I write under a pen name because it allows me to write the truth. Writing is not worth it – nor as good – unless you can write the truth.
If I wrote under my given name, I would have never told you just what I think of white people. I would have never told you how I look at a woman.
The truth is, I would have never told you anything: I would not be writing for you and for me. I would be writing for my wife, for my mother, for the people at work and, worst of all, for every future possible employer. My writing would become so guarded that it would no longer be worth writing – or reading.
Experts on blogging say you should write under your own name. It makes you more believable because you are standing behind your words. You can be held accountable. Sure. And people can throw bricks through your window or, more likely, say you are “not the right person” to work at their company.
On the other hand experts on writing say you write best when you write the truth and write what you want. So true, but it is not something I could have done writing under my own name.
I started this blog to practise my writing. To be able to do that I could not have everyone I know reading it and laughing at me or, more likely, giving me strange looks. A pen name gives me the freedom to mess up, to try different things, to find my legs. A pen name allowed me to start writing.
Jamaica Kincaid took that name to write under so people back home would not know it was her. That is just how I feel.
When I came to New York no one knew me. They did not care where I came from. It was not my past that mattered but the present. That gave me the freedom to find myself and become who I wanted to be. My personal past did not hold a heavy hand over my present.
Writing under a pen name is like that. Your family, friends and those at work expect you to be a certain way and you tend to fall into that. By writing under a pen name you can be just who you are. By doing that I have found out more about myself in two years of blogging than I have in ten years of ordinary living, strange as that may sound.
A few pen names: Mark Twain, Dr Seuss, Toni Morrison, Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, Jamaica Kincaid, Pablo Neruda, Anthony Burgess, Voltaire, Lenin, Stendahl, Moliere, Plato, Wonkette, Robert X. Cringely, Ellery Queen, Herge, Ann Landers, Lu Xun, Lester del Rey, Andre Norton, George Sand, George Eliot, Ayn Rand.
So I am in good company.
See also:
- My first blog post – where I come up with my pen name.
- rules for writing
- Writing blogs: the reader’s viewpoint
- St Augustine
- Those who used pen names:
I love your site, come see mine.
i love your honesty.
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Thanks. I like your blog too. I added it to my blogroll. I am glad you keep a blog because most of your comments here (well, all the ones I can remember) are good.
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I disagree with you after sometime you have to reveal who you are?
Pen name is just an old fashion of giving a singe exrta name to a person for his written or other work.
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But the body is deeper than the soul and its secrets inscrutable.
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You say that you use a pen name to write the truth? First we have to determine: what is the truth? What is true to one person or group is false to another. Who determines what is true or untrue? For something to be considered true, it must also be considered a fact (not an opinion or theory).
Do universal truths exist? It depends (e.g. “We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal”). Are all men created equal? What about women?
Are men and women equal or the same? What does it mean to be equal? Where can we witness equality? Can equality be measured or observed? Is equality about gender, “race”, or money?
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The truth as best I know it. Everyone knows I am not God.
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Based upon the pen names listed above, I consider you to be in good company. Naysayers be damned!
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Toni Morrison and George Orwell are among my favourite authors. I wonder why they decided to write under pen names.
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Just because he uses a pen name doesn’t mean that he belongs in the same category as those great writers. I’m not judging, but I’m saying.
What does abagon have in common with those writers? (he uses a pen name like they did). As far as the quality of writing … I’ll let readers be the judge.
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The truth as best I know it. Everyone knows I am not God.
You’re just on a first name basis with him. 😉
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i’m glad you use a pen name. also, even though i do not know you and new to your site i enjoy your thoughts. some i may not fully agree with however i find them interesting and very much respect them! i don’t know who you are but you have a very refreshing and personal air about you. i feel i am getting to know a person more through the writing rather than just a name with no substance. keep up the good work. i feel inspired.
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Can you give some more background about yourself? You are a white male (I think) who is married to a black woman (right?). Is she Black American, Carribbean, African, other? What is your age range (if you don’t wanna give your exact age)? Thanks.
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You are a white male (I think) who is married to a black woman (right?)
I thought that too, when I first joined the site, mainly because of this:
But no, Abagond identifies himself as black.
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The examples of pen names you give are not comparable to what you are engaged in. Few if any of the people you cite were hiding behind a pen name in order to protect and maintain a separate identity. There was no Eric Blair who was distinct from George Orwell; there was no Samuel Clemens living a life aside from Mark Twain. They simply took on another name. It’s like saying that Carlos Estivez acts under the name Charlie Sheen so that no one knows who he is…
A better example is Theodore Dalrymple, whose real name is Anthony Daniels. He wrote under the name Dalrymple TO KEEP HIS OTHER LIFE SEPARATE. When he wrote a piece critical of an English city, the name of which is escaping me right now, he was “outed” by angry residents of the city. He meant to keep his real identiy secret, as you do.
