New Names and Pen Names

[Hughie]

This one is for the writers out there, or any other artsy types who are navigating their new names and pen names... I've only recently acknowledged and am starting to come out to people near me as trans. I'm trying to figure out new names... I don't have much fiction work out yet, but lots in the works, and I'm clear that I want to publish under a male name and I know what it is...

I've been online in my social media as a writer using a female pen name, but now that I've acknowledged I'm trans, a little while ago I switched my online pen name nearly everywhere as a gender neutral version. I have one fiction credit out under my male name, Hugh and the same pen last name.

Now, I'm trying to decide whether to also have my new name the same as my pen name. I quite like it (Hugh first name, my androgynous middle name, and new last name, the one I've been using for nearly a year online) and love the idea of having the same name, and not juggling two personas/identities. It's a bit tricky when it comes to pay and contracts and things.

I don't necessarily want it to be a secret that I'm trans, but I'm just wondering if there's any downsides to being publicly trans as a writer... or if that's an advantage at all. I just don't want to carry more secrets, you know? But are there repercussions I should be aware of, or impacts to family around me?

I have a mental illness that I've had to keep under wraps for years (well managed though) when I worked for the corporation, and that took a heavy toll, and I'd like to be out about that too. There's nothing shameful about either of these things.

Cheers for reading yet another essay...

[Elis]

The number 1 problem I'd say be out as trans as a writer is that you get pigeon holed as 'the trans one'. Same happens with trans actors. It might mean less opportunities to get work published. But I think the benefits to other LGBTQ people far outweigh this. There's needs to be more trans people visible (not saying there's anything wrong with being stealth; but working in a creative industry it's necessary to have people youngs trans people can look up to).

I'm not a writer myself though; although I may want to write stuff for online trans magazines when i get the chance (I recently sent something to a nb online magazine hoping they'll put it on their website). And I'll use my name because I'm proud of it and it took years of fighting to have it.

[Hughie]

The number 1 problem I'd say be out as trans as a writer is that you get pigeon holed as 'the trans one'. Same happens with trans actors. It might mean less opportunities to get work published. But I think the benefits to other LGBTQ people far outweigh this. There's needs to be more trans people visible (not saying there's anything wrong with being stealth; but working in a creative industry it's necessary to have people youngs trans people can look up to).

I'm not a writer myself though; although I may want to write stuff for online trans magazines when i get the chance (I recently sent something to a nb online magazine hoping they'll put it on their website). And I'll use my name because I'm proud of it and it took years of fighting to have it.

Yeah, I think it would be cool to write for trans magazines and such too... agree that I don't want to be pideon holed. And the trick is though that over the long term I want to earn a living or a solid p/t income from my writing, and I don't want to do this just for the, er, 'free exposure'. I want to eat. But yes, I'd love to be able to encourage other trans folks too and happy to share my experiences.

I'm actually thinking of having two middle names, and possibly writing more 'trans' stuff under the second middle name, and the same last name. And have all this as my four names legally... does that make sense?

My novel series that I'm writing right now has gay/bi characters, though no one is questioning their gender identity. I haven't published anything yet, haven't decided whether to go the traditional route or self-publish. So for that stuff I'd write that as Hugh. But down the road I think it would be interesting potentially to write YA with trans characters. I think on my personal blog I wouldn't mind being out as trans, but wouldn't be a marketing thing for the novel series, though for short stories and articles it might be a different matter. Unsure. Clear as mud, right?

[Tama-Ann]

I'm not really knowledgeable about this sort of thing. But if your other pen name is gender neutral - I'd suggest keeping that - unless you dislike it. Most companies and stuff won't question your pen name as lots of writers have pen names - though it may be harder to get them to know it's yours but I don't know much about it. I think changing your name, can confuse people and if you have followers of your work may get themselves trying to find your work but it's under a different name.

Much like my tags under gaming purposes and Instagram (which has my art work on) and so on is the same - and was going to be my original 'new' name but decided against it as it's a very cultural name and as I don't belong to that culture and there's a lot of controversy over cultural appropriation - so decided to shorten it to my current name 'Tama' - with the addition of my mum's middle name, as a double barrel to my name - Ann.

But it's all about personal preference - if you're not a HUGE name, and have consistent following I think it could work - if you have a huge name I'd advise against it. <- For me I could change my name on social media and so on but I enjoy the actual 'Artist' name thing and I love the word/name so for me it's got a root connection. All depends on the situation and what you think would be best

[Hughie]

I'm not really knowledgeable about this sort of thing. But if your other pen name is gender neutral - I'd suggest keeping that - unless you dislike it. Most companies and stuff won't question your pen name as lots of writers have pen names - though it may be harder to get them to know it's yours but I don't know much about it. I think changing your name, can confuse people and if you have followers of your work may get themselves trying to find your work but it's under a different name.

