Author Topic: Pen names  (Read 4785 times)

stacer

  • Level 58
  • *
  • Posts: 4641
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Stacy Whitman's Grimoire
Pen names
« on: September 07, 2006, 05:18:19 AM »
I've decided that my ideas for pen names suck. Or at least, I'm not satisfied with them. My childhood choice, Anastasia, kind of implies a romance novelist or something. I can't really use--well, don't really want to use--my real name as a pen name, since there's already an author out there using Stacy Whitman, and her books have titles like Shackin' Up: The Single Girl's Guide to Living in Sin.

Since I'm actually thinking this time I might finish this book and start submitting it (which is kind of funny and all, because it may be the only book I ever write, but even so...), I think I need a good pen name. Not top of the list of things to think about, but it's 1 a.m., I wrote today, and I can't sleep. Besides, it's been rather quiet round these parts.

Here's the short list of pen names I've thought of.

Lynn Whitman
Anastasia Lynn
Whitman Lynn
Anastasia Whitman

Yes, they're dumb. I'm most drawn to Lynn Whitman because it's my middle name. I suppose I could use S. Lynn Whitman, but that feels a little to General Authority-ish for me. Should I use a family name or something? Blair Whitman wouldn't work--that's my dad's name as well as a family name. Blake Whitman sounds like a man. Stacy Blair is apparently a world-famous piccolo trumpet player, but that's a little on the obscure side, compared to someone who wrote another book. Oh. A quick google also reveals that someone by that name is a pr0n star.

I know we discussed pen names here a while back, but I'm too lazy to find the thread. What do y'all think? Just use my middle initial and call it good? Try to use EUOL/Dave Wolverton's middle-of-the-alphabet pen name system and pick a pen name starting with F or what, N, was it? What would you do in my situation?
« Last Edit: September 07, 2006, 05:18:50 AM by norroway »
Help start a small press dedicated to publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/pzojaf.

Follow our blog at http://www.tupublishing.com
We're on Twitter, too! http://www.twitter.com/tupublishing

stacer

  • Level 58
  • *
  • Posts: 4641
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Stacy Whitman's Grimoire
Re: Pen names
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2006, 05:39:25 AM »
Here's a list of family names I like, just as fodder for the brainstorming.

Templeton
Shaub
Seaton
Blair
Massingill/Masingale/Massingale
Klein/Kline (perhaps I'm related to Calvin or Patsy)
Histed/Hested
Hayes
Halbroeder (now wouldn't that be a fun one? especially paird with Anastasia)
Clark
Barr
Baltozer
Johnson
Frisk
Diel
Rogers
Help start a small press dedicated to publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/pzojaf.

Follow our blog at http://www.tupublishing.com
We're on Twitter, too! http://www.twitter.com/tupublishing

The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

  • Administrator
  • Level 96
  • *
  • Posts: 19211
  • Fell Points: 17
  • monkeys? yes.
    • View Profile
    • herb's world
Re: Pen names
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2006, 09:30:50 AM »
Quote
Templeton

Shirley Templeton can't be serious

Quote
Massingill/Masingale/Massingale

isn't that a feminine hygiene product?

Quote
Klein/Kline (perhaps I'm related to Calvin or Patsy)

what about kevin?

Quote
Hayes

Rutherford would B. so proud

Quote
Halbroeder (now wouldn't that be a fun one? especially paird with Anastasia)

Oddly, I have nothing to say about that

Quote
Baltozer

Balthezar would get the Battlestar Galactica crowd

Quote
Frisk

Frisky Frisk!

Ok, to be serious, I tyhink you are putting a lot of stock into the idea of someone in a different genre having the same name as thou. And if you insist, you're finding funny reasons not to like names "too General Authority?" What's that about?

And what would be wrong with Stacy Lynn?

stacer

  • Level 58
  • *
  • Posts: 4641
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Stacy Whitman's Grimoire
Re: Pen names
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2006, 11:55:06 AM »
Oh, I forgot that one. It's okay, I suppose.

It's not so much that she's in another genre. That doesn't matter--it's the whole googling my name thing--what will someone find?
Help start a small press dedicated to publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/pzojaf.

Follow our blog at http://www.tupublishing.com
We're on Twitter, too! http://www.twitter.com/tupublishing

stacer

  • Level 58
  • *
  • Posts: 4641
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Stacy Whitman's Grimoire
Re: Pen names
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2006, 11:58:29 AM »
Thanks. I'll send.
Help start a small press dedicated to publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/pzojaf.

Follow our blog at http://www.tupublishing.com
We're on Twitter, too! http://www.twitter.com/tupublishing

Maxwell

  • Level 30
  • *
  • Posts: 1686
  • Fell Points: 0
  • JewManG!!
    • View Profile
    • why not?
Re: Pen names
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2006, 10:06:33 PM »
you could use S.L. Whitman
works pretty well for my mother, she uses T.S. Wiley
Tappin my feet the the beat of original sin.
http://thenauticalcamel.blogspot.com/

Chimera

  • Level 31
  • *
  • Posts: 1777
  • Fell Points: 0
  • Do I look pasty to you?
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2006, 02:43:16 AM »
So many choices!

