Hello!
So, let’s talk about pen names. I’m launching my new site today, so this seems like a fitting topic. If you’ve read other posts on this site, you’ve possibly encountered a mention that Sara Blake is not my real name. I thought I’d talk today about why I use this name, and about pen names in general.
I think, and this is just me guessing, that a lot of people probably assume that authors use pen names in order to hide their real identity. That, of course, leads one to wonder why an author would do that. Are they ashamed of what they write? Are they hiding their work from others, like family members? Are they just weirdos who want weirder names than they were given at birth?
I think all of these reasons are probably true of *some* writers. But there are a lot of other, more common, reason for using pen names. One of the most common reasons for pen names that people don’t consider is to separate different types of work. Sara Blake is one of two names I’m currently writing and publishing fiction under, the other being Miranda Crowe. See how I didn’t hide that? I don’t care who knows they’re both me, as long as those who know they’re the same person also understand they’re *not* the same type of books. The type of stories I write under these two names are very different.
The one book I have out so far under Miranda Crowe, Mercy’s Season, is a suspense thriller, and my other planned Miranda books also fall into the mystery category. Mercy’s Season has a supernatural element, yes, but it is *nothing* like the urban fantasy and paranormal romance I’m writing, and plan to write, as Sara Blake. I don’t care who knows they’re both me, but I don’t want to waste a reader’s money (or earn myself bad reviews) because they enjoyed Mercy’s Season and assume that means they’re probably like the Olive Tree Academy series. They might. People have wide and varied tastes after all, but they also might not. Likewise vice-versa. I use the two names to separate two truly different bodies of work. Seanan McGuire writes her dark SF books and stories as Mira Grant for the same reason.
And what about that “ashamed” thing? That word is probably going a bit far, but certainly there are people who write things they’d rather people they know personally didn’t read knowing they wrote it. Most people who write and publish erotica use pen names for this reason. These people aren’t necessarily *ashamed* of writing erotica, but that doesn’t mean they want people coming across it and thinking “oh, my coworker Nancy certainly has a dirty mind!” I readily admit I write erotica under pen names (yes, plural,) but I don’t tell even my friends what those names are. It’s not because I’m ashamed, it’s because if I know people who know me are likely to read it, I can’t be as uninhibited in what I write. The anonymity gives me a lot of freedom to be daring, which is important in that genre.
It isn’t just erotica that some people need to keep their friends or family members from seeing their name on, either. Consider the queer writer who writes queer characters but isn’t out to their family yet. Consider the person from the highly religious family who writes mystery novels with a potty-mouthed main character, or fantasy novels with demons as love interests. Sometimes authors need to protect their identities in order to share their true voices with the world. I’d certainly rather read work published under a pen name than be deprived of these people’s worlds and words!
As I said, my main reason for using pen names is to separate my two bodies of work, but neither is my real name, either. Plus I have another name, that I’ve published a lot of fiction under, Inanna Gabriel, that I’m not using for fiction at all anymore. I also do like the freedom that comes from writing under a different name in certain circumstances.
Anyway, if this is the first post you’re reading here, thanks for visiting! This site is specific to my Sara Blake work, though my Sara world actually includes the fictional world of Barrow City I originally created as Inanna Gabriel. The majority of my work is Sara, not Miranda, though, so there’s likely to be some Miranda talk here, too, just because it’ll be by far the more active site. If you’re curious, though, the Miranda site is at www.mirandacrowe.com.
Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you again soon! Follow me on Twitter, that’s where I hang out most!
~Sara