Yzabel / October 9, 2005

A pen name: here’s one of the little somethings I’ve been pondering, yet never bothered so far to really take a decision about. As a technical writer, I’ve been working under my real name from the start, since it seemed the most logical thing to do, but what about fiction works? What about, well… everything else?My last name isn’t terrific. It’d sound decent in English, but in French, nobody’s ever able to pronunce it right from the start, and in other people’s mouths, it ends up as some kind of bastardized garble more than anything else. Serves me right to have a name of German origin. I can’t use my boyfriend’s last name, since I’d then irremediably be mistaken for a singer, and one I don’t even like, at that. I’ve been considering taking my grandmother’s maiden name (my mother’s is even worse than mine, albeit still less horrible than my cousins’!), and I must admit that this would mean a lot to me as well as to her. However… I’ve never had very defined ideas regarding this matter, and never chose one. I figure out that I’d better not start piling pen names, else I’ll drown myself in them pretty fast.Would I really need a pen name? Do that many authors use one, or is it simply a preconceived idea? Does it make it easier to separate one’s works, non-fiction from fiction, or books in different domains of competence? Would it on the contrary be a problem, by creating confusion? Would it be perceived as a refusal to assume my “real identity”, as a rejection of my origins?Granted, this isn’t essential to my career, and there are moments when I couldn’t care less. I’m simply wondering at times. Is it such a big deal, or shall I better go about it the way I’ve been going until now, by not worrying my head about it? After all, some things are only worth the bother when they come, not years in advance.name, writing