If the rumours are, indeed, true:
Hillary Clinton to Announce 2016 Run for President on Sunday – New York Times Politics
It’s funny that I mention her in this post from just over one year ago,
as I spoke about women, on International Women’s Day, 2015 and as I thought about feminism, equality, writing, and the pen name.
I wrote about two specific women writers in that post last year: L.M. Montgomery and J.K. Rowling.
I have a lot to say on women’s rights, but today I wanted to focus on another issue that has been at the back of my mind lately. The two things come together in the end though, as is often the case for me these days.
For this week’s Fiction Friday I wanted to discuss pen names and both L.M. and J.K., other than the fact that these two follow the order of the alphabet,
🙂
they also represent actual ladies, with real, full names: Lucy Maud and Joanne Kathleen.
Why do authors use pen names?
I have heard several reasons for the act of writing by one name or another, or more, when publishing several books or series of books.
Funny how I wanted to write this post and then, suddenly, I come across a few blog posts on the subject.
I am including them here, but I want to mention that I have not yet read them, as I write this.
I know writing is repetitive. It’s hard to truly come up with anything original anymore, so I did not want to have read another blogger’s thoughts on this topic, before I could explain my own.
Pen Names-Necessary Evil or Ticket to Crazyville?
and
What to Do When You Absolutely, Positively NEED a Pen Name
Anne Rice is best known for her novel Interview with the Vampire.
She had written so many novels over her career, but I only recently heard about her romance/erotic series of novels: Beauty’s Kingdom.
With the release of the Fifty Shades of Grey books and movie, Anne has been discussing the place erotica takes up in literature.
I visit Ms. Rice’s Facebook page on a regular basis.
And so I heard about the release of her newest Beauty’s Kingdom novel, on April 21st, first one since they first came out in the 80s.
Back then Rice wrote these erotic fiction stories under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure.
Funny how her initials are AN, so close to her actual name. What a coincidence.
😉
She said on Facebook that she preferred a pen name back then because it distinguished her persona, from one genre to another.
I happen to think that vampires can be a highly suggestive and erotic creature. It isn’t such a stretch from one to the other. I can’t say I was totally surprised, when I first heard about her alter ego.
From mainstream author to the indie world:
On Facebook I became aware, recently, of a female writer named Joanna Penn.
Perfectly literary name and the perfect name for today’s topic.
🙂
Joanna writes thrillers, under the “penn name” of:
She goes by Joanna when she does podcasts, interviews, and speaking engagements.
She writes non-fiction on writing and on being an entrepreneur.
Anne Rice was trying to separate her writing personas, but in the 80s erotica was mostly secretive.
Nowadays, with Fifty Shades, it is becoming mainstream.
There is no more need to hide. Or is there?
It’s still important to keep separate, even when the audience knows the truth.
Hiding in plain sight I suppose.
Today’s world is a lot different from the one where Anne Rice wrote Beauty’s Kingdom.
It’s not the 80s anymore and nobody can keep a secret in the technological age we now live in.
Why does Joanna Penn even bother with the distinction now? Why do any of them?
When Harry Potter came to an end and Rowling wanted to go in a different direction, she first wrote The Casual Vacancy.
After a mixed review, she moved even further away from wizards, with a good old fashioned who-did-it detective story.
Only Rowling did not write this.
A man named Robert Gailbraith did.
J.K. Rowling to Publish Another Book Under Pen Name
So she has already fiddled around with her name in the past, using initials to disguise the fact that she was a female writer.
Now she chose to go with a male’s name, surprise surprise, when writing in a genre that has historically been known as a male genre.
This makes me mad and it confuses me. I love her and Harry Potter, but I can’t say her choices since have impressed me.
I wish I could talk to her about why, as a writer who has been given the extreme honour of writing books, why she has done what she’s done.
So I see it, still, partly as a fear of being unable to sell as many books if people realize you are a female. If you use initials, at least it may fool readers or customers, in the moment.
Is this a male writer or a female writer?
Hmmm.
Oh well…
But the creation of a whole new male author, Gailbraith, this is baffling to me on many levels.
No room for ambiguity with initials here.
On the one hand I know all about the importance of branding.
I have branded myself as Her Headache, for my writing blog.
I don’t disguise the fact that I am female or hide my real name, but I do put myself out there in a certain light.
Even more recently I have rebranded myself, for my “alter ego” as The Insightful Wanderer, with the creation of my travel blog.
So I have two names now, plus my real name underneath.
I see the value in having separate titles, to distinguish oneself in separate areas of one’s life. I just wish there was no issue, from a feminist perspective, but I believe there is.
I guess I just wanted to explore this topic, here, and to hear your thoughts on branding and pen names.
Do you understand why these authors and others have chosen, in the past and in present, to go by different names?
Okay, now I will go and read those other blog posts on the existence of pen names.
🙂
What’s in a name anyway?
Her Headache 