Why we sometimes use pen names?

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

Thinking about it, I dont know why I am scared to sign anything I write under my real name. I know I like what I do and am proud about whatever I write... but then i feel that there is a part of me that wouldn't want to let other people to be let into my thoughts... if that makes any sense.

your take on this?

[Nat Rally]

several of my zines are written under different names because i have multiple personalities that write the different zines i produce.

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

i guess this is sort of one of my reasons too... i use alter egos depending on what i write... it kind of blurs the line between my reality and imagination sometimes though.

Nat Rally said:

several of my zines are written under different names because i have multiple personalities that write the different zines i produce.

[Monstress Zine]

i started out with a nom de zine because i had a creepy guy following me around but i kept it cause the name sort of got a life of its own and the writing i do under "una crow" is different than my other writing. where it's causing me some trouble is now i'm actually writing professionally and i got the work through my zine, which i never really considered happening. so i have to figure out whether i want to transition in my zine or identify myself as "writing as" or just leave my writing lives separate or what. though una crow did mysteriously disappear on walpurgisnacht in the last issue of monstress. but then i created a whole new professor character with a variation on my name, so...

and, for me at least, there's a sort of side issue that i am actually pretty private and it's not so much that my zine is revealing as that in a weird way it might seem to be and might mislead people where i am in my writing. so a pseudonym satisfies my need for privacy and my need not to mislead people, if that makes any sense.

[Monstress Zine]

hey, is your language indonesian or malaysian?

I Am said:

in my language, kami means us. ha! thought I'd share that... not as cool as the others you've mentiond though... :P

kami said:

i'm old enough to remember when the original punk scene hit and fake names seemed cool - i took kami as a bastardisation of my name cammy (campbell) and it has stuck for thirty years! of course i didnt know back then it was a japanese god, a hindu god of love, recently a muppet or anything else - it just fit the bill.

pen names just make it easier for a lot of people to say what they think - for some reason that alter ego can let go then without fear of reprisal. even when people know who you really are anyway, you didnt say it, your alter ego did!

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

no, it's Filipino... although i think we have a couple of words derived from Malaysian and Indonesian, among others. :)

una crow said:

hey, is your language indonesian or malaysian?

I Am said:

in my language, kami means us. ha! thought I'd share that... not as cool as the others you've mentiond though... :P

kami said:

i'm old enough to remember when the original punk scene hit and fake names seemed cool - i took kami as a bastardisation of my name cammy (campbell) and it has stuck for thirty years! of course i didnt know back then it was a japanese god, a hindu god of love, recently a muppet or anything else - it just fit the bill.

pen names just make it easier for a lot of people to say what they think - for some reason that alter ego can let go then without fear of reprisal. even when people know who you really are anyway, you didnt say it, your alter ego did!

[Monstress Zine]

yeah, it's "us" or "we" in indonesian and malaysian, too. i learned a little indonesian but i live in a neighborhood with a lot of filipino people. between that and spanish i can understand a few words here and there, but sometimes the words mean different things.

I Am said:

no, it's Filipino... although i think we have a couple of words derived from Malaysian and Indonesian, among others. :)

una crow said:

hey, is your language indonesian or malaysian?

I Am said:

in my language, kami means us. ha! thought I'd share that... not as cool as the others you've mentiond though... :P

kami said:

i'm old enough to remember when the original punk scene hit and fake names seemed cool - i took kami as a bastardisation of my name cammy (campbell) and it has stuck for thirty years! of course i didnt know back then it was a japanese god, a hindu god of love, recently a muppet or anything else - it just fit the bill.

pen names just make it easier for a lot of people to say what they think - for some reason that alter ego can let go then without fear of reprisal. even when people know who you really are anyway, you didnt say it, your alter ego did!

[Spanishzinestress78]

Interesting debate, that´s for sure!
This has been a dilemma of mine for a few months now. In the collaborative zine I participated recently I used my first name and only the initial of my surname but I am now working on two zines and one of them (a perzine) will include my opinions on three issues I am highly critical about from my country - Spain. In some areas like the Canaries, Madrid and Barcelona (to name just a few) I am not worried about people reading my stuff as they are in the majority open-minded but on those backward zones (which we tend to call ´´La España profunda´´) phew... esp. cities/towns ´´dominated´´ by the religious sect Opus Dei and other unsavoury characters. Let´s just say it could get you some enemies, make you lose job opportunities and lots of doors closed work-related or otherwise.
So yes, I Am, fear plays a part on it for some of us. I would not want any ´´meanies´´ getting hold of my writing material. What a shame :(

[Alex Wrekk]

When I was in Poitiers, France at the birthday event for la Fanzinotheque there was a woman from Spain who is a librarian concerned with how to bring zines into libraries in Spain when there is such a strong religious presence so O can see that as a very valid concern.

Spanishzinestress78 said:

Interesting debate, that´s for sure!
This has been a dilemma of mine for a few months now. In the collaborative zine I participated recently I used my first name and only the initial of my surname but I am now working on two zines and one of them (a perzine) will include my opinions on three issues I am highly critical about from my country - Spain. In some areas like the Canaries, Madrid and Barcelona (to name just a few) I am not worried about people reading my stuff as they are in the majority open-minded but on those backward zones (which we tend to call ´´La España profunda´´) phew... esp. cities/towns ´´dominated´´ by the religious sect Opus Dei and other unsavoury characters. Let´s just say it could get you some enemies, make you lose job opportunities and lots of doors closed work-related or otherwise.
So yes, I Am, fear plays a part on it for some of us. I would not want any ´´meanies´´ getting hold of my writing material. What a shame :(

[Giz]

people (including myself) use to call me gyzmo/gizmo/giz for years. I enjoy that because my real name (thomas) is so boring. but using pen names & POBOX is kind of an assurance.

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

it assures you of what, exactly?

Giz said:

people (including myself) use to call me gyzmo/gizmo/giz for years. I enjoy that because my real name (thomas) is so boring. but using pen names & POBOX is kind of an assurance.

[K.]

I Am said:

it assures you of what, exactly?
Giz said:

people (including myself) use to call me gyzmo/gizmo/giz for years. I enjoy that because my real name (thomas) is so boring. but using pen names & POBOX is kind of an assurance.

I think PO Boxes and pen names (as many people have addressed in their comments) function as an assurance of some degree of controlled anonymity and, through that, personal safety. I've been making zines for some time now and ran a distro for several years and for me, it was important that my personal, residential address remain private and that, to some extent, my legal name also remained private. I really like what Chantel G. said in her comment a few pages back, "[...] I TOTALLY support anyone who wants to use a pen name for issues of safety (physical, emotional, financial) or privacy. Some folks want to write about all their business while not having everyone in their circle know that business is theirs." I write a personal zine and in that zine I want to be able to write honestly and openly about my life, but without fear that my boss might pick it up at one of the independent bookstores in town or that an ex or a family member or one of my students might read it and confront me because of something I wrote about. PO Boxes and pen names are means by which I can control my anonymity.