Nom De Plumes

Happy Hump-Day, good people of the blogosphere! I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Time sure does fly when you're working your tuckus off. Today, I'd like to talk to you guys about pen names; also known as a Nom De Plume. Without beating around the bush, let's get going!

Why in the world would an author use a pen name?

Well, in my case, I use one because I don't want crazy people beating down my door if they don't like what I have to say. A couple of my books (the Mystic series, for one) teeter on the edge of calling people out for their crap and show what it's like to live on the other side of judgment. Another one has violence (and a lot of it) that a lot of folks say left them gasping for air as they read (Yassa). But, there are authors throughout history that used pen names to meet other goals. Here are a few:

• Dr. Seuss.
• Stephen King (aka Richard Bachmann)
• J.K. Rowling
• Jonathan Swift (aka Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.)
• Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte (aka Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell)
• Charles Dickens (aka Boz)
• Benjamin Franklin (lots of akas - mostly female names!)
• Anne Rice (aka A.N. Roquelaure)

So why did these authors choose their pen names?

For publishing reasons, of course. One was chosen because the publisher thought the author's books wouldn't sell as well if people knew it was a woman who wrote them. Back in the days of the Bronte sisters, women didn't write and they felt they had no choice but to submit as men. Sometimes pen names were chosen to allow the author to publish more frequently or even to get published at all (their real name may have been damaged in some way). Anne Rice said she didn't want anyone to know she'd written a naughty book. But, beyond that, she wanted to see if it was her name making her sales or her excellent writing. Makes sense to me.

So, if you're an author, and you use a pen name, why? Is it to hide who you really are, to break into a genre only (usually) written by a certain gender, or is it something simpler like a state of separation?

Inquiring minds are dying to know.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Motivation

For all you writers out there, what is your motivation for writing a book? Is it fame? fortune? the need to tell your story? the need to tell someone else's story? I am curious what makes you all tick.

For me, it is the telling of a story that may have happened inside a story we all know. Everyone knows that Genghis Khan took over most of Eurasia and everyone knows he had a wife, a daughter, and four sons. Everyone knows that Jamuka was his best friend until something happened that made him leave Genghis and begin to conquer on his own in direct competition of his friend. My brain starts ticking when I hear stories like that. I want to know why they had a falling out of that magnitude. Don't you?

Over the span of my life, when I have heard stories other people tell, I have always filled in the gaps with tales of knights, dragons, love, and betrayal. I used to sit in the mall and write people a new story in my head. I have gone through many learning processes in my life to learn other skills because writing was never deemed useful; like reading. My father used to say, "Put down that book and do something with yourself. You are wasting your time on nonsense." Reading and writing were considered bad form and he had the idea that reading the encyclopedia was the only way to learn.

B.S.

Things I have learned from books:

1. How to be a better person
2. How to cook things I could never have done without the instruction
3. Historical facts
4. Human interaction
5. How other people tick
6. How to be comfortable in my own skin
7. Other people have it worse sometimes
8. How to be patient and understanding
9. How to forgive and overlook
10. How to use my imagination to feel, be, and see what the characters feel, are, and see

and so much more!

I would like to send a huge shout out to the following authors as a thank you for taking the time to sit down and tell me a story:

J.K. Rowling (violence is not always necessary)
Stephanie Meyer (true love is all encompassing and can survive anything)
C.S. Lewis (be good down inside)
J.R.R. Tolkien (your friends that are true will help you through anything)
Piers Anthony (being different is okay)
Anne Rice (be comfortable with yourself)
Alice Borchardt (history can be interesting)
Christoper Paolini (always believe the impossible)
Robin Cook (hospitals are crooked)
Fern Michaels (women are strong)
Suzanne Collins (fight like every day is your last because it could very well be)
Stephen King (reality in writing can make you feel)
The Brothers Grimm (fairytales give hope and a moral lesson)
Shakespeare (it is not the language but how you use it)
Every author that has ever spent their time writing a story (perseverance pays off)

Well, that's it for today folks, off to write some more!! I hope this post got you thinking!

Until next time, WRITE ON!!

Jo