Is There a Line To Be Crossed In Using a Pseudonym Or Can An Author Make Whatever False Claims They Like?
Well, I'll avoid making reference to any high-profile case studies that have been plastered over our media (in Britain at least) but what is the purpose of a pseudonym?
In the profession of acting, people frequently use a stage (or 'strange') name because their real name is too mundane, whatever that may mean? In practice it appears that people are more likely to take notice of someone called Blue-Ivy rather than someone called Sarah Smith. Why? Who knows but that's just the way it is.
As authors, we don't have much of a physical presence in your life. We're more just voices in your head, so our identities aren't really the focus of what we do. So, if we take up a different name, we can take the whole thing a little further. If an actor, or actress, takes up a stage name, they still only have one face.
Nobody looks at an authors face, at least not while they're reading anyway. So now let us suppose that an author decides to place a false back-story to their name. Well, if a female author has written something in a male dominated genre then maybe it is in the interests of equality that they present themselves as male, in order that their work can be judged on its merits alone. This seems fair enough to me.
What if your entire back-story is designed to give credibility to your works though? What if, for example, you've worked in retail for your entire life and you write a book about what it's like to be part of an elite military unit? Further to this, you invent a fictional biography for your pseudonym which gives them just such a professional background?
Now people think that they're reading a fictional account of a person's real experiences, only the person doesn't exist. Is this the sort of relationship that readers are looking for with their authors or do they feel deceived?
I don't want anyone to think that I'm passing judgement here but I'm genuinely curious. I want to know what people's feelings about false pseudonyms and false back-story are because I'm a real human being.
My given name is Loron-Jon and I am of the family Stokes. I know that I'm at least a little fortunate to have a unique name but how much of myself should I sell? In my June, 20th blog; 'Nordic-walking, Frontal Lobotomies and a General Dread of Self-promotion Which Could Make a Person's Brain Sprout Legs and Run Away', I discussed some of the troubles with such things and I would value some feedback.
If I get to write my own back-story, conscience free, then; HOORAY. I'm an astronaut from the future who has met God and likes listening to Beethoven (because of how sophisticated and stuff I am).
Otherwise, you'll have to hire a private investigator to find out what my crazy ass has been up to 'cause I ain't confessing nothin'! ;-)
Endlessly, Perpetually, Something,
L-J
