That is a lovely pen name. And the Ian Fleming Rule is good. I think I may have set it on fire and left it on the side of the road a while back, but it's a decent metric to follow if you're not the filthy creature I am.
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pseudonyms...?
- Thread starter Dragon tea
- Start date
Mad Swede
Auror
I write under a pseudonym, partly because I wanted to keep my writing person separate from my private self, but mostly because I wanted to keep my stories separate from my academic/research writing.
Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder about bringing daughters to a con... this sort of thing could make me go all Charles Bronson or Liam Neeson on some sick bastard and end me up in jail, heh heh. My oldest daughter's boyfriend is already scared to death of me, and I don't even dislike him... yet.
But on the more serious side, I was thinking of her doing some cover work for me and sitting in at some tables down the line... This gives me the chills.
But on the more serious side, I was thinking of her doing some cover work for me and sitting in at some tables down the line... This gives me the chills.
And it should. We got lucky. We just have a nephew and getting him to college unscathed was a challenge. I can't imagine trying to do it with teenage girls in this day and age, and I used to be one! Cons are bad enough, but even then they're relatively safe spaces. There are a lot of women, rabidly feminist women, who will watch out for unsafe men and watch over younger women. It is The Way. But the internet is different. It gives anonymity to these little scumbags, and they feel safe turning the worst versions of themselves on any target they find, and love every second of it. Bring on the threats and the doxxing and the swatting, because the worst thing one can be in this day and age is a woman on the internet.
Some days I'd love to advance anti-virus software to levels closer to Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. Bring on the firewalls.
Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
Yeah, I'd feel good at the Con... it's the freakery on the internet that's disturbing. I'd rather not deal with i, but then again, once you hit the public eye, it becomes random chance of attracting a freak. Then, it's tricky to tell the real freaks from the trolls who just like making women uncomfortable.
And it should. We got lucky. We just have a nephew and getting him to college unscathed was a challenge. I can't imagine trying to do it with teenage girls in this day and age, and I used to be one! Cons are bad enough, but even then they're relatively safe spaces. There are a lot of women, rabidly feminist women, who will watch out for unsafe men and watch over younger women. It is The Way. But the internet is different. It gives anonymity to these little scumbags, and they feel safe turning the worst versions of themselves on any target they find, and love every second of it. Bring on the threats and the doxxing and the swatting, because the worst thing one can be in this day and age is a woman on the internet.
Some days I'd love to advance anti-virus software to levels closer to Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. Bring on the firewalls.
Mad Swede
Auror
Being a bandy player my (now adult) daughter is more than able to take care of herself. What worries me about things like this is that as a society we risk losing sight of the need to compromise as a way of living and working together. It's like we lose that basic trust in one another, all as a result of idiots on both sides. Don't get me wrong, I detest those men who behave like that d******d who messaged one of Team Lowan. But at the same time those who take it on themselves to define what is appropriate can sometimes take it too far. Having seen a few too many places where the evolution of self-organised organisations to protect some group of people led to what can only be called blood baths I find it all just a little depressing. No, I don't always enjoy cons or the internet - but they are still better than some places I saw during my professional career.And it should. We got lucky. We just have a nephew and getting him to college unscathed was a challenge. I can't imagine trying to do it with teenage girls in this day and age, and I used to be one! Cons are bad enough, but even then they're relatively safe spaces. There are a lot of women, rabidly feminist women, who will watch out for unsafe men and watch over younger women. It is The Way. But the internet is different. It gives anonymity to these little scumbags, and they feel safe turning the worst versions of themselves on any target they find, and love every second of it. Bring on the threats and the doxxing and the swatting, because the worst thing one can be in this day and age is a woman on the internet.
Some days I'd love to advance anti-virus software to levels closer to Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. Bring on the firewalls.
Finchbearer
Istar
What is a bandy player?
On pseudonyms - J K Rowling is one good example of an author who was explicitly told to use initials rather than a gendered pen name. A more contemporary example is R F Kuang (Rebecca F Kuang) who wrote Babel (genuinely the strangest fantasy book I’ve ever read) and The Poppy War, who again chose to use initials, and both have authored fantasy books written for a wide market (ie. not just a female audience).
What are instances like this saying? It’s still not a level playing field. Sure, my own stories would likely attract female readers, and I have zero problem with that. But for those women (and marginalised groups) who want to target a wider audience shouldn’t be afraid of using female / identifying pen names just in case that hurts the potential success of the book - the more female / marginalised writers of fantasy / sci-fi who use obviously female names the better, in my opinion. Or at least, there shouldn’t be the question of wether it’s a better idea to use an ambiguous name because people can be racist, sexist or homophobic.
On pseudonyms - J K Rowling is one good example of an author who was explicitly told to use initials rather than a gendered pen name. A more contemporary example is R F Kuang (Rebecca F Kuang) who wrote Babel (genuinely the strangest fantasy book I’ve ever read) and The Poppy War, who again chose to use initials, and both have authored fantasy books written for a wide market (ie. not just a female audience).
