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In ‘On Writers and Writing‘, Margaret Atwood discusses (among other things) the notion that a writer is in fact two people. The ‘writer’ is an ever present twin aside the ‘person’. One observes, the other writes. This duality is explored mirrored by writers themselves in many stories from ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ to ‘A Picture of Dorian Grey’. But it’s also neatly encapsulated by the writers own use of a ‘nom de plume’ or ‘pen name’. In doing this, Atwood argues, the writer is actively naming the other self and acknowledging the two halves they possess. And you thought you were just picking a name to go after ‘by’.

A writer chooses a ‘pen name’ for any number of reasons; to hide their sex, escape persecution or retain anonymity are a few common ones. It’s perhaps not that regular these days for a writer to use a full ‘nom de plume’. It’s harder to keep your true identity hidden after all (as JK Rowling found out when she tried to hide behind ‘Robert Galbraith’). But plenty of writers use some variation on their given name such as initials, a different surname or a short version of their first name.

When I started entering writing competitions, I chose to use my initials and this was partly to avoid gender bias (conscious or not). Unsurprisingly there’s a long history of woman using ‘nom de plume’s’. The Brontes did it, George Elliott did it; Jane Austen was first published as ‘A Lady’. To be accepted, to even be published, you had to hide the fact you were female.  JK Rowling (her again), decided that the boys who were the target audience for Harry Potter might not want to read a book by a woman, and so published under her initials instead (having no middle name, the K is actually for ‘Kathleen’, her grandmother).

So the name you chose to write under has more weight to it than you might think. I particularly like the idea of my other writing self, a person to inhabit when I fire up the fingers to get down to work.

Do you have a ‘nom de plume’? What made you chose it? Or did the thought of writing under a different name never cross your mind?

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If you’re a writer, you’re going to spend a good bit of time on your own. And whilst it’s a cliche to say writers are introverts, you’ve got to be comfortable enough in your own company to be able to spend extended period on your lonesome, writing your masterpieces.

In general, solitude is often viewed as a ‘bad thing’ – so much so it’s used as a punishment. It’s not ‘natural’. Loners go on killing sprees, they think radical thoughts and with all the technology we have, we still can’t peek inside anyone’s mind. We believe that if a person is interacting with us, we have some window into what they’re thinking. Someone who’s alone could be thinking anything – which is kind of why we writers like it. Whilst we may be naturally social animals, we all need time alone.

Why? Well, when you’re connected twenty-four seven and have a million voices speaking at you at once, how can you possibly know what are your thoughts and what are someone else’s? Without time alone, we can’t process all the information we’re getting and end up just regurgitating other peoples words as our own.

Listening to the voice in your head is scary. Writers do it all the time – and it isn’t always fun. What if you hear the wrong thing, something dark and gruesome that comes from inside you? What if you don’t hear anything at all, just watch a barrage of tumbleweeds rolling through your noggin? Well, that’s just the risk you’re going to have to take.

Being alone isn’t the same as being lonely. You can be lonely in a room full of people. The thoughts in your head may make you feel something, but being alone is not a negative or positive emotional state, just a neutral one.

So go be alone. Write alone, think alone and don’t apologise for it. Solitude is necessary. Defend it.

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