I'm a fairly private person, for various reasons. Part of it is an inherent paranoia instilled by waaay more knowledge about what goes on on the internet than I'd really like to have. Part is that I've done some things that people would consider questionable in the past, and with the current climate of doxxing and garubergroot jackassery, I don't really want to make a target of myself.
Part of it is that I don't have a good pseudonym anymore.
There's a point at which you've lived in a pseudonym so long it becomes more you than your legal name (especially if you have a nice generic one like I do), and thus it becomes easier to find and easier to hurt you because of it. The internet is forever, and the internet is also eternally publishing everything regardless of how you feel about it. (See also: the reasons I don't post videos to fetlife.)
So here I am, with a well-worn pseudonym that is more who I was than who I am, looking to rebrand myself for... for what exactly? So I can write under my own name without fear? So I can write fiction without fear of people trying to doxx me? So I can participate in activism? So I can be "out" about the things I do and the things I'm into?
And once you're into things that are *not* specifically porn - how do you choose a new name?
Very interesting question. I had a coworker/friend who changed her name several times over the years as she felt she had outgrown the last one. Not sure that would work as well today. Even retailers and musicians have a hard time rebranding, although the are often trying to keep some of their clients instead of starting fresh.
ReplyDeleteDo you start a new persona and let it develop into a new entity? Or does choosing a name already define and limit it? Is a name a self fulfilling prophecy?
Yeah, that's the question. I think if you make the name imply something, it ends up being a self fulfilling prophecy.
DeleteBut then I've watched an acquaintance from Dickens Fair grow into her new persona as a steampunk author, and it's remarkable how much it's a totally different person from the lady I knew. On the other hand, a romance writer friend lives her life fairly normally, but has a pen name that protects said normal life from the possibility of an overzealous fan base. That said, I think the romance author community has a lot longer history to develop standards for their protection, and it's also a wide enough audience that I think the enthusiasm is spread out a bit more.