Nom de Plume

[Antfarmer77]

Have any of you used a pen name? Not just on Lit. The real life project I'm working on has it's characters based on people from my last job, so I'm thinking if I ever get it finished , I'll submit it under an assumed name, for my own safety LOL

 

[arienette]

Nope, my real name is plastered all over my writing, no matter what kind it is. I'm waiting for the time I publish something and someone digs The Tease out of Lit...I'll laugh my ass off.

However, anything with naked pictures of me goes under the name Arienette, because that's a little too risque.

 

[Antfarmer77]

naked pictures of me

*swallows hard* It just got real hot in here

 

[oggbashan]

Have any of you used a pen name? Not just on Lit. The real life project I'm working on has it's characters based on people from my last job, so I'm thinking if I ever get it finished , I'll submit it under an assumed name, for my own safety LOL

There could be real problems for you if the characters are identifiable. Even a nom-de-plume won't protect you because any publisher will want a real name and address if only to send a rejection slip.

Using real life people in a story is dangerous. Mixing and matching so that Joe Soap won't recognise himself is essential to avoid lawsuits.

Og (who is a nom-de-plume but doesn't write about real people except when they are dead...)

 

[rgraham666]

If you use different names and different physical descriptions for the characters I don't think people have a leg to stand on if they want to complain.

In this case you can say, "Hey, I just made a shoe. If you loudly want to admit to the world that it fits, go ahead."

 

[impressive]

I use a pen name to protect my own identity, not those of my characters.

However, a disclaimer at the beginning of your work (as I'm sure you've seen in other works), would help CYA. This is the one my publisher slaps on all work:

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

[FallingToFly]

Yes, I have a nom de plume. anything I am not 10,000% proud of goes under it. My newest has my name on it. It's one of the few things on Lit that does.

 

[R. Richard]

Actually, I don't have problems with using real people in a story I write. However, that is probably because almost all of the people I meet are unreal.

 

[Aurora Black]

Most definitely! A nom de plume is essential in my case.

As for using real people, I did that once and it backfired in a major way. I'm still paying the price for that incident, so make sure that if you base a character on someone, alter the shit out of it before putting it out there.

 

[Boota]

Other than my user name here, no. I write under my real name, but in music I go by Boota. I will have to come up with a pen name for when I write my children's book, though. I don't want that mixed up with the other stuff I write.

 

[Elsie Grey]

Other than my user name here, no. I write under my real name, but in music I go by Boota. I will have to come up with a pen name for when I write my children's book, though. I don't want that mixed up with the other stuff I write.

You're writing a childrens book? Thats so cool!

Elsie

xxx

 

[Aurora Black]

You're writing a childrens book? Thats so cool!

Aww, Boota. That is so sweet!

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I use a pen name to protect my own identity, not those of my characters.

However, a disclaimer at the beginning of your work (as I'm sure you've seen in other works), would help CYA. This is the one my publisher slaps on all work:

"This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental."

Yeah, what Imp said. Moreover than that, writer using real life places or people is almost impossible to avoid; the truth of the matter is, however, that who we see when we view others is skewed by our own perspective. That, and the ficticious use of that perspective... Well, that makes it kinda' hard for someone to know for certain that a character is based on them. Nonetheless prove it.

I've used likenesses in my stories here on Lit, and one of my characters is even named the same, but she doesn't act the same so far as I can tell.

Nom de Plume...?

Just Q_C.

Q_C

 

[Boota]

Yeah, I'm writing a childrens book. My nieces have been bugging me for a while to write something that they can read. So I'm making them characters in it, too. I decided that it would be best to write the childrens book under a pen name to avoid the problem of someone going in to a bookstore and ordering the book, and then thinking they are going to get the same thing if they order pretty much anything else I've written. LOL. I plan on having at least three books available before the childrens story comes out and none of them, or my short stories, are suitable for kids.

 

[nyte_byrd]

Have any of you used a pen name? Not just on Lit. The real life project I'm working on has it's characters based on people from my last job, so I'm thinking if I ever get it finished , I'll submit it under an assumed name, for my own safety LOL

Yes, I use 3 of them so far. My writings are in genres and/or subjects that would likely raise some eyebrows if readers knew the same author wrote them all. It's almost a neccessity to use a pen name if you write articles on the same subject but for competing publications too.