As a writer (hopefully) on the verge of publication, I've been thinking about my pen name.
Don't get me wrong -- I love my name. My real name, the one that's up there. I mean, in elementary/middle school, it was misspelled, mispronounced, practically butchered at every turn (I was Janet in my yearbook from kindergarten until third grade, despite the fact that I would spell both my first and last name -- 7 letters...combined -- for whomever was writing the payment receipts and/or taking pictures) and I hated it. When I entered high school, I was the only one of me around so I quickly got used to hearing "Jana Jo!" throughout the hallways. The fact that my mother was a well-known (and almost hated by all freshman forced to take typing/keyboarding/office technology) doesn't apply.
So why get a new one?
Well, Jana is an editor. Jana likes being an editor, and would like to continue being known as an editor (and book geek). Thus, my reasoning for a pen name.
Which brings about my real question -- what to do when you'd like to write in multiple genres?
Authors do it often. Jaci Burton comes to mind immediately. But what if you want to write for young adults and mainstream fiction and women's fiction and maybe (just maybe) a dab of erotic romance? Can all of these genres fit under one pen name? Personally, I don't think so.
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Nora Roberts, too, with the whole J.D. Robb thing. Which I just learned about, because I know nothing about Nora Roberts, but there you go. She's as big as you can get.
ReplyDeleteMeg Cabot does it too, so I hear...
I plan to use a pen name if/when I sell children's/YA. I can't imagine that the publisher wouldn't require it, and even if they didn't, I want the brands very separate.
ReplyDeleteWow, I soooo hear ya there. Laurie is an editor. Laurie loves being an editor, but somehow I think that no matter what I write, I want to do it under another name, just so I don't get the two confused...
ReplyDeleteBut then, I'm just as proud of my writing as I am of my writing, so why wouldn't I want to write as Laurie?
I can understand that Charlene, and there are several authors who have separate identities now (Renee Luke/Nyomi Scott, Nicole Burhman/Niki Burhman).
ReplyDeleteIt's a tough call, isn't it, Laurie? I feel the same way. I'm proud of my writing accomplishments; I'm proud of my editing accomplishments. Why not brag equally? *shrugs*