15 fun facts about pen names
Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He chose “Mark Twain” as his pen name because it was a term used by riverboat pilots to indicate that the water was two fathoms deep, which
meant the boat was in safe waters.J.K. Rowling used the pen name Robert Galbraith for her crime fiction novel “The Cuckoo’s Calling” to see if the book would be successful on its own merits without her name recognition.Stephen King wrote several novels under the pen name Richard Bachman to see if his success was due to his name or his writing ability.
George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, a female Victorian author who believed that using a male pen name would help her work be taken more seriously.Agatha Christie used several pen names throughout her career, including Mary Westmacott for her romance novels.Dr. Seuss was the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Anne Rice used the pen name A.N. Roquelaure for her erotic fiction novel “The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.”
Nora Roberts used the pen name J.D. Robb for her futuristic crime fiction series “In Death.”
C.S. Lewis used the pen name Clive Hamilton for his early poetry.
Roald Dahl used the pen name Theo LeSieg for his children’s books.
Michael Crichton used the pen name John Lange for his early novels.
The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, all used male pen names when they first started writing.
Sylvia Plath used the pen name Victoria Lucas for her novel “The Bell Jar.”
Toni Morrison used the pen name L.T. Warfield for her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” because she was worried about how it would be received as a black woman writing about black characters.