Well, I've always been a fan of alliteration, so perhaps you could try the S names?

Stacy Shaub
Stacy Seaton
S. L. Shaub
S. L. Seaton

I kind of like Stacy Seaton. But, really, there are a lot of good family names to choose from. I like Lynn Whitman, too, and if you're leaning toward that, it's great. I think it really comes down to what YOU like.

And of course you should decide on a pen name before finishing your novel! That's part of the fun of planning to be an author. Me, I've decided to just use my own name. Not any YA authors with my last name, as far as I know, just a SL journalist. And, I like my name. I've had it awhile, and I'd like to keep it, even if I get married, and this way I will (without having to refuse to change my name).  Now I'm published in the Friend under that name. Yay!

Besides, how else am I supposed to show all those people in high school and college I finally accomplished my goal if it's not the name they knew me by on the cover? Because, I mean, that's why I'm doing this of course--to show them all!!!  ;)
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air. --Billy Collins, "Litany"

Avatar courtesy OOTS

Peter Ahlstrom

  • Administrator
  • Level 59
  • *****
  • Posts: 4902
  • Fell Points: 2
  • Assistant to Mr. Sanderson
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2006, 03:01:57 PM »
Stacy Whit
Stace Whitman
Lynn Stacer

I dunno, tough question. I can understand the desire to avoid association with that other Stacy Whitman's books. I'm not a big fan of pseudonyms myself though.
« Last Edit: September 14, 2006, 03:03:49 PM by OoklaTheMok »
All Saiyuki fans should check out Dazzle! Emotionally wrenching action-adventure and quirky humor! (At least read chapter 6 and tell me if you're not hooked.) Volume 10 out now!

Shuez

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 41
  • Fell Points: 0
  • R. Schuyler Devin - Writer, Poet, Artist, Techgeek
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2006, 12:53:10 AM »
I like:

Stacey Winter

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

- Albert Einstein

"You have only just begun to gauge the depth of your ignorance yet you use it as the foundation for a towering confidence." - from the novel Black Brillion by Matthew Hughes

Entsuropi

  • Level 60
  • *
  • Posts: 5033
  • Fell Points: 0
  • =^_^= Captain of the highschool Daydreaming team
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2006, 01:32:04 PM »
Use 'Evil Undead Over Mistress'.

Hey, it'd sell books, right?
If you're ever in an argument and Entropy winds up looking staid and temperate in comparison, it might be time to cut your losses and start a new thread about something else :)

Fellfrosch

stacer

  • Level 58
  • *
  • Posts: 4641
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Stacy Whitman's Grimoire
Re: Pen names
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2006, 05:25:20 PM »
No thanks. I think EUOL's wife might have claim to that kind of pen name.
Help start a small press dedicated to publishing multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. http://preview.tinyurl.com/pzojaf.

Follow our blog at http://www.tupublishing.com
We're on Twitter, too! http://www.twitter.com/tupublishing

Robert_Boyd

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 58
  • Fell Points: 0
  • I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2007, 07:34:05 AM »
My first thought was to spell your first name backwards, but that gave me YCats which probably isn't what you're looking for.  Instead, how about just rearranging the letters?  Styca Whitman has a certain ring to it...

dreamking47

  • Level 5
  • *
  • Posts: 127
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2007, 08:52:15 PM »
Personally I think the "porn name" method is fun: pair your middle name with a detail like the place you were born or grew up, the season you were born in, your first pet's name, etc.

MattD
"It had blood in it.  That makes it a good metaphor." -- Tonk Fah, in EUOL's Warbreaker

WriterDan

  • Level 11
  • *
  • Posts: 463
  • Fell Points: 0
  • Babble from below, bubbles from above...
    • View Profile
    • Shelfari page
Re: Pen names
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2007, 11:01:39 PM »
Using Boyd as a spring board for success... how about Kitty-Lynn Whitman?  I'm more partial to the first two names than the last.  Clark might be a good chaser instead of Whitman, or maybe Johnson.  It does currently bring up someone's blog on Google, but at least there are no pr0n stars in the first few pages of a search...
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

I review books at Elitist Book Reviews.  Check us out.

precious-jules

  • Level 2
  • **
  • Posts: 22
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Pen names
« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2007, 02:34:36 AM »
Speaking from personal experience here . . . You do NOT in any way want to have your last name, real or pen, end in a W

Go to any bookstore and you will find that the W authors are always always always on the very bottom shelf where even toddlers have to bend over to see them. I have already determined that any of my national work will be a pen name: Jules Hartman. H and N are typically in the eyeline of browsing readers. I'd suggest going to a few different bookstores and getting a feel for the way the alphabet shelving works in each one. Then find a last name that will get you the most prime shelf-space.

I believe with all my heart that my last name is a deterrent.  I love my husband in every fathomable way, but I'm ditching his last name at the next book. :)
"...for what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"
------- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice