Pen names

Yeah, I write under a pen name… Two in fact.

Some people do it for privacy reasons. Like they’re deep undercover writing erotic romance while living in the Bible belt or teaching third grade…maybe even both.

Some people do it because their real name isn’t memorable or doesn’t have a nice ring.

Some people do it because they don’t like their real name.

Some people do it because they’d rather go by a different name.

I’m sort of a combination. My real name, Lisa, is okay…sort of a dime-a-dozen growing up so I’d rather have a different name. After too many misdirected shouts on the playground from kids who wanted to play with ‘the other Lisa’ or teachers scolding ‘the other Lisa’, I’d kind of retired it in my head anyway. Yeah, Lisa is my name, but I don’t get upset when people call me, “Hey you.”

I took my last name from Jason when we got married. Thus, I became Lisa Stoddard. Yeah, it’s not bad, but it’s also not good. I mean, there’s another Stoddard who writes science fiction. Jason isn’t related to the guy, but the name is too similar.

See, this is where the necessity for a pen name comes in…recognition. I don’t want anyone confusing my work with Jason’s. It’s totally different and if you pick up a Jason Stoddard book expecting a Lisa Stoddard story, you’re gonna be extremely disapointed and vice-versa.

I mentioned that I write under two pen names. That’s only half true. My other pen name is a shared pen name. My best friend and I write as a team under the name Ashleigh Raine. Yeah, we could’ve put both our names on the books, but Ashleigh Raine just sounds so much better and it also has sentimental significance for us.

Now, on to my pen name. Well, in the Ashleigh Raine books, my favorite character to write is Twyla Emerson. If Ashleigh hadn’t been published first, I’ll bet my pen name would be Twyla Emerson, but I’m also glad Ashleigh was published first because I can’t imagine that particular character with a name different than Twyla Emerson. I mean, she’s been a part of my life since high school.

High school… That leads me to being the Raine half of Ashleigh Raine. When I doodled out stories all those years ago, if I didn’t have a set female character name, I used Raine. That’s why the pen name Ashleigh Raine works very well for when I write with my best friend.

Back to high school… There was another character whom I’d noodled out various stories about, but she had a full name… Rina Slayter.

What better pen name than from a character I’ve written since high school? Becoming her in the flesh and mind means I’m ruthless, strong, tough, ass-kicking and intriguing on the outside, but mysterious, sweet and deeply hurt on the inside. Lots of flaws to challenge, play with and work around.

And if the author herself isn’t interesting, how the hell is her work supposed to be? Writers write what they know…

There you have my story on writing under a pen name…and a half!

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