Women writers

I was a published journalist under my maiden name but I quit journalism before I even got married. I'd never had fiction published under either name, but I submit my fiction these days using the married name and will continue to do so until I get published or simply give up.

I'm not published yet, but I've chosen the name I want to use when/if I do, and I'm semi-promoting it for future name recogition. Unfortuately, the only contest I've entered (and finalled in) I did under my real name. D'oh.

Right now I write trashy romance, but in the future I plan to move into historical fiction/hero's journey and I wonder about the gender biases...It won't be "women's fiction" by a long shot, but I wonder if I should do the different genres under different names.

Then again, some women keep their maiden name after marriage, so it's not a situation that applies to all women writers.

If you made your name before changing your name, it would make sense to keep the famous name for professional use. For example, it's still J. K. Rowling on the covers, not J. K. Murray. That one had to be a no-brainer.

Myself, I want a shieldmaiden name.

I publish under my real name for my historical romances. It's my married name, because I abhorred my maiden name (and don't ask, cuz I ain't tellin' ) Not to mention, I'd been married a few years before I sold my first book.

I also write erotic romance (almost finished with the first) and that will be submitted under my pen name.

my long-time-no-see artist cousin kept her maiden name after getting married.
I've seen some women writers keep both, turning their maiden names into middle names:
Jane Doe Jones.
Kinda cool.

I am considering taking a woman's pen name because I am in love with Jersey Chick!!!! Alright alright-beat me with the damned stick if you must!! Love Dave-what is in a name other than letters? Petunias or Chrisantheemummies? It's the lobster Jersey lovely lady-cannot hep meeself!!!

Use a pseudonym and nobody gets hurt.

Phaeal said:

Then again, some women keep their maiden name after marriage, so it's not a situation that applies to all women writers.

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Exactly what I was going to say. I kept my name when I got married. I'm not published, but I'd already been using my maiden name professionally so it made sense not to change it. Besides, I wasn't wild about how my name sounded with my husband's last name anyway.

davids said:

I am considering taking a woman's pen name because I am in love with Jersey Chick!!!! Alright alright-beat me with the damned stick if you must!! Love Dave-what is in a name other than letters? Petunias or Chrisantheemummies? It's the lobster Jersey lovely lady-cannot hep meeself!!!

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Aw.... I'm not going to beat you with a stick... But I gotta admit, I'll think twice before ordering lobster anywhere...

eveningstar said:

I kept my name when I got married. I'm not published, but I'd already been using my maiden name professionally so it made sense not to change it. Besides, I wasn't wild about how my name sounded with my husband's last name anyway.

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Ditto and ditto, except for the not being published part
I didn't think "Shweta Smith" sounded plausible let alone euphonious. I did not want a name that people would think was just made up! Besides, I had academic papers published, and... well, at that point I was still fixed on a glorious academic career filled with fame and riches
(As Tom Lehrer said, "I don't have to do this, you know. Why, I could make almost three thousand dollars a year just teaching!")

rosemerry said:

I don't have any books published and so far only one short story published but what if as a woman you've had lots of publications under your maiden name and then you get married.

Do you continue to publish under your maiden name? Do you switch to your married name? Or do you save your married name to write in a different genre? You write Hard SF now but you want to switch category romance?

There are also those of us who have that feeling of vengeance against the people who thought we couldn't accomplish our writing goals. If our last name is different would they recognize it. If we actually sent them the published book with a little written inscription saying nya nya nya.

Just for the record my answer is I'll use my married name when I get published since I have nothing of significance published now under my maiden name.

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This was a real issue for me; I had already written and published under my maiden name when I married. I really thought I would just continue to use my own birth name but my husband seemed hurt so I tacked his surname onto mine. I use both; it's long and distinctive that way.

If I publish my fantasy novel I will use my first and middle initial and my maiden name. If I publish the novel I am working on now I will use my first and middle initial and my last name. If I write and publish a romance novel I am going to use Angeline Glenwood. Just because.

I've been married for 25 years, so as far as I'm concerned I am Susan Breen. But when my book was going to be published, I suggested using my maiden name because I thought my brother would get a kick out of seeing his name, so it would be Susan Zelony Breen. But no one except my brother was excited about that, and, much as I love him, it wasn't really a compelling reason.

