A B N A Vets Forum Choosing Your "Writer Nam..

Hi, all

Some of us have really enjoyed the threads on the ABNA boards that have allowed us to discuss subjects related to writing, but not necessarily to the contest. Having writers at all stages and from many genres and different parts of the world throw in their ideas has made for some really interesting discussions.

Since we know that things are going to start changing pretty rapidly over on the ABNA boards as of Tuesday, we are hoping that the ABNA Vets site that Leah set up several weeks ago will allow us an opportunity to carry on our discussions with those we met on the other forum--and to meet the people who are already here or will join in future.

(Thanks to those of you who have been members of this group for a while for allowing us to join you. I recognize several of your names and look forward to talking to you.)

So to launch the Discussion thread idea here, I thought I would ask how other people have gone about chosing a name to write under. I know I toyed with the idea of using a pseudonym when I first started out -- to protect my family (from what, I'm not sure!) but I never did that. However, I published my first novel under my married name and then about ten years later reverted to my birth name and I think there are still a lot of people who read my first book who don't know that I am the same person.  I wish I'd started off with my "maiden" name, but I never thought of it.

Then when I did go back to my birth name, I realized there were a few "Walters" writers out there already (e.g. Minette Walters, who is great!) and I always thought it was cool that William H. Macy uses his middle initial, so I started publshing under Mary W. Walters. So here I am.

Some people use pseudonyms. Some use all their names, First name, Middle Name, Surname. Some use nick names. Some just use initials instead of first names. Ruth Rendell writes some of her books as Barbara Vine, and the books are quite different.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

Mary

I'd probably use my real name for A Light in the Cane Fields, simply because I want to see my name on the book.  If I were to write in another genre, I may use a pseudonym so as not to confuse the readers and their expectations. In the writers blogs, I do use my real name or a derivative like Enrico A.

I often think about just using my first and middle name. Those names never change. After getting married, I got very confused about whether I should use my maiden name or married name. So far, it hasn't been an issue since I have not published a book. The little things I have published I just use the name I use in my everyday life, my married name, because they don't feel big enough to choose a psuedonymn over. I gave up thinking about it awhile ago and just decided to talk it over with myself if the situation ever comes up. Until then, it's the everyday name for me!

I'd like to have a pen name, but I haven't been able to come up with anything.  I kept my maiden name as my legal name when I got married (this time) but I answer to my husband's last name too. (He does the same with my maiden name, when necessary.) I've just unimaginatively stuck with Leah Davidson so far -- unfortunately there are quite a few of us in this world, and several have published books of one kind and another..  I'd like to be more distinctive.  There are Leah Talleys too, so that wouldn't help much. I named my googlepages website leahdavidsontalley.  Geeze, that's a mouthful. I envy folks with distinctive names of their own. Maybe I should raid my ancestors, use my grandma's maiden name, Timonen.

I think the thing is that a person really needs to make a decision about this early on. My experience tells me that even at the very beginning--before we know it--we're building an audience, and it's hard to follow what writers are doing (or easy to forget them) when they change their names.

Alice Munro's name is her name from her first marriage. Not that it matters, I'm sure, but I wanted my own name on my books.

Like Enrico, if I ever wrote in a completely different fiction genre, I might use another name -- like Ruth Rendell has done. (I really like her books.)

Hi, Mary  My name here: my mother's middle and last names from her maiden name.  Works out to be sort of male-ish though I'm female, but she's passed away, so I was being sentimental.  Anyway, I haven't had to worry about deciding on a name, as the little I've authored isn't published yet...well...does legislation count?  ;)   If I don't go with my husband's name  - we're newlyweds so just changing it legally to his, which is simple but unusual and at beginning of the alphabet - I may stick with this. 

There are real advantages to having a name that is sort of gender neutral like Clarke Peters. I have a friend whose husband never read books by women -- and read several P.D. James mysteries before he found out what he'd done.

Timonen looks cool. How do you say it? TIM-onen? Tim-ON-en?

Timonen is Finnish -- accent on the first syllable, and the "T" actually sounds a bit like a "D" if you're being authentic.  If you've never heard Finnish spoken, but seen Lord of the Rings, think about the Elvish Aragorn and Arwen speak to each other. Sounds a lot like that.

Of course that's why it's J.K. Rowling -- her publisher didn't think boys would want to read a book by a woman.

I've thought of using my intials too.  Not exactly for that reason -- not exactly sure why, except it looks kind of cool -- hyphenated names look cool too -- but then people get puzzled about how to shelve you alphabetically.

