writing a memoir under a pseudonym -- any advice?

[Anne Frasier]

i'm currently working on a nonfiction project -- a memoir. anne frasier is a pseudonym that i would like to use for the memoir. is this possible???? does anybody know if it's been done? i know some writers have legally changed their names which i guess is a possibility for me, but i'm not sure i want to go through that kind of headache. i'm not completely against using my own name, but i've already built somewhat of a readership under the frasier name. and my real name ends in W, which means the new book would be shelved in the corner on the floor. not a good thing if i actually want to sell copies.

[James K. Bashkin]

Well, you could try the Nora Robb/JD Robb method (as I understand it): Publish under Anne Frasier but say "written by (your real name) as Anne Frasier" or some variation there-of.

You could also use this as a big publicity moment- Anne Frasier finally identified as Norman Gimmelstaub, or whatever your real name is, book tours as yourself for the first time, Anne Frasier out of the closet, etc. (I'm exaggerating the presumed name difference for my own enjoyment, but I am being serious- I've seen this before, though I can't think of the specific authors' names).

I agree that you need to make the connection. Don't some books say "file under xxx" even if the author is "yyy"? This might work for "by Anne Fraiser (your real name)".

Jim

p.s. I often think about an autobiography, but I have trouble visualizing the middle third: six volumes that I think would be "Jim- the Grad School years". There are so many dramatic arcs that readers might become confused. Also, it would have to be published after the death of quite a few people.

[Anne Frasier]

james, i wondered about using both names. that's a definite possibility.

about your grad school years -- i've talked to a publishing lawyer, and it seems the secret to publishing a memoir is making sure you have a shitload of insurance. :D

[James K. Bashkin]

Well, I have a lot of life insurance, so my family is covered, and who wants to live forever? Thanks for taking my comments with good humor.

[Bill Cameron]

I'm not sure I could resist "by Anne Frasier writing as Norman Gimmelstaub".

[Anne Frasier]

and the odd thing is that i wouldn't at all mind being called norman.

[Bill Cameron]

I can't imagine that anyone would.

[Karyn J. Powers]

Gimmelstaub, Are you perhaps of the Hattisburg Gimmelstaubs? If so I believe you still owe me five bucks.

[Anne Frasier]

[Karyn J. Powers]

I'd write about my grad school years, but how many times can you begin a chapter with, "Crap, I woke up this morning and I'm still flat broke."

[James K. Bashkin]

I see your point. Luckily, I don't think a strictly linear chronology is called for here.

In my case, it was 5 years of penury. I had a bigger problem though. Living in England from 77-82, I was (flat broke) in a flat where you had to put coins in a meter to get electricity. This electricity was required to run the electric bar heater in my room. The problem was that, as with parking meters, you could only put so many coins in at once. So, at 3:30 am every winter morning, I'd wake up freezing (and broke), and have to go down the hall to add more coins. In the dark! I did become quite an accomplished meter feeder, but those first few nights, trying to figure out what was going on, feeling my way down the hall, shivering... You just haven't lived until you've wrestled with power meters in the dark. Maybe this is why I never play the slot machines.

[Karyn J. Powers]

I had a similar experience living in Seoul, Korea. The hot water was a light switch on the wall. I flipped it and waited for some mysterious process that happened two floors below in the land lady's abode. About 30 minutes later I could make a cup of instant coffee in the spray coming out of the shower head. Oh, did I mention that the tub/shower was fitted with just one spigot? I turned it on and got scalding water or I took a cold shower and then made a cup of instant joe to warm up. Personally, I think the light switch just lit up a colored light (maybe a different one for each floor) and then the land lady probably diverted some of the boiler water according to who was asking for it.

[James K. Bashkin]

So you have lived! I thought so anyway, but great annecdote. Fantastic, isn't life? Now I'm reading a Corpse in the Koryo- crime fiction in North Korea and very good. A cosmic coincidence, if ever there was one.

I did a quick trip through Seoul, Taejon and Pohang once, during a slight lull in student riots (good, accidental timing). Trains, buses- I was on my own for a lot of the travel. Luckily I had studied my Korean phrasebook and tape very seriously on the flight over. I'm sure you can imagine how much good will that gained me with the terrific people I met, and how little communication I actually achieved with them while we smiled at each other in a relaxed, respectful and satisfied way.

See, we have multiple volumes of memoirs just waiting to jump onto the page. Perhaps we should set up a site for dueling annecdotes... and make one life out of the best of them. Kind of like the "best ball" version of golf.

Alternatively, Norman already has my permission to incorporate my discussion here into her memoir. It would save me a lot of trouble, seeing as how I'm not a writer.