Jersey Chick said:

Aw.... I'm not going to beat you with a stick... But I gotta admit, I'll think twice before ordering lobster anywhere...

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as well you should after all the lobster you eat may be sweet but sweet on you and you should not eat sweet lobster that might be sweet on you-love Dave who is being very saucaleetoed!!!

This is very true... I wouldn't want to boil something that might be sweet on me...

I do have some work that was published using my maiden name.

When I got married I started using my maiden name as my middle name. This way if there is any doubt, they can still see my first name and former last name along with my new last name. I also did it because I didn't want to lose my identity.

But I have always wondered what happens in terms of copyrights. I have a few songs registered using my maiden name because I was single back then.

I changed my name some years back (not for marriage)... it's an endless nightmare of people not updating their records. I don't want to go through it again when I marry.

I doubt anyone who knew me as a child would recognise me, as my name is different. So vengeance wouldn't be an option anyway. I did have one poem published under my child name, but it wasn't anywhere special.

It does make sense to keep the name with recognition as a pen name, whatever happens to your real name.

anis said:

my long-time-no-see artist cousin kept her maiden name after getting married.
I've seen some women writers keep both, turning their maiden names into middle names:
Jane Doe Jones.
Kinda cool.

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This is what I'm doing, but partially because there is another Wendy Cebula out there and she has many, many pages when you Google the name. (And yes, it's true, I've Googled myself.) She's not a writer, but I thought it might be a good idea anyway. So I've been using my maiden name as a middle name in writing. My real middle name is out--I just hate it.

I am in the group of folk who kept her maiden name when marrying (changing it seemed silly). My husband is not particularly attached to his last name, though, and would have been willing to change his name to mine if he liked my last name better. We thought for a while about changing both our names to something completely new, but then it just seemed like too much hassle. So we got married and kept both our names. I answer to Mrs. A or Mrs. B, although most people know what to call me (Michelle, in case you are wondering, because Mrs. makes me feel old).

I am more concerned that when I complete my novel, the publishers will want me to change my name since my last name piled up with my first name makes for a bit of cover-hogging length, and then my novel name won't match my short stories name. But if it happens, it happens. Whatever helps the thing sell.



-Michelle

Shweta said:

Ditto and ditto, except for the not being published part
I didn't think "Shweta Smith" sounded plausible let alone euphonious. I did not want a name that people would think was just made up! Besides, I had academic papers published, and... well, at that point I was still fixed on a glorious academic career filled with fame and riches
(As Tom Lehrer said, "I don't have to do this, you know. Why, I could make almost three thousand dollars a year just teaching!")

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I never even considered taking my husband's name, but it wasn't because of the fact that I had published under my maiden name. He briefly considered taking my name though. His is very very common, mine is extremely rare.
Our son had my last name, too.

I worried about this for a while, too. Before I got married I had several short stories published in various small magazines, and I wondered if I should keep it. I also wondered if I should keep my maiden name on my writing just to honor my parents, who helped me so much. Buuuut now that I've been married for a while and I'm concentrated on novel writing, I decided it's not such a big deal. How many people, honestly, would remember my name from those little publications? Not many. And if you google my married name I do have some very nice stuff come up from my travel-writing. And my husband is basically supporting me while I write, so I think it's only right he should share in the glory if I hit it big. We have a very unusual last name, which means we're essentially the only people of our name that anyone knows. (Not even his parents share the name - his father died and mother remarried, so she has her new husband's name.)

I've published under my married and maiden names. If I write in another unconnected genre I will use some variant of one or other. It really isn't important.

WendyNYC said:

This is what I'm doing, but partially because there is another Wendy Cebula out there and she has many, many pages when you Google the name. (And yes, it's true, I've Googled myself.) She's not a writer, but I thought it might be a good idea anyway. So I've been using Wendy Pinkston Cebula for writing, but I'm open to suggestions. My real middle name is out--I just hate it.

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I confess to googling my name on occasion too. There are a number of people who share the same name as me, including some big-time professionals, which I always get a kick out of. (I'm speaking about my real name. "Anis" is just a pen name -- thank goodness!)

I publish under both my married name and my maiden name, depending on what genre I'm writing in. (these are short stories--I haven't had a novel published yet).