#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.18 — Do you write under a pen name? Multiple? How did you choose?
My mum did not name me RS.
Names are symbols that point to a thing or a person. They aren't that person. Sure, I can input an identity into a name, just as a given name can gather that weight during life, but it is still a symbol. I've made peace with myself that whatever achievement or infamy I gather under this name still applies to me. The idea is fascinating enough that I'm playing with the idea of a society where parents don't name their children, instead the children are forced to choose, and can change them at whim throughout life.
I assumed my nom de plume before I attended the Clarion Writers Workshop. Mostly, this was me once more playing with the idea that as a feminist writer, the gender of the author does add subtext to all narratives.
Growing up, I thought Andre Norton was a man; it added a definite context to all his stories, like The Beastmaster, A Breed to Come, and Moon of Three Rings. I liked the nuanced way that the author depicted masculinity and femininity. The softness set the author's books apart, and it appealed to me. But Andre Norton wasn't male; I learned that quite sometime later.
Choosing a name of the opposite gender didn't work for me anymore. I could have chosen a name used by both genders, like Ryan or Riley, but when you think about it, that puts the onus on the readership to assign gender based on their experience with people of the same name. Either way, it creates creates a bias. Before I started the workshop, we were given an email group address. Back then, as now, I was careful never to reveal my gender nor my preferences. By the time I arrived in person on campus, most had guessed wrong.
These days, there are further reasons for noms de plume, especially since I write fiction that boosts women's rights, their right to sexuality without shame, gender preferences, and gender agnosticism. Further, I tend to add subtexts to my stories that question both secular and religious authority; in today's "climate," doing so can be… worrisome.
Best I don't use my real name.
PS: I write fan fiction under a different nom de plume.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
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