Pen Names

I can’t remember when I became aware of the concept of pen names. As a writer, it never occurred to me to consider it. As a reader, I just always assumed that it was said author’s given name. But now that I think about it, it was probably around middle school when we discussed Mark Twain. And even when I was younger and in school and I learned that an author had a “different” name, I just always assumed they legally changed it. Again, I have no clue why this was my thought process. It just was. So, when I got into my twenties and I started to discover that some of my favorite authors use pen names, I had a bit of confusion. “Why wouldn’t you want your name on your book?” Was always my thought. It wasn’t just an ownership thing, but a pride thing as well.

Now, there are a number of reasons why someone uses a pen name. They write in different genres and want to keep things separated. They want that anonymity. Living in the information and technology age that we do, this can be a bit harder but still doable nonetheless. Some need privacy from their creative life and their professional life in their real life. No matter the reason, it is all valid.

I used to be against pen names. This was like a five second period in my life. Honestly. It did not last long. I quickly saw the joy in it. I’ve had several pen names; most didn’t last too long. I used to write fan fiction under a pen name – real person fan fiction. When I first decided to use a pen name for my fan fiction, it was because I thought I’d keep my real identity anonymous. I was writing interracial fiction and didn’t want to be accused of self-inserting myself (I’m black, my guy is white and most of fandom is white). This lasted only a few months. There were several people who I met in real life because of this fandom and whom I still associate with to this day. And I’m actually quite pleased with these connections. I’m sure there are a few downsides to using a pen name. But that would probably be my number one is that you lose or miss out on the potential for real connections with other people (and I would consider this to be fandom specific, honestly). This obviously isn’t a hard or fast rule. It is all about what you want to achieve. I have found that the closer to my actual name my pen name is the easier time I have with connecting with people and sticking with it. I am glad I chose to use a pen name. I will probably always do so.