Writing Under Pseudonyms...

Hello SNSD and welcome to another post by me, the woman with three pseudos, Rawiya aka Michael Mandrake, BLMorticia and in real life, Sharita Lira.

Seriously, things have been busier in my life as of recently. I’m having work done on our house, my 3 year old is even busier than ever, I’m looking for an EDJ (evil day job) because the multi million dollar contract has not come yet, and as per usual, I have various promotions and writing projects going on all at once.

This has sent me into a small state of panic and so, I asked our lovely lady in charge, Sarah, what I should do since I’m also at Robin Badillo’s this whole week. In her wisdom, she suggested I do a blog about why I keep three names which was a fabulous idea that I thought I’d use later but, with all the big mess surrounding Miss Judy Mayes, it became more of a necessity.

Why do I write under other names other Sharita Lira?

In all truthfulness, I do it because Sharita Lira is somewhat of a boring name. It doesn’t encompass all the facets of my personality or what I’m trying to convey in my writing. With my pseudonyms, I’m more than just the married mom of two bratty kids from Chicago:

I’m the badgirl that wishes she could travel the world with her favorite bands. BlMorticia

I’m the gay man who loves writing about the love shared between a male and his partner despite the troubles and trials they have ahead of them. Michael Mandrake

Or the one closest to myself, the woman that puts her passions and wildest fantasies onto paper while still keeping a sense of reality. Rawiya

Through these characters I’ve created, I’m able to transform myself into all these people and hopefully use the imaginations and my storytelling ability to entertain readers in the most titillating and concise way I can.

Have I perfected this yet? No way! Not even close *laughs*

I’ve found that they are more similar than different and only a few things separate the way they are in my head. A couple of times, especially in the beginning, I wrote the wrong story under the wrong pseudonym.

Case in point: The Delicacies of Lust Liquor and Cannabis should have been BLMorticia. No way is Michael that cynical and snarky. That’s totally BL’s deal. You ask, why does it matter? Well, in my opinion, when an author takes on a persona, it’s something that the reader gets used to seeing. Not saying that Michael can’t be humorous, but his is more of a dry sense whereas BL is more of the tongue in cheek, out there kind of lewd humor you might find on Family Guy or South Park.

Of course, nothing can be done about this now but, it’s all part of my maturity as a writer and how I grow to become better at it since I’m not really that great of one yet. Do I have a better handle on it? Certainly, and I hope to build a fanbase around all three in the coming years.

Back to the original point. Why do we use pseudonyms? People do it for protection of themselves in the real world. Do you want the world to know Sharita Lira writes erotic fiction? Honestly, I’m not in that kind of position that I had to care. Back when I was working regularly, I’d told several of my close friends that I did it as a hobby. Most of these same people have become my fans or are still in contact with me on Facebook primarily, asking me about my latest projects or celebrating a new release.

I guess I would consider myself pretty lucky but in the case of Judy Mayes, not so. They found out about her erotica writings and they called her in for it. All because of parents who are prudes! UNBELIEVABLE

What does it hurt for a woman to write erotic fiction? I wonder did Stephen King or Zane have this problem before they became millionaires. Did someone shun them for what they wrote? Were they discharged? What about Anne Rice or one of my old favorites, Jackie Collins?

Is that what writers will have to do? Keep their writing lives totally separate? Most do because we might have kids and truthfully, that is a small part of my concern as well but I wonder will this be the norm. Will people start a witch hunt looking for us?

In my opinion, this is just another example of people sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong. Why would Miss Mayes writing hurt anyone?

In reality, it wasn’t her real self that did the writing, it was her alternate personality…her pseudonym.

*grins*