X
Research source
, or a pen name if you want to hide your authorship of a book, paper, internet site or other media.
Consider how much of your real name you want to keep. You can shorten your name from something like William to Will, or Ashley to Ash, or simply choose a name that is similar.
Decide what kind of genre you want to write and choose a name that fits it. For fantasy and science fiction writings, initials work best, such as J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien. For literary works, "flowing" names work better, such as Nicholas Sparks and Barbara Kingsolver.
Make sure that the complete name isn't awkward! The amount of syllables must be easy to spit out, unlike Billie Letts (too many L's) or 2-syllable names.
Select several pseudonyms by mixing and matching. It sounds silly, but write each name out in easy print and give the names a bit of space on the paper. Keep working on what looks good and cross out the rest.
Search for your options with an Internet search engine to find out if anyone else has already used them. Discard the ones that are being or have been used.
Say each pseudonym out loud several times. Just about anything will work, such as, "I have to read [pseudonym's] newest book!" or "Is [pseudonym] coming for a book signing?"
Choose your favorite pseudonym out of all of your options. There's no formula for deciding the best one; if you like one better than the others, go with it!
You can use random name generators like http://www.behindthename.com/random/ and try different combinations of the names you get. That always gives you an interesting new name, and you can choose the origin of the name, like Irish, English, African, or even mythology.
Comments
0 comment