I use my real name, Dora McAlpin, for my nonfiction work.

My original plan was to use the pen name Ivey Banks for most of my fiction but, due to the subject matter of the first novel that got any attention under that name, it's now associated with GLBT fiction... which is cool because there's a lot of great work in that genre.  I hope to expand that name to use with my women's and contempory fiction but, to avoid reader confusion, may come up with yet another name for those.

For my fantasy series, I'm definitely looking at initials.  Thinking maybe D.M. Davidson, since that's my husband's last name.

Leah, we can be on shelves next to each other.

Position on the shelves is important. Sara Douglass (Australian fantasy writer) surname starts with a W so the publisher asked her to choose another name to give her books a better position in the shelves. Leah you would know all about that.

Gayna

 

The name I have listed here is the name I intend to publish with. Both initials are from my legal names, being Peter and Joshua. The first one names me after my grandfather, and the second was a favorite of my Mother. I've gone by the second name my entire life. I had a hard time deciding which to use cause I like the name I use but at the same time I liked the fact that I was named after a good person, so using intials was a good compromise. Both sides who were in favor of one or the other have warmed up to this idea, and the sound of it has really grown onto me. I like it and think it will make for a great pen name.

Okay, so here's a thought. I got a nice little blurb in the daily newspaper in Saskatoon today about being an Amazon Top Semi-Finalist, and I've been getting nice emails from people who I work with as a result. If I weren't using my real name, they'd never know it was me. As someone who loves a bit of attention (and will ultimately, I hope, attract readers in my personal life as well as in my writing life), I'd be sorry to miss out on that!

Hey Mary, thanks for asking the question. My pen name is B. Billy Curtis because there is already a writer named Brent Curtis who writes books on sexual addiction from a Christian perspective. Although they are, no doubt, interesting books, I didn't want folks who are googling around to find him instead.

If I ever again try to write some high-fallutin' literary novel, maybe I'll go with my real name: Brent William Curtis - it sounds fancy. In the meantime, I think B. Billy Curtis works great for the mystery/thriller genre. Plus I'm a bit of a hick, born and raised in small town Iowa so B. Billy fits nicely.

A little off topic here, but Mary's question inspired me. When I married my wife, she kept her maiden name, which brought up the interesting question of what to name our kids. Through some sort of convoluted logic, we decided to give our first born my last name if it was a girl and my wife's last name if it was a boy. Then, the plan is to give the second born the other last name.
We had a little girl 16 months ago so she has my last name. Expecting #2 in 7 months so he or she will get mama's (If it's a he, his first name will be Carver - as in Raymond we still haven;t decided if its a girl again.)
I'm sure either way, my children will end up crippled with some sort of identity crisis.

Brent -- I think B. Billy is perfect too.  Brent sounds almost effete, if you know what I mean. Too high-falutin' for crime fiction.

My husband and I had the same tricky situation with our kids.  In New Mexico, where the first and third were born, we were allowed to hyphenate their last names (Davidson-Talley) but in Louisiana, probably because of the Napoleonic code or something, it wasn't permitted.  So our Louisiana-born children have two middle names -- Theresa Davidson (after my mom and Teresa of Avila), Martin Davidson (St. Martin de Tours -- San Martin Cabellero here in NM) Michael Davidson (St.. Michael the Archangel.)  They all use the last name Talley, even the officially hyphenated boys, because it's simpler.  I foresee difficulties with the IRS and Social Security, at some point. (The oldest has been working for about 6 months and will file income tax for the first time -- hope there isn't a snafu.)

I'm seriously considering using Leah Davidson-Talley as a pen name.  Or maybe I should obscure gender and use just Davidson Talley.  (My friends would probably know who it is.)

Yeah, we would have gone the hyphenated route, but we had several middle names to squeeze in due to family obligations and the whole thing was getting too long already.

And yeah, mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories need a tougher name than Brent. I've come across a lot of Brent's throughout my life, and I have yet to meet one who is a bent-nosed, bare-knuckled, brawler type :-) Though he may exist somewhere out there.

Brent, as the mother of three kids in grades 3,2 and kindy, I wonder about the wisdom of giving the kids different surnames. It is confusing enough for teachers and parents of friends if the parents have different surnames. If the kids have different surnames it may give the impression that you are not the parent of all of your children and they are not completely related.

Of course it is all up to your and your wife but I would think hard about you and them spending the rest of their single life explaining this decision.

Gayna