Nom de WHAT?!?

Pen name = Nom de plume.

I recently published a short piece of horror fiction under my pen name Arlene Stuart.  It set off a firestorm of questions. 

Okay, it was three questions.

First, hunh?  Yeah, I know.  Delusions of pretension over here.  Like I’m Mark Twain or J.K. Rowling.

Second, why?  It’s fairly common for authors to use different names for different genres.  I’ve published a fair amount of non-fiction under my legal name (clips are here) and I’m working on a Middle Grade historical novel that I hope to publish.  But I also have a few romances drafted, ranging from clean to a little smutty.  Plus the short horror.  It’s pretty simple — I want to keep the non-fiction and kids’ stuff separate from the smut and scary stuff.

And third, why Arlene Stuart?  Family members will recognize both of these names.  “Arlene” is my birth middle name and “Stuart” is my grandmother’s maiden name.  So, in a sense, I’m honoring both myself as a youngster, and my ancestry.

But there are hoops to deal with.  When I submitted the horror story, I noted that I was using a pseudonym.  Unlike J.K. Rowling when she started to write mysteries, I’m not trying to keep it a secret.  There’s no worry that I will be outed and then have to deal with the backlash.  I told the anthology editor that I wanted to put this other name on the story and she handled the blurb perfectly.  Which, of course, gives me direction for the future.

There are the post-publication the questions, the puzzled looks, getting paid, and autographs.  I’ve compared myself to Mark Twain, which clears things up some.  His nom de plume is way cooler than mine, though.  And as for payment, hey, we live in a digital age.  I didn’t get a check; I just provided a PayPal e-mail address.  Easy peasy.  As for autographs, I haven’t gotten to address that, yet.  I imagine I’ll just sign “Arlene Stuart”.

Ironically, if I’d used my real name, I would be first on the list of authors on the back cover.  Oh well.

When To Let A Project Go

Short stories are a great training ground for novel writing, but are they worth the energy?

I had this wonderful idea, with a great setting, interesting characters, and a theme.  I had a submission goal.  I thought the story was lovely, a perfect fit for the publication.  Heartwarming and tender, my story even had dogs.

It was rejected.

I had another story.  It was based on a true incident, but there was nothing special about it.  Then the truthiness was edited away and a supernatural aspect came into it.

Length became an issue.  It was too short for a short story, so it became flash fiction.  I set an arbitrary word limit, which, while researching potential homes, was either too high or too low.

My critique group had questions, issues, and feedback comprising more words than the story itself.

I went to a conference and one speaker talked about shaking things up and changing the POV.  He was also the editor of a literary journal and encouraged submissions.  I changed the POV of my story to 2^nd and it just sang to me.  The freshness!  The drama!  I submitted to the journal and waited for months and months and months.

It was rejected.

So here I have two perfectly lovely stories collecting dust.  When do you let a project go?  Do I just tuck them away in my bottom drawer, never to be seen again?  Or do I keep sending them out?  And if so, where?

There isn’t much demand for short romance or shorter supernatural.  My initial, and only, attempts at publication were both aimed at paper publication.  Is electronic publication a paying, valid, or even respected alternative?

Paper magazines are going away.  Newspapers are going away.  Even books are going away.  But are they being replaced with electronic alternatives?  No one is really saying.

Lots of questions and no easy answers.