This mostly as to why Superman uses Clark Kent as his cover-up. Bruce Wayne masks himself as Batman. Even though a writer is a very special person, he/she should mostly use one. I mean is just a suggestion. But really why is so important, besides guarding your secret identity.
Just like the gaming industry that is gaining traction and growing at an immense rate, people shield themselves from their real-life persona. Also because you use an alias you can feel a sense of freedom and draw a line between your professional life and your personal one.
Question. Would you ask for a taco at a burger joint? Probably not. Usually, when you write a certain genre people tend to think that is all you do. The first reason is genre or theme fluidity. You could say Mr. Writes-A-Lot writes children’s books, and that writer wants to do a Science Fiction book with a Romance sub-genre. Maybe because the next story will have a steamy scene this particular writer doesn’t want his fans or better yet, his young readers to reach this next book until they are old enough for it. In this case, this writer can use another pen name to create another following.
How about a job? Of course. Maybe you want to write something that is inspired by events in the workplace, and with this, you can detach yourself as if you aren’t talking about your current work. Another thing is that some people have a hard time of disassociate life from fiction. Maybe you wrote a horror story, yet you are the kindest person on Earth. Do you imagine that someone calls HR because you being in a room creates a hostile environment? Do you think it is absurd? How many close to you stay awake at night watching serial killer documentaries these days? Paranoid much?
Can family be a reason? Yes, it can. Much as the work reasons I gave, what if you write something that explores sensitive themes that siblings don’t engage in or do not agree with. This can cause an awkward Thanksgiving diner next time. Or maybe a reader turns to your family because of a scene or quote they don’t agree with. We all know that when it comes to topics like religion, politics, sex, can create an endless discussion just like people do when they play Monopoly.
Another possible reason for having a pen name is sexism. This one sadly is true, but at the same time, times are slowly changing some of these perspectives. There was a time when people believed that depending on your name you could thrive or not in the book business. What happened because of this? Neutral gender names became to be. J.K. Rowling is the most famous pen name from Joanne Rowling, yet she also writes under the pen name Robert Galbraith. More famous Gender-neutral names, Dr. Seus, P.L. Travers, T.H. Lain, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many more. One of the names in this list T.H. Lain is used by a group of writers doing the Dungeons and Dragon novels. So you can also see it as a business name where you can avoid legal repercussions for something and it is attributed to your pen name.
These are some reasons why a pen name is a must in our industry. I want to know about you. What pen name you are using. Do you have another reason why using a pen name? Leave a comment down below and let’s start a discussion. That’s all I have for now, like always take care and keep writing mis amigos.