Writers are often given the ability to write from some source they can’t exactly put their finger on. When asked where they get their ideas, many will call on their Muse as the source of their inspiration. Recently, a fellow writer said in an off-handed way something about extending the leash on their muse. And I thought, hmm. Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly let those sounds run through my brain. But what if I am stuck in my early Muse ideas and need to set my Muse free?
One doesn’t want to lose one’s Muse, so the leash is important. What could I write instead of Romances? I read a lot of animal stories, a lot of urban fantasies, and a lot of science fiction. I’ve even dabbled in mysteries. There’s a rumor that once you pick a genre and publish something, you can never change out of that genre. And yet, many writers have done so. The trick is in using a new author’s name. No, that doesn’t mean to steal a name from a new writer.
For Example. Nora Roberts, one of the Queens of Romance, writes mysteries as J.D. Robb. Many of those in the Romance genre use a pen name to signal a different heat level in the stories. For instance, my own Roxanna Haley books are pretty hot, whereas the D.L. Hungerford stories are sweeter.
Then there are the folks who write erotica and need to keep that a secret from their community and employer. Judy Mays is the poster child for that scary reveal. I started out with the Haley name due to my employment with local government. Now that I have retired, I feel better about using my actual name.
But the use of another name can be confusing. You might think you have discovered a new author who writes just like your favorite. Then someone tells you that this is your favorite, under a different name. At least some writers get to the point where they can put the name most famous on the cover and include “writing as” and the other name.
There’s a long history of women writers, especially, who needed to use a nom de plume to be taken seriously. On the far end of the spectrum today, there are those who say using a different name for each type of writing you do is impossible any more. For instance, Facebook, the center of social media, won’t let you use a fake name for a page. (Drop me an email, I’ll tell you how I did it!) So just keep it all in one name and use different covers, logos, fonts, etc. to mark the difference.
One thing you can let your Muse help you with, however, is picking a name and going with it. If only there were some kind of random generator available. This fun one at Goodreads would have me change to Theodosia Cherish. I could get used to being called Ms. Cherish. But that also sounds like a porn writer or star. Oh well, maybe my mom’s initials? J.R. Alessandro is a bit too ethnic, I think.
Here are some good tips on handling your double life on your author website. I like the question asked at the end of how you chose your pen name. One of my middle names is Roxanna and my paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Haley. So I claimed it as my own.
How’s your muse doing now? Did you figure out the genres you might branch out into? I hope this has been helpful, and that you are burning with new ideas to get on paper. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back on Thursday.
Romance-ology 