To be Me or to be a Pseudonym

This might seem to some be to a drop-dead easy thing to figure out.

First of all – how hard can it be if your ego allows you to write under your own name. Funny thing, I have tossed that over all my writing years and very lately have come to be persuaded to use my real name, given at least two good reasons to do so:

·       Why shouldn’t I take the accolades? (I’m still waiting for accolades)
·     Why shouldn’t people know that I am a writer and what’s more, a published one at that?

And so, I submitted my manuscripts with the intention of publishing (if that were a possibility) under my own name.

And when I was published, at first I was able to hide in anonymity because I didn’t tell anyone I was published. I don’t remember if I was holding on to the delicious feeling of knowing I’d been accepted for publication (and revelling in the secret) or whether I was too terrified to tell.

I have never been completely sure that writing romantic contemporary fiction is what I want to do and I’m not sure I fit the bill of the genre’s norm in ‘romantic fiction’. Yes, I write a HEA or a HFN, but I try to write with some semblance of reality. (No amount of telling this to my friends has changed their thinking about the genre – none of them read it.) Maybe my style of story doesn’t suit all romantic fiction readers either, but you know – build it and they will come. That’s my hope, anyway.

Many local people have said to me, “oh, I don’t read that stuff” when they discover I write it. I’m not offended, but sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have started with the pseudonym.

Anyhow, I’ve released a few titles under my own name now and feel more confident. As I’m looking to write in other genres the question arises again mainly because – I’m told - markets will identify my real name with my current style/genre. (Because I’m so famous and fantastic a writer. See above, still waiting …)

So – new genre – new name. I have decided to regain my anonymity and write something for a different readership.

As I press forward, I don’t think I’ll tell my friends my pseudonym; I might offer them a piece written by a ‘cousin’, or I might simply elect to purchase them a gift of the book (which makes an assumption here, I know) to see what they think.

Anyhow, I’ve got the pseudonym… Bertilda Hitchimpants is emerging. But now to decide on the genre. Hmm. She doesn’t sound like a horror gal, does she?

Darry Fraser
Darry Fraser. I have been writing since a very young age. I was the one at school with the home-penned plays and stories, the entertaining ideas and the grand vision, believing I had great talent. Wrong.

I believed that because I could put words on a page in a grammatically acceptable way and tell a reasonable story that I was ‘an author’. Technically, I suppose I was, but the apprenticeship as a ‘writer' – to labour the difference - is a long and hard road.

One day, I had what I still call a little ‘thing’ – I saw my late grandfather in his World War One trench gear talking to ‘me’ at my desk and suddenly the words flowed and so did the short story which was published within two weeks in an Australian national women’s magazine.

So I revisited all my short stories and my novel-length stories and found success again with four short stories and then two short novels in 2001/2.

Alas, life got in the way once more. I kept writing, but in the dark so to speak. I used it as a means of escape, as a retreat and I was able to create my own HEA or HFN.

Then life took another turn and I figured that I had nothing to lose. I dusted off quite a number of manuscripts and began to whip them into shape. At a serendipitous meeting with my current publisher, Nicola at SteamEreads, she agreed to read my current work at the time.  It was a 67,000 word unedited novel, which she accepted. It was published in June – Money For Blood.

Since then I have had three other novels and two novellas accepted, all HEA/HFN.

I currently have four books published with Steam eReads.

Website: www.darryfraser.com


GIVEAWAY

Darry will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card and an ecopy of Berry Flavours to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour so I encourage you to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

13 Comments

  1. Goddess Fish Promotions8 May 2014 at 11:42

    Thanks for hosting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rita Wray8 May 2014 at 18:43

    I'm looking forward to reading the book.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:33

      Hi Rita - thank you for dropping by. I had a lot of fun with this one, hope you enjoy it.
      D

      Delete
  3. MomJane8 May 2014 at 20:51

    What a fascinating and wonderful interview. Keep on writing Bertilda.

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    Replies
    1. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:34

      Hello MomJane,
      Thank you for your comments - things like this from our readers keep us going. I'll let 'Berthilda' know she's off the mark!
      D

      Delete
  4. Juliee8 May 2014 at 21:22

    Book sounds great looking forward to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:35

      Hi Juliee,
      Thanks for dropping in. I hope you enjoy it when you read it - let me know!
      D

      Delete
  5. bn1009 May 2014 at 04:11

    Interesting book

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:37

      Hello, bn100,
      Good to see you here too.
      D

      Delete
  6. Mary Preston9 May 2014 at 10:30

    I agree, this does sound wonderful.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:38

      Hi Mary,
      Thank you for stopping by, and for your comment. Good luck in the draw at the end of the tour.
      D

      Delete
  7. Unknown10 May 2014 at 01:40

    Writers and authors - thanks so much for having me on board. I'm looking forward to some great interaction with your readers. Have a lovely relaxing weekend everyone!
    xD

    ReplyDelete

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