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Synthesis Essay On Pen Names

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In today’s day and age, pen names are for the amusement or freedom of writing that it provides an author to be able to write whatever they want, whether to stay away from publicity, or be exempt from the boundaries of their previous writing. However, in the past, some people would need to use pen names to escape from the prejudice of their time; such as racism or sexism. For many of the now very famous writers and authors, their only way to get published was to work under a pen name. Pen names can open endless opportunities never before available to the people who use them. Therefore, people use pen names for a variety of causes as to provide a way to get published under otherwise hopeless conditions, to be able to write without the pressure and expectations obtained from previous work, and the freedom to write in a different persona whether to pursue a new genre or escape the false praise …show more content…

This is obvious in the case of famed author Joanne Rowling, also known as J. K. Rowling (her first pen name). The top notch status was obtained from arguably one of the most well-known book series that had movies made after their success, the series of course being Harry Potter. All of this fame lead Rowling to the creation of yet another pen name, this time, Robert Galbraith. As stated in Source 1: What’s in a Name, the new pen name meant a lot to Rowling as shown in this quote, “For Rowling, a new pen name meant a fresh start and a chance to explore a new genre without the pressure of her Harry Potter fame.” Under the name Robert Galbraith, Rowling was able to what she loved and write new novels about detectives and be able to not worry about all the propaganda over Harry Potter. From all of this, authors can use pen names for a variety of causes, including to be able to escape from the pressure and expectations of previous

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