Much like my tags under gaming purposes and Instagram (which has my art work on) and so on is the same - and was going to be my original 'new' name but decided against it as it's a very cultural name and as I don't belong to that culture and there's a lot of controversy over cultural appropriation - so decided to shorten it to my current name 'Tama' - with the addition of my mum's middle name, as a double barrel to my name - Ann.

But it's all about personal preference - if you're not a HUGE name, and have consistent following I think it could work - if you have a huge name I'd advise against it. <- For me I could change my name on social media and so on but I enjoy the actual 'Artist' name thing and I love the word/name so for me it's got a root connection. All depends on the situation and what you think would be best

No, I'm not a huge name, only in my dreams. Over 1600 Twitter followers for my writing right now over most of a year since I've been on this account. I switched my first name to an androgynous version of my female first name, same pen last name. So the people who know me before know me by the other name (it's similar enough), which is fine. And new followers with this new name. I did the switch... 5-6 weeks ago, and nobody's commented. I switched on my FB too, though I have a very small group of writer friends there (it's a different FB than my personal one).

I've only published one thing so far and I did that under my male first name, for a range of reasons. And I think I'll keep publishing most stuff like that, or with my initials and then last name. The trick is if I'm out publicly out as a 'trans writer' there could be some backlash or pigeon holing above, more so than for being queer. Which I also am. It's a lot to think about. I know some writers keep a collection of pen names for different kinds of genres/markets.

Culturally, I'm going the other way from you... I had a more ethnic-sounding name and have gone more neutral now. There's reasons why I picked the names I have, but yeah. Distancing from the cultural group would be good.

[Tama-Ann]

I think if you're scared of being pigeon-holed as a trans-writer, don't be. They will expect certain things from you. But do what you want and continue to do it - if you avoid or ignore the stereotypes they can't say anything. They may judge and criticize but they're not your audience - your audience are the people who enjoy your works, not caring about your personal life to that extent, but rather enjoying your work and sharing it as an ode to your talented work.

I think changing your pen name should be done then if that's what you think would be best suited - if it's early on in your career now as it wouldn't be a great idea to have multiple names constantly. Like you said your initials might be good, especially if they've been carried over - unlike mine which was T.W.P to now T.G.C.P aha - so I'd have no chance! :p

Whatever you decide stick to your guns! :p

[Reyes]

Ah this is kinda cool, I'm a writer to. I mean, I haven't gotten anything published yet, and I haven't gotten much down yet, but I have an extremely large amount of details worked out for about 8 different series I have planned. And writing these are basically what I really want to do with my life. Career wise anyway. Plus I love it.

Mod Edit:Language

[Hughie]

I think if you're scared of being pigeon-holed as a trans-writer, don't be. They will expect certain things from you. But do what you want and continue to do it - if you avoid or ignore the stereotypes they can't say anything. They may judge and criticize but they're not your audience - your audience are the people who enjoy your works, not caring about your personal life to that extent, but rather enjoying your work and sharing it as an ode to your talented work.

I think changing your pen name should be done then if that's what you think would be best suited - if it's early on in your career now as it wouldn't be a great idea to have multiple names constantly. Like you said your initials might be good, especially if they've been carried over - unlike mine which was T.W.P to now T.G.C.P aha - so I'd have no chance! :p

Whatever you decide stick to your guns! :p

Cheers! Most of my writing to date that's out in the world is technical/academic writing, and I originally wanted a pen name separate from that because it's not really credible to write various kinds of urban fantasy / magical realism stories under the same name in my traditional profession. I may be leaving that profession now for health reasons, so I don't currently have that struggle, but when I legally change my name, if I do more tech/academic writing in my field, it will be under that legal name. Then there's my fiction writing, which has GLBTQ characters and themes. And then there's any kind of nonfiction article writing - say, GBLTQ sources and travel writing. Ideally, I'd do this all under the same name. For the latter two, there's also building a social media presence and maintaining, so the fewer accounts, the better. It would also be nice to have to build just one portfolio of various articles. I'd like to have my author website and blog for my fiction, a separate blog for travel and travel articles to magazine, and possibly submit nonfiction articles on GLBTQ themes.

I guess one of my questions is what are the expectations/assumptions for someone who is a trans writer? What am I up against?

[Hughie]

Ah this is kinda cool, I'm a writer to. I mean, I haven't gotten anything published yet, and I haven't gotten much down yet, but I have an extremely large amount of details worked out for about 8 different series I have planned. And writing these are basically what I really want to do with my life. Career wise anyway. Plus I love it.

Just keep writing lots. And reading lots. There's different ways now to get out there as a writer.