There are so many instances of neutral initial pen names, also called
non de plumes, that it’s rather ordinary and taken as a normal
happenstance in the literary world. Jo Rowling is perhaps one of the
most famous examples. C.S. Lewis and D.L. James come to mind. Pretty
ordinary stuff here. What about a gender flip-flop though? During the
last generations of literature, dozens of women have taken on male pen
names to approach a reading crowd that might not have given them the
time of day had they revealed their true gender Identity. They were
certainly justified in adopting this theory. Nothing wrong with that at
all. It worked out for them. They could adventure, crash, bang and boom
with the best of them. We didn’t care. That’s the point. We loved them
and became one with their universe.
Robin Hobb–she’s a gal
George Eliot is a gal
Isak Dinesen is a female
Alas. Leigh Greenwood is a guy! And so is Jessica Blair!
These authors chose a gender flip-flop pseudonym, and their reasons
were varied: identity cloaking, privacy, restart failing careers,
outright deception (a few), testing purposes–insert your reason. A few
didn’t have to change their names–Nicholas Sparks, being one of the
talented male authors who writes very believable female leads and
characters, had no reason to cloak his real identity. He had the
experience and formula down and the women readers readily accepted his
talent. Such wonderful things happen when you get it right, and you more
than often than not, should get it right consistently. Because if you
stumble, it might raise suspicion about your motives. You have to feel
very comfortable with the switch and feel justified in your decision to
use it. Now Rowling and King used a different approach, swapping gender
author names to test the waters as a new, or unknown talent. They wanted
to distance themselves from their famous brands. It worked for only a
little while until they were found out. Their questions were answered,
though.
I wanted to write as a female because of the genre I wanted to
specialize in–YA fantasy and paranormal. I needed to distance my real
name from my SF and adult thrillers. I even wrote an erotic romance that
went belly up when I used my real name. I was switching my category,
changing to all female leads and using a unique or catchy new name. I
settled on Chrisy J. Breedlove, because my first real name was in the
mix and I just happened to love the last name Breedlove. I’d first heard
the Breedlove last name in a move decades ago, and if was called
Hamersmith is Out. A sub-character in that movie was called Billy
Breedlove. There I had it.
My reasons? I wasn’t hiding under a skirt and pretending to be a
women. That would have been easily discovered by my group display site
fans and friends. With close to 5,000 followers on FB, who did I think I
was kidding? I would be found out instantly because of the hints and
bios plastered all over the Internet. If you played cross-the links in
my profiles, it would be more than easy to find me out. Most did. Some,
however, did not and refused to believe I was not a gal writing gal
characters. They were in the minority, though. Ninety percent of the
reviewers and readers really didn’t give a flying you know what. “Oh, is
she strong, with great leadership capabilities, courage and brains. She
also has athletic prowess! What a woman! We love her! She is my
favorite in the whole story.” What a wonderful reception. Almost like a
vindication.
I always had a gut feeling I could write the female side. It did come
naturally for me and I never had any complaints about it. Well, except
for being dog-piled on my erotic romance. Oh, I didn’t hear the end of
that one. It served me right. I’d always written sweet romance in all my
books. Taking it too deeply into the sexual desires of women drew a lot
of fire–machine gun fire. Even though the book was co-written and
passed muster with a female co-author, I still took the brunt of harsh
critiques, EVEN BEFORE THE WHOLE BOOK WAS READ. That’s another story,
though.
My motives were simple and logical, to my mind. It was a business
decision as well as anything. It’s true that nearly 65% of all books
bought and read are by women. Romance has dominated the genres since
forever, it seems. Just like the male writing fraternity, the sisters
had a close group of reading fans, only much larger and just as
discerning. I only planned on spontaneous sales, those who looked at the
cover, read the blurb, blitzed through the sample pages and adored the
title. That was a primary hook. After that, I didn’t care who outed me.
The point was, I had a better chance of discovery. I’d always thought
that women possessed more of a realistic and emotional accuracy in
writing YA fiction. I don’t have to name the super blockbusters for
you–you know them, have read them and certainly heard of them. I so
wanted to tap that market without being intrusive or offensive. How
could I do it honestly and what was the secret?
Men have a female side and women have a male side. They can delve
into it and explore anytime they want. Yet, the MOST IMPORTANT
ingredient was and always has been the fact that they are both human beings.
They have the same likes, desires, fears, needs and feelings. They are
basically the same animal. They have only nuances and traits that are
specific to them–microcosms of separation. In other words, there are
certain things that men and women don’t ordinarily do. Yet this is
highly subjective too! Why? Because we have the basic human being as the
main ingredient, and then we have the individual who calls out to be
recognized. These are personality traits. You can explore all this
territory without being stereotypical and sexist. Just remember: Human
beings.
How has it worked out? That’s the big question isn’t it? For such a
bold move, one would expect bold and unforgiving mistakes. Christy is
only about six months old so I had to look at it with stats in mind.
I’ve never had more reviews, clicks, raves, sample reads and other
kudos. Sales came a little heavy in the beginning. (Of course, you have
to stay on the marketing and promo wagon). As far as popularity, it has
out-shined the other books. It’s only the fresh beginning. I don’t know
what I’m on to, but I’ll let Christy take the spotlight. But more
importantly, I want the story to take the spotlight. Judge ye not the
author, but the story that he or she tells. The story is the real
driving force for any author, and the end game is for the reader.
Chris J. Breelove–“Blue shift to me. Or check out the second star on the right."
