Pen Names: for me or not?

Over the years, I've had people ask me, why I'm not using a Pen Name. My initial thought has always been; pen names are outdated and I'm not ashamed of what I'm writing.

Initial based pen names have excited for a long time. JRR Tolkin. CS Lewis. RR Martin. But their all men. Women romance authors has a tendency to use their first and last time, but there is a rise in popularity in women romance authors to use their initials, like VE Schwab and RF Kuang. Of course women authors have used their initials; LM Montgomery (Anne of Greenables), PL Travers (Marry Poppins). KA Applegate (Animorphs) for one reason or another. To me, they kind of sound like male names, which may very well have been the point during the period of publication and the genera that's been written.

So, why am I not doing VL Graham, or Valarie L. Graham? Or something else completely. Honestly there are days where I feel Valarie Graham is generally a mouthful. VL Graham feels awkward on the tongue.

What about something else? Ultimately it does boil down to not wanting to use any other name than my own. I want it to be known, I want to be remembered, like JRR Tolkin, Robin Hobb, or even RR Martin.

I have played with combinations of my name and the names I hold claim too.

Lucille Graham Valarie Harsell Lucille Harsell Valarie Lucille VL Harsell.

Because I grew up during the baby ness of the net and we were told growing up to never use our real names. For the last ten years I've either used Bellethiel or Belledandi online. I tend to use Bellethiel more. I have played with Belle Graham and Belle Harsell, even combining VLB Graham or Harsell, but it always come resulted in the same feelings.

Its not me.

I am Valarie. I want to use my name. I want to be known by that name.

Will I never use a pen name? I will never say never. Its not uncommon for Authors, though its happening less often now, to use Pen names to differentiate between the different genres an author will write it.

Taking Anne Rice as an example. She wrote gothic horror, historical fiction, erotica, and religious-themed novels. Interview with the Vampire. Queen of the Damned. The Vampire Lestat.

She had two other pen names A. N. Roquelaure and Anne Rampling

Under the name A. N. Roquelaure she wrote four books; The Sleeping Beauty Quartet, a series of explicit erotic fantasy novels based loosely on the classic fairy tale

Under Anne Rampling she wrote two standalone adult erotic novels exploring complex and taboo romantic themes

The question then is. If you loved Anne's vampire books, would you want to read a series about the other books? Mostly Publishing Agencies would say the answer to that question is No. If you want to write outside of the genre you're known for you need a pen name for that.

So for me, if I stepped away from the Fantasy Romance, and went way down the Fantasy genre with minimal to no romance, I might need a pen name for that, at which point maybe I'll use V.L. Graham.

Of course if I were to go down the indie-author route, publishing by myself, I could have my romance and the fantasy under the same pen name. If I went the traditional route, I might not be able too.

I feel I need to address my statement about how I'm not ashamed of my work, and why would I use a pen name? I admit I was rather uneducated on Pen Names when I had those thoughts, but people change in ten years. I learned and I understand the purpose of them better.

In the past, women used them to give them male sounding names so they in fact could publish their books. We've come further than that, and we don't need to hide who we are, but there are still many reasons to have a Pen Name.

If you're from a culture that criminalizes same sex relationships, but you want to write same-sex stories for your culture, you might have to give yourself a different name, so you can protect yourself.

In the fact of RF Kuang, who I mentioned earlier in this post. She's a Chinese-American author, born in Guangzhou China and came to the US when she was Four. The R stands for Rebecca and the F stands for Fong. I've read posts about her here and there, a lot of it comes across as racist the moment people realise that the R stands for Rebecca, and accusing her of just being a white woman or a half-asian, which she most certainly is neither. While I have not had the chance to read The Poppy War or any of her other works, but from what I understand the characters are typically asian-coded. Rebecca Kuang gives a much different perception of the author than RF Kuang does; unfortunately.

Ultimately, Pen Names have a place in the author spheres. Whether its to protect yourself, help the perception of the type of author you are, or simply because it just rolls off the tongue better.

Writing Paranormal and Fantasy Romance I choose to use my name, and not a Pen Name. But if I start writing fantasy, maybe I'll take a page from the greats and use my initials, or maybe I'll be like Robin Hobb and keep using my real name.

People change, right along with the use of Pen Names, and I won't say never.