Western novelist Pearl Gray dropped his first name and changed the spelling of his last name to become Zane Grey because he believed that his real name did not suit the Western genre. Sometimes a pen name is used because an author believes that their name does not suit the genre they are writing in. Eventually, after critics found a large number of style similarities, publishers revealed Bachman's true identity.
Stephen King published four novels under the name Richard Bachman because publishers did not feel the public would buy more than one novel per year from a single author. Heinlein wrote stories under pseudonyms of Anson MacDonald (a combination of his middle name and his then wife's maiden name) and Caleb Strong so that more of his works could be published in a single magazine. Prolific authors for pulp magazines often had two and sometimes three short stories appearing in one issue of a magazine the editor would create several fictitious author names to hide this from readers. Occasionally, a pen name is employed to avoid overexposure.
Turtletaub for a number of historical novels he has written because he and his publisher felt that the presumed lower sales of those novels might hurt book store orders for the novels he writes under his own name.
Science fiction author Harry Turtledove has used the name H. Similarly, an author who writes both fiction and non-fiction (such as the mathematician and fantasy writer Charles Dodgson, who wrote as Lewis Carroll) may use a pseudonym for fiction writing. Banks Samuel Langhorne Clemens used the aliases Mark Twain and Sieur Louis de Conte for different works. Robb") Scots writer Iain Banks wrote mainstream or literary fiction under his own name and science fiction under Iain M. Robb" and are now titled "Nora Roberts writing as J. Robb (such books were originally listed as by "J. Romance writer Nora Roberts writes erotic thrillers under the pen name J. Johns" although the highest army rank he held was acting lieutenant and his highest air force rank was flying officer.Īuthors who regularly write in more than one genre may use different pen names for each, either with no attempt to conceal a true identity or even after their identity is known. William Earl Johns wrote under the name "Capt. Churchill to distinguish his writings from those of the American novelist of the same name.Īn author may use a pen name implying a rank or title which they have never actually held. For instance, in 1899 the British politician Winston Churchill wrote under the name Winston S. Western literature Europe and the United States Īn author may use a pen name if their real name is likely to be confused with that of another author or other significant individual. See also French phrases used by English speakers.
Since guerre means "war" in French, nom de guerre did not make sense to the British, who did not understand the French metaphor. Fowler, in The King's English, state that the term nom de plume evolved in Britain, where people wanting a literary phrase failed to understand the term nom de guerre, which already existed in French. The French-language phrase nom de plume is occasionally still seen as a synonym for the English term "pen name", which is a "back-translation" and originated in England rather than France. The author's real identity may be known only to the publisher or may become common knowledge. Name that is used instead of an author's true nameĪ pen name, also called a nom de plume or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.Ī pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work.
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