Anyone who is reading this blog in simple chronological order (if any such persons exist) must be getting whiplash from the alternation of the two multi-part series: this one tackling the General History of the Pyrates and the on on the Best Related Work Hugo category. I hadn't planned to have them coming out simultaneously; it just happened that way. But in a way, that reflects the nature of my body of work: eclectic and somewhat random. On the other hand, both series are drawn from one of my favorite preoccupations. I love taking complex source material, analyzing it, cataloging it, and presenting it to an audience in systematic fashion.
I've frequenly encountered advice to authors to create a focused and specific "brand." That if your work crosses genres or topics, you should create separate pen names to segregate each into its own public persona. That idea has never worked for me. My interests and projects shade into each other so seamlessly that "being all over the map" is my brand. Why would I separate the me that performs data analysis on award statistics from the me that performs data analysis on lesbian history? How could it make sense to create separate author personas for my strictly historical fiction writing, my historical fantasy, my sort-of-vaguely-historicalish fantasy, or any potential contemporary fiction? What sense would it make to have separate authorial personas for my historical fiction and my historical non-fiction? Only one time in my life have I pulbished under a pen name (Baby Names for Dummies as Margaret Rose) and, while I had a logical reason for it at the time (the possibility of a professional career in linguistics), if I had it to do over, I'd keep it under my regular name.
I do understand why many authors create multiple identities--whether it's due to vulnerable non-writing careers, at the non-negotiable request of publishers, or due to drastically incompatible audiences for different works--but none of that applies to me. And I have always struggled against the feeling of being professionally invisible. Anything that puts barriers between one part of my life and other parts can only contribute to making that concern real.
So: Pirates and Lesbians and Hugo Awards. What you see is what you get.
Comments