Using Pen Names

Am I required to use my real name as the author of the work I create? Or is it alright to use a pen name?

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Itā€™s completely up to you. I released UnNatural under my pen name.

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You can use a pen name. Mathew Bellingham (the writer of Unnatural) uses the name Sam Kabell (sorry if I butchered either of those names) as an author.

EDIT:

Lol, Ninjaā€™d by the very guy I was mentioning.

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Lol I just commented on this. Great timing Sam :relaxed:

You know what they say about great minds
:grinning:

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There actually one mind with two bodies, a bodysnatcher hive mind from another planet, or clones?

Actually Iā€™m two bodies who share a single mind itā€™s quite tricky let me tell you!

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@Nocturnal_Stillness @Samuel_H_Young Thank you very much! :slight_smile:

I started writing as a teenager, so used a pen-name then (several, in fact). Usually Louise Curtis. I gave talks under that name, entered contests (my novel ā€œHeart of Brassā€ was shortlisted in a contest, then published under a different name).

It caused endless confusion at conferences, not least because I could never remember myself who I was. Eventually I gave it up, and my life has been much simpler. It happens that my real name works pretty well - ā€œBanksā€ is near the top of the alphabet (top shelf in bookshops) and easy to spell and remember (Iā€™m a big fan of nouns as surnames) and ā€œFelicityā€ makes it distinctive.

Gail Carriger (a novelist who writes fabulous steampunk fantasy tales) is branching out into stories of gay romance in the same universe, and uses ā€œG. L. Carrigerā€ for them. That way, fans can find both streams of her work but people who really donā€™t want to read gay sex scenes can easily avoid them (and vice versa). So, pen names can be a useful distinction between genres.

Pen names can also make it slightly harder for stalkers to find you. Itā€™s very rarely an issue, but when it becomes an issue it hits hard (Gamergateā€¦).

Ignoring all common sense, I have amused myself by writing loosely-linked stories in utterly different formats. Having a consistent pen-name helps to slightly dampen the rampant confusion.

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I rarely use my real name anywhere online. And never use my real surname unless itā€™s a legal requirement.

I usually go by Wynne Snoe, as opposed to Kris.
Wynne= fair
Kriss= ceremonial dagger or
Kris= derivative of Chris/Chistopher meaning bearer of Christ (aaand not a fan of that meaning.)

Not to mention Iā€™ve issues with cyber stalking in the past so. There we go. My alias became my pen name :wink:

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I use a pen name and I think itā€™s something Iā€™d generally encourage, whether to avoid stalkers or just for the fun of coming up with a name you really like. The only advice I can think to give for this would be to use a name that could easily pass as being a real name. Obviously itā€™s up to everybody what name they want to write under, but an author who writes under the name, ā€œKnightmare-Shadow-Wolf-666ā€ might not get taken particularly seriously. :yum:

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Iā€™m another who uses a pen name. Iā€™ve learned from experience that it can beā€¦ better to not let some people know when youā€™re writing, depending on who youā€™re talking to.

Maybe Iā€™ve come to be a tad bit too distrustful butā€¦ there are pros to using a pen name.

Iā€™ve been considering that myself. Mixing my real name (which I use in my line-of-work) with the stuff Iā€™m currently writing might be a bit problematic (not being taken seriously in my line of work kinda is a serious problem). The problem is, I only come up with really strange names. So, yeah, not sure about that. Still, thanks for everyone who shared their reasons for using a pen name, it helped me decide in favor of using one, just not sure about which.

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When in doubt, I just go through lists of baby names online. Itā€™s the same when Iā€™m naming characters tooā€¦ Hopefully my boyfriend never goes through my browsing history and sees the amount of time I spend looking at baby names. That could be slightly misleading. :yum:

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Pen name, definitely, and different ones whether Iā€™m working on interactive fiction/visual novels, mods for other games, or pen and paper rpg contributions.

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If it helps try and pick a name that has meaning to you. Thatā€™s how I picked mine.

Sam = the name of my first child who was unfortunately stillborn
Kabell = K (my dads initial) A (one of my moms initials) BELL (first four letters of my actual surname.)

So then name is partly homage to my son and a reminder of where I came from :slight_smile:

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Well, Iā€™m here to give you one fantastic name of one Eusebius Carrothers, the same pen name i recommended to Fawkes. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Vaughan was my grandmotherā€™s maiden name, and Iā€™m pleased to have distant Welsh heritage (Tolkien was Welsh on his motherā€™s side! :upside_down_face:) Alexandra was a name my parents considered for me, and I like the meaning (defender of mankind). Behind the Name is a good name website for looking for names by meaning, origin, or usage (also has a random name generator thatā€™s pretty handy)

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I didnā€™t know Tolkien was Welsh on his motherā€™s side! I always thought that part of the family hailed from Birmingham for generations. Was it a distant ancestor?

Well, I donā€™t have my books available to check my facts atm (most of my knowledge of Tolkienā€™s life comes from the Carpenter biography). Itā€™s possible my American brain was overeager to make that connection a few years ago! But I believe I recall reading a paragraph about his fascination with Welsh words as mysterious yet personally connected to him, (kind of comparing that idea with his trying to write a truly ā€˜Englishā€™ myth, something strange and fantastical yet familiar). But we digressā€¦

Itā€™s ok to pick up a Pen name.

Vaughan was my grandmotherā€™s maiden name, and Iā€™m pleased to have distant Welsh heritage (Tolkien was Welsh on his motherā€™s side! :upside_down_face:) Alexandra was a name my parents considered for me, and I like the meaning (defender of mankind). Behind the Name is a good name website for looking for names by meaning, origin, or usage (also has a random name generator thatā€™s pretty handy)

Is it necessary? I think thereā€™s no need choosing a meaningful name. Noone care but you.