stored somewhere.
At some point the Bobbi Jo name just didn’t “fit” me anymore, and I needed a new one. For more than one reason. Security had become a concern. I wanted something that sounded more mature. I’d also become aware that writers with male names tended to be taken more seriously than those with female names. So, I became P.J. MacLayne.
Security is still a concern, but in a different way. We all know there’s no hiding from the gigantic database better known as the internet. Still, it doesn’t hurt to throw in a roadblock or two for someone with ill intent trying to find you.
And frankly, it’s a liberating feeling to pick your own name. I wouldn’t ever want to change my legal name, but having a different name for my writing works for me. It allows me to express a different side of my personality while still keeping the one I show in real life.
It’s like Harmony Duprie, my amateur sleuth. She’s been known to change her appearance and go “undercover” to do research. She explained it well.
The Chief and Freddie still looked puzzled, but Drew’s face cleared and he laughed. “That was you? How many personalities do you have?”
“Only one.” I tapped my forehead. “Everything else is just a big kid’s version of dress-up.” Born out of desperation, not fun or playtime.
“Seems like a safe way to do it,” Drew said. “I’m having trouble switching between two.”
“This isn’t a game,” Chief Sorenson snapped. “Let’s get back on track here.”
From The Samurai’s Inro
That’s how I feel when I’m writing.
Now, I know of people who use a different pseudonym for every different genre they write. I’ve chosen not to do that. My mysteries, urban fantasy, and poetry all under the same name. I could understand it if I were writing erotica, but when I start my gritty female Private Investigator series, it will still be written under the P.J. MacLayne moniker.
If you’re a writer, I’d like to hear what you think about using a pseudonym. And if you’re a reader, does it make a difference to you if an author writes under a pen name? Tell us about it in the comments.
Until next time, stay safe.
June 29, 2020
Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, would you ever consider it?
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The male sounding name is an ancient ruse, worked well by many. Some refuse. We have Eliot and Wollstonecraft in the same breath. However, Bobbi Jo today sounds like a willowy long-haired blond with Joni Mitchell bangs, in her early sixties, who works in a Sonoma County winery part time, makes jewelry they sell in the gift shop and on weekends sings folk songs behind her display table at the small town art fair and festival days running up the One from Bodega Bay to Mendocino.
If this blog hop is good for nothing else I think I just found my next “How did I get in the middle of this?” character.
I think writing these people is our version of dress up. They do it for us, we don’t become institutionalized.
With the Rocky Mountain vibe, no matter what your proper name, it couldn’t be much worse for poetry than a fellow Aspen admirer, Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.
Close 🙂 Try it with brown hair and no bangs. It’s funny how life has a way of changing things. The bicycle accident that messed up my hearing destroyed any chance of the singer-songwriter future. And with many kudos to that Deutschendorf fellow, I got tired of explaining to people that the name was a link to Mother Earth, not to him.
I use to same pen name for all genres too. Sometimes I think it might be a good idea to break them out, but I’m not convinced, so I don’t.
When I worked for community behavioral health, there were about three female social workers who used their maiden name (usually the name they got their degree and license under) as their professional names. Most were married and used their legal name for everything else. Then the State of Alaska came out with a ruling that they had to use their legal names. Two of them acquired stalkers within two years of that requirement, both clients who had previously not known how to find them in their private lives.
Some screening is just a good idea for more reasons than one.
My older sister still uses her maiden name for professional work and her married name for her social life.
When I worked for community behavioral health, if a client ever asked me my last name (which happened maybe twice in the 10 years before we were forced by the State regulators to wear badges), I’d tell them my maiden name. I figured that would slow them down in finding my personal life. I’m not sure if it was even necessary, but some of our clients were — yeah, creepy. I thought the State of Alaska really went a little nuts with the whole name thing. It put staff at risk and yet they insisted it was the right thing to do.
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With a name of your own choosing, you can be who you want to be. You can assume the traits of a whole new persona. I found that wearing a uniform was liberating, having a pen name gives you the same sort of freedom.
Interesting. I always found wearing a uniform confining.
I’ve heard about using a pen name for each genre. Early on I decided I wanted to use one name, regardless of genre. Just to be ornery, I guess. 😀
It’s easier to keep track of yourself that way!
I found your post to be very interesting, Patricia. Writing poetry as Bobbi Jo intrigued me as it certainly does conjure up an idea of a hippy. I wonder if they concept does help sell poetry? Poetry is a limited market. I didn’t think that the archaic and sexist notion that men write better than women [more serious topics in any event] still held true but perhaps it does. Most people who don’t know me think I am a male as Robbie is a male abbreviation. An interesting idea for me to chew on.
I once had a review compliment me on how well I wrote women. I was confused until I asked and they told me they thought I was male. So, I took it as a compliment as to how well I wrote the men in my stories!