What are instances like this saying? It’s still not a level playing field. Sure, my own stories would likely attract female readers, and I have zero problem with that. But for those women (and marginalised groups) who want to target a wider audience shouldn’t be afraid of using female / identifying pen names just in case that hurts the potential success of the book - the more female / marginalised writers of fantasy / sci-fi who use obviously female names the better, in my opinion. Or at least, there shouldn’t be the question of wether it’s a better idea to use an ambiguous name because people can be racist, sexist or homophobic.
Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
When Rowling started, it was probably more of a concern. Now? Agencies and publishing are controlled largely by women, and the biggest market for reading is women. I would've gone with my initials "L.J. Rice" if the web address had been available, because I don't want prejudged anymore than women do. If I switch genres, I'll probably publish under L.J. Royce for the fun of it, since Rice used to be Royce in my family line.
Also, obscuring gender isn't the only cause for initials. Initialed authors have a long literary history, and it can impart a literary vibe to a name. John Tolkien vs J.R.R. Tolkien... Shit! No contest. Joanne Rowling vs J.K. Rowling, again, no contest. Hell, J.R. Ewing! Wait a second, what the hell is up with the letter J!?
My new pen name will be J.J.J. James. Ewww, I likee.
Also, obscuring gender isn't the only cause for initials. Initialed authors have a long literary history, and it can impart a literary vibe to a name. John Tolkien vs J.R.R. Tolkien... Shit! No contest. Joanne Rowling vs J.K. Rowling, again, no contest. Hell, J.R. Ewing! Wait a second, what the hell is up with the letter J!?
My new pen name will be J.J.J. James. Ewww, I likee.
Finchbearer
Istar
His name wasn’t John it was Jolkien (Rolkien Rolkien) Tolkien and not many people know this.
As an aside, initialled names do have a long history, BUT nobody assumed that they were women, it was assumed that initialled authors were male, that’s why they sold.
As an aside, initialled names do have a long history, BUT nobody assumed that they were women, it was assumed that initialled authors were male, that’s why they sold.
Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
Books sold because the authors were male? Interesting. But, true or not, it is irrelevant to my statement.
Finchbearer
Istar
Nope it’s not irrelevant. You said initialled authors have a long history, and part of that history is women using initialled pen names so that potential reader would think they were a male author, increasing their chances of success in a largely male dominated world.
And remember, for centuries Anonymous was a woman.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
That's a strange thing to assert. It certainly is not true, and even if it was, there would be no way to know. The best we could say is it was likely a woman in most instances, but there are so many reasons to use Pen names and want to be anonymous, that I would suspect there are large percentages of each who used that attribution.
There are many reason I could think of to want to use a pen name, and many have been covered here. I am looking to choose is for marketability, an ability to stay a little hidden from the public, and the freedom to create different names for different projects.
I dont really care if my actual name gets out there, but I am also happy if it does not.
Okay, let me back that up just a hair.
"For most of history, anonymous was a woman."
~ Virginia Woolf
Misquotes are my specialty.
"For most of history, anonymous was a woman."
~ Virginia Woolf
Misquotes are my specialty.
Finchbearer
Istar
Oh it’s from A Room of One’s Own, of which I read earlier this year…
Even that is a misquote, it’s, “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
So, no not everyone who wrote something of note would have been a woman behind the pen, but it’s a pretty educated guess because she studied Classics and history at King’s College London.
Even that is a misquote, it’s, “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
So, no not everyone who wrote something of note would have been a woman behind the pen, but it’s a pretty educated guess because she studied Classics and history at King’s College London.
Rexenm
Inkling
How about Mousepous, as like a clothing line or moniker or such?
To join in on the derailment, when we speak of anonymous, are we speaking of someone using a penname or someone not using a name at all? The latter I could see a good case for it being dominated by women, but the former contains such luminaries as Voltaire, Multatuli and Appolinaire. Then again, a quick skim through the wikipedia page on pennames does show a substantive amount of women, so I reckon the majority could lean that way.
When I was a kid working my first job at a bookstore, we had an entire section devoted to books by Anonymous, who is apparently both prolific and dirty-minded, much like a 90's Chuck Tingle without the dinosaurs. Three, four shelves with new books coming in every week.
But seriously, back then most Anonymous were covers for women writing what would become recognized as erotica in the mainstream, and guys writing gay porn. Using a pen name of any sort was usually a safety issue. You would never, ever put your own name on these stories, because it was an excellent way to never be published again. Today it would be online threats that turn to deeds. And that was just the guys. I only know of one who made it using his own name, but John Preston was also a bit of a force of nature, by all reports.
And, to touch on the question of gender, I do know that our fanbase is about 60% women, and almost every UF writer I know is a woman. Editors and publishers. I agree and second that I've seen a sea change over the past 30 years (fast for publishing) of women stepping into C-suite positions with major publishers and starting to influence the industry. We'll see where this goes, but I know I'm excited.
Well you've certainly exposed my complete lack of knowledge on erotica. I hadn't thought of that industry, for I never have found an Anonymous work with a capital A. I shall take your word on the widespread nature of the nameless there.