This type of psyeudonym or pen name is quite different that any of the examples you give. So, you are not “in good company” with the people you mentioned because you are engaged in another pursuit altogether. Anyway, I certainly don’t challenge your right to do it; I am merely pointing out that there is a big difference between a pseudonym a la Theodore Dalrymple, and a pen name a la George Orwell.
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Good point. You are right about Orwell. I do not know about all of the others. George Sand and Andre Norton, I know, did not want to be seen as women. Jamaica Kincaid, who I see as the closest case to mine and probably gave me the idea to begin with, did not want people back home in Antigua to know it was her.
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Fair response. You are certainly right about the women writers. The point is that there are definitely distinct universes of protective pseudonyms and elective / marketing / vanity pen names.
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Well, protecting your privacy might be one of the reasons behind the pen name. If you don’t want people to know you’re the one who writes X, you use a pen name. The reason for privacy might go as far as protecting your life (if writing bad stuff about a tyrant or mafia boss) or as “little” as not wanting your mother to know you’re good at writing XXX scenes.
Many women, even today, choose to write under a male pseudonym, or under gender-neutral name.
But opting for a pen name can be for “pure” marketing reasons. If you don’t have a name that is easy to spell, or remember.
I sure want to write under a pen name. I feel like I really need it. I wrote about it here:
http://jefflion.net/archives/656
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Abagond, you gave me an idea.
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You’re actually Charlie Carling.
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i agree 100%. i write under a pen name so i do not limit myself. my work is real and raw and emotional. w/o the pen name, it’d be flat and limited.
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Writing under a pen name is fine so long as you have non-repudiation – i.e. to avoid the case where you say some things under that pen name and then later later claim that they were not written by you and that therefore there must be an imposter using the same pseudonym. (Actually the same applies to writing under your own name.)
I myself sometimes use a pseudonym, not because I am ashamed of what I write but because I know that some people’s reaction to what I write will negatively impact me. Until I am in a position to counteract that, why should I expose myself to it?
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RE: “Experts on blogging say you should write under your own name. It makes you more believable because you are standing behind your words. You can be held accountable. Sure. And people can throw bricks through your window or, more likely, say you are “not the right person” to work at their company.”
I agree and I disagree. One of my favorite Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, also wrote with pen names. I do as well, but very little. You have an absolutely valid point, yet there is a sadness to the fact that one would have to do this, but a political reality. Such is the paradox of revealing thought and truth in a world which has yet to achieve true peace and balance.
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I learned Stephen King wrote under the name Richard Bachman.
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This was a good post. I like to read about writers and the ways in which they go about their craft.
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@ Abagond
Do you plan to publish a novel under your pen name? I think I read on another post that part of the reason why you started this blog was to refine your writing.
I would read the book and probably thousands of your other readers would too. I admit that one of the reasons why I find this blog so compelling is your writing style. I wish I could write like that.
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yeah let’s all meet up at abagond’s book signing!
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Anne Rice has two pen names, Anne Rampling,A.N. Roquelaure.
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anne rice, now a christian, uh… it was all downhill after interview, if you ask me
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@ v8driver: Anne Rice has renounced Christianity.
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I wonder who Lemoney Snicket is. I love those stories. I thought this might be a pen name.
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*Lemony*
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@miss mary b i did not know that about anne rice, and yes the lemony snicket books were well written, i got into that after watching the movie with my kids, who weren’t really that into the movie.
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George Orwell/Eric Blair
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@ mary burrell
He’s my favourite writer! Re-reading ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ right now.
Do you like Orwell?
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@wordynerdygirl: I am rediscovering him. And rereading 1984 and Animal Farm.
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Him I write under my own name, on racism in sports, small blog but hope to develop it. I’m not sure how wordpress works so here is the link: http://www.RacismIsNotAGame.wordpress.com I like your bolg…and I’m very solution focused. What can be done that might make a difference.
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I personally believe that it should be up to the writer whether or not to use a pseudonym or not. Some people have suggested to me that I use a pen name, just because I want to break into mainstream publishing and my last name is hard to pronounce (see-buh-link) but I feel that if I want to write the truth then I need to use my real name. I respect and admire your choice, Agabond, but I feel that you can write the truth without using a pen name. BTW, I love your blog.
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Some more pen names: Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul Jabar, “Caitlyn” Jenner, “Eliot” Page, “Rachel” Levine, “Charlotte” Clymer
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