Pseudonymia

[The Jade Knight]

So I'm trying to figure out what to use as my writing name.  Were I to just stick on my name as I use it, I'd use "Michael-Forest Meservy".  However, I am thinking that "Michael-Forest Meservy" may not be the easiest name to remember, or the catchiest.

So I'm considering using a pseudonym for the sake of the reader.  Ironically, the pseudonym I'm leaning most towards is "Michael Forest", substituting my middle name for my last.  (Has any other author ever used their real name as a pseudonym?)

Of course, if I want to go for the truly pseudonymous, I could use "Jade Knight" or some such, but I think it'd be better to just use my name unless there'd be some big marketing advantage to having a weird name.

So, what say you?  Would it be better to use "Michael Forest" as my writing name, or should I keep my full name, or what?

[stacer]

I've thought about using "Lynn Whitman" as a pseudonym. Stacy Whitman is the author of a number of Shape magazine articles, as well as a book titled Shackin' Up: The Single Girl's Guide to Living in Sin--not exactly a book I want to be confused at penning. So if I ever do get a book published, I probably will use a pen name. Anastasia has been a favorite name of mine for forever--when I was younger, I thought it would be cool to have that as my real name and have Stacy be my nickname--but I think "Anastasia Whitman" would be a little too much leaning toward the romance genre.

But I think Michael Forest as a pen name works well. Perhaps a little on the too-common side, though. What about Michael Meservy? Not too complicated, but with an unusual last name. And alliteration.

[The Jade Knight]

I'm wondering if the unusual last name would be more cumbersome than not?  Experience has taught me that people rarely pronounce it correctly if they're not familiar with it to begin with...

Another thing to note:

"Michael Forest" is a movie star.
"Michael Meservy" is a musician.
There are several other Michael Meservys out there, as well, as a quick Google will show.

Also, is it a bad idea to use a single name pseudonym (ie, the hyphenated "Michael-Forest")?

[Sigyn]

I have no experience in this sort of thing, but after thinking about it, I thought that either "Forest Meservy" or "Forest Michaels" sounded good. I personally don't like Forest as a last name. If you are thinking of using all three names, I would recommend dropping the hyphenate and going "Michael Forest Meservy."

There, that's my two cents worth. As for me, if I ever do a pseudonym, I thought I could take my last name (ZoBell) and split it to make Zoe Bell.

[The Jade Knight]

Well, the pertinent question is what is most memorable?

[Spriggan]

personally I always think your real name is the best.  For a while Tor was thinking about using Winn Sanderson for my brother instead of Brandon (Winn being his middle name) I'm quite happy he decided to stick with his actual name.

I don't know why I prefer authors who use their real name I guess it's because I find it more honest in a way.  I actually didn't buy Firemeboy's book because of his use of a fake name.  I just don't like them, they rub me the wrong way.

I can tell you a bit of what I've learned from Dave (Wolverton) and EUOL.  One don't use something like Jade Knight, which I'm sure you wouldn't, it's silly and no one will take you seriously.

Second if you're going to go through the hassle of using one choose a last name that starts with a certain letter,  EUOL knows which ones, but I know 'F' is one of them, certain letters tend to be at the top or eye level of book shelfs more then others and that supposedly (well according to Dave) helps you sell more books.

[stacer]

Is W one of those letters? I'm guessing that even if S isn't, it's a common enough letter that you'll be in a large section, at least.

[JP Dogberry]

I'd reccommend picking a name like "Luke Down" or "Seymore Butts"

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

I. P Freely.

I strongly suspect that Spriggan is of a minority view here. Mark Twain is heavily read and everyone KNOWS that's a pseudonym.

I had considered a pseudonym. And actually, if I end up writing YA for girls (which my last complete manuscript indicates) then I wonder if writing under a woman's name wouldn't help.

[JP Dogberry]

Mark Twain is a pseudonym?

[Spriggan]

Ya his real name is Samuel Clemens.

Ya I know I'm in a minority.  I just can't grasp why people wouldn't want to use their real names.  Are that that embarrassed by what they're writing?

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

ok, everyone with a half-decent awareness of American Literature knows that Mark Twain is a pseudonym. And those with a three-quarters decent awareness knows his real name was Samuel Clemmens. And those with a decent awareness knows he chose it because he liked the way it sounded when the guys measuring the depth of the Mississippi while traveling on the steam boats would should out "Mark twain!" to indicate the depth was at the second mark on the line.

[Spriggan]

Well to be fair JP isn't American and he doubtfully had Twain crammed down his throat in high school.  I'm still not sure what's the worst book I've ever read is, the Scarlet Letter or Huck Fin.

[JP Dogberry]

I've never read anything he wrote, but I DID win the Mark Twain award at my work for doing NaNoWriMo.

[42]

I had considered a pseudonym. And actually, if I end up writing YA for girls (which my last complete manuscript indicates) then I wonder if writing under a woman's name wouldn't help.

I don't recommend using a opposite gendered name. I seems deceptive, which rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I can particularly see this happening with a man using a woman's name. (IMHO, a woman using a man's name is trying to overcome the oppression of sociatial gender conventions that haven't really existed for the past 25 years. IMHO, a man using a woman's name is probably some sex-offender trying to not be noticed by his parole officer.)

I think the better route is just to use your first initials so that your gender isn't revealed. Or use a name that could be either masculine or feminine.