How many writers use pen names, and why? Our Speculative Fiction Writers Association member directory shows about FORTY members who do, or about thirty-four percent!
Member Examples
One of our members (“Q2”) doesn’t want the readers of their fiction stories to stumble across the videos that Q2 produces in their work. In addition, Q2 has two friends (outside of SpecFicWriters) who use pen names: One doesn’t want family to learn they write trashy romance, and the other doesn’t want work associates to see their horror writing.
Another member (“Y8”) used a name their mother almost gave them, to create a punchy pen name. Y8 writes about ghosts and death, and they don’t want to upset some sensitive friends who are dealing with grief (if the friends were to happen upon this author’s stories).
A third member created an artistic persona when they lived a split life (work career and theater on the side). They carried that alter-persona into writing and enjoy having it as a kind of superhero thing. They also want to keep their writings on potentially-sensitive topics out of their public life.
Oh, wilst thy writing faster bloom
If thou doth take a nom de plume?
– The author
Surprising Reasons
Why do other authors use pen names? Research indicates a surprising number of reasons:
- You don’t think you’re talented enough to put your own name on your work (you fear others will think less of you.)
- You’re afraid of fame-engendered groupies and stalkers finding out where you live.
- You don’t want others to see the grisly/ weird/ dystopian/ sexualized stuff you write.
- You’re successful in one genre and you don’t want to risk losing those readers by showing them your work in a different genre.
- You hate your real name, or you have a famous criminal relative, so you’re reluctant to use your name.
- You don’t think your real name suits the genre you’re writing in. For example, Rosie Tendercheeks (I made that up) might want to use a pen name if she’s writing a book titled ‘Stomping You to Death So I Can Film It and Show Your Grandmother.’
- Sometimes an author will use a pen name that’s the same as the lead character’s to suggest the book is autobiographical.
- Some authors adopt pen names earlier in the alphabet, to gain more visibility in bookshops and libraries (Aardvarks’ Anger,’ by A.A. Aaronson?).
- Especially in the past, women would adopt male pen names, in order to be taken seriously, or even to get published at all. Among many examples, the Bronte sisters published under the names Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell.
- Writers with immigrant-sounding names, particularly if from nations other than western Europe, might adopt pen names which sound more ‘American.’
- This is speculation, but I wonder if some writers, perhaps sensitive to recent criticism of themselves as a person, use pen names in order to prevent further criticism. J.K. Rowling writes the Cormoran Strike crime fiction novels under the name Robert Galbraith. But perhaps she did that only because she’s writing in a genre different from the Harry Potter books, not because her comments against a particular community have upset many readers.
- A publisher may use a pen name to hide the fact that the books in a series (e.g. Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew) were written by successive authors.
- A writer might use a pen name to hide their identity, because the book’s subject matter may divulge secrets gained during the writer’s former career.
- Sometimes a group of writers authoring one piece together will adopt a pen name. The Federalist Papers were authored by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton under the name ‘Publius.’
Historical Reasons
There are interesting additional historical reasons. Wikipedia reports that “prolific authors for pulp magazines often had two and sometimes three short stories appearing in one issue. The editor would create several fictitious author names to hide this from readers. Robert Heinlein wrote stories under the pseudonyms Anson MacDonald and Caleb Strong, so that more of his works could be published in a single magazine. Stephen King published four novels under the name Richard Bachman because publishers didn’t think readers would buy more than one novel per year from a single author.”
Wikipedia also tells us that “Romain Gary, a well-known French writer, decided in 1973 to write novels in a different style under the name Emile Ajar, and even asked a relative to impersonate Ajar. He thus received the most-prestigious French literary prize twice, which is expressly forbidden. He revealed the scam just before committing suicide in 1980.”
Conclusion
On that cheery note, I’ll close with this: Maybe a pen name is right for you? Whatever your reason, adding a comforting veil or using an outlandish mask could be the answer to stronger writing and wider audiences.
Kenton Erwin joined SFW in Spring 2024. He has had nine short stories published, including ‘The Egg’ in Amazing Stories and ‘Vbad Vblood’ in the horror literary journal Suburban Witchcraft. He won First Place in the inaugural Speckled Spectrum Awards, and was one of several winners of Punk Noir’s “A Good Death” 2024 writing competition with his story ‘Killing House.’ He constantly writes short stories, and is working on several novels.
Kenton lives in Ridgefield WA USA. He is a retired corporate attorney, a certified Master Organic Gardener, and researches grapes (having recently published, on the ‘dark side’ (non-fiction) a 4th edition of his book ‘Modern Grapes for Cool Climates’). Kenton is also an award-winning commercial winemaker under the brand Epona.