Just for Fun: Authors' Nom de Plume

Authors write using pseudonyms, or pen names, for a number of different reasons.

• Sometimes they are used if a writer's name might confused with another writer or notable individual, or if their name just doesn't have enough pizazz. 

• Authors who write in different genres sometimes choose a different name so as to not confuse their readers. 

• The Bronte sisters used different names because they used their neighbors as inspiration, and well, you can see how that might cause conflict. 

• Females during the 19th century often used male pen names in the male dominated profession. 

• A pen name may be used to hide the identity of an author in the case of expose books about espionage or crime.

• Some prolific authors use a pseudonym to disguise the extent of their published output.

• A collective pseudonym may represent an entire publishing house or any contributor to a long-running series. Carolyn Keene comes to mind. She is actually a corporate author, and several people have written under the name for the Nancy Drew series.

• While not a pseudonym, many authors abbreviate their names in order to disguise their gender and thus eliminating readers' expectations due to gender-related stereotypes. S.E. Hinton, author of one of my favorite books The Outsiders, is Susan Eloise Hinton. 

In the book, Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms, Carmela Ciuraru examines the intriguing history and psychology behind famous authors' decisions to use pen names.

This post was really fun to write, but frustrating in that I had to seriously whittle down my list to a manageable presence. So, without further ado. How many of the following pen names you can match to the author's real name?

1. Phineas Flapdoodle

• PG Wodehouse
• Sylvia Plath
• Louis L'Amour
• Henry Miller

2. Lemony Snicket

• Eric Blair
• Daniel Handler
• Stephen King
• Meg Cabot

3. John Louis Incogniteau

• Nelson DeMille
• James Oliver Rigney, Jr.
• Agatha Christie
• Jack Kerouac

4. A.M. Barnard

• Louisa May Alcott
• Sylvia Plath
• Nora Roberts
• Marion Zimmer Bradley

5. Lewis Carroll

• CS Lewis
• Daniel Handler
• Charles Dodgson
• David John Moore Cornwell

6. John Sedges

• James Fennimore Cooper
• Sinclair Lewis
• Pearl S. Buck
• Allen Stewart Konigsberg

7. Dinah Kirkham

• Orson Scott Card
• Dean Koontz
• Sharon Long
• Sandra Brown

8. Steffie Hall

• Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Julie Garwood
• Agatha Christie
• Janet Evanovich

9. Tom Graham

• Sinclair Lewis
• PG Wodehouse
• CS Lewis
• Henry Miller

10. Allyson James

• Sylvia Plath
• Sandra Brown
• Tina St. John
• Jennifer Ashley

11. Sophie Kinsella

• Dawn Cook
• Madeleine Wickham
• Lisa Jackson 
• Meg Cabot

12. Jim Mayo

• Louis L'Amour
• Robert Ludlum
• James Oliver Rigney, Jr.
• Stephen Coonts

13. Jeffrey Hudson

• Orson Scott Card 
• Michael Crichton
• Ray Bradbury 
• Dean Koontz

14. Eve Adams

• Dean Koontz
• Dawn Cook
• Stephen Coonts
• Lisa Jackson

15. Kim Harrison

• Meg Cabot
• Julie Garwood
• Janet Quin-Harkin
• Dawn Cook

16. Floyd Akers

• Allen Stewart Konigsberg
• Charlotte Bronte
• Ray Bradbury
• L. Frank Baum

I'll post the answers tomorrow. Have fun!
Angela