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Pen name dilemma
I've been 'Morgan' as long as I've been in fandom - pretty much since the mid-90's. I've gone through variations on the name, but I've always been Morgan. When I renamed my journals a couple of years ago, I 'rebranded' myself as Morgan Briarwood and used the latter as a username, but I'm still Morgan. I wanted to do that last rebranding because I wanted an online identity that would 'feel' like a real life name: first name and surname.
Morgan is not my RL name; it's not even related. It's related to where I live - Morgan is the name of a family that once pretty much owned this area (the same Morgans responsible for Captain Morgan's rum). I also chose it because it's a gender-neutral name - spelled the same way in both male and female versions.
Anyhow. I'm giving serious thought to producing my first original novel (okay, it's not the first, it's the first that's actually worth publishing) and I'm on the fence about what name to use. I won't use my RL name. No way. I have reasons.
But beyond that - do I use Morgan Briarwood, or come up with a new name. Using my fandom identity has both advantages and disadvantages. I'm under no illusions that I'll produce the next 50 Shades of Grey (at least not in terms of success; in some other elements, maybe) but I'm not sure linking fanfic to original is such a good idea. On the other hand, it's an identity I'm comfortable in; another name would take some getting used to. If I go for a new one, I'll probably use Morgan as the surname and use a variation of my real or maybe my middle name as the first. At least that wouldn't be entirely alien...
But I'm still on the fence.
Any opinions? Advice?
Morgan is not my RL name; it's not even related. It's related to where I live - Morgan is the name of a family that once pretty much owned this area (the same Morgans responsible for Captain Morgan's rum). I also chose it because it's a gender-neutral name - spelled the same way in both male and female versions.
Anyhow. I'm giving serious thought to producing my first original novel (okay, it's not the first, it's the first that's actually worth publishing) and I'm on the fence about what name to use. I won't use my RL name. No way. I have reasons.
But beyond that - do I use Morgan Briarwood, or come up with a new name. Using my fandom identity has both advantages and disadvantages. I'm under no illusions that I'll produce the next 50 Shades of Grey (at least not in terms of success; in some other elements, maybe) but I'm not sure linking fanfic to original is such a good idea. On the other hand, it's an identity I'm comfortable in; another name would take some getting used to. If I go for a new one, I'll probably use Morgan as the surname and use a variation of my real or maybe my middle name as the first. At least that wouldn't be entirely alien...
But I'm still on the fence.
Any opinions? Advice?