Writing Anonymously

From Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) to George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), many authors took up pseudonyms in the past. Now, Pseudonyms are making a comeback.

You don’t have to be a whistleblower or a contrarian in order to write under a pen name. I’ve long thought of writing under a pseudonym myself. Here are a few benefits to writing pseudonymously:

Seperating your art from your identity.

When I first started writing, I was terrified of putting myself out there. I was constantly thinking about what others thought about me and my work.

Any writer or artists knows that one of the most difficult aspects of creating art is putting yourself out there. Creating a pseudonym seperates your personal identity from your art. Daniel Handler didn’t write a Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket did.

Protecting Your Personal Identity

Cancel culture has threatened free speech and the idea meritocracy, two essential ingredients to a healthy democracy. But it’s fringe ideas that change the world. Writing pseudonmously allows you to express your ideas without economic repercussions such as getting cancelled or getting fired.