Recently, several authors have decided, for one reason or another, to change their pen-names. While I have no problems with authors deciding to do so, it really does help if they would let the readers know what it changed from so they will know to follow you. A note in your Blog would be enough, even if you don't want to post an explanation.
Michael Loucks did, but some people did not read the blog and were confused. It took a couple of days for him to post a new chapter which will also not have helped.
Of course the blog entry would have been under the new name even if he had posted it under the old name.
It would probably be a good idea to announce your intent in advance.
If you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed? Would your old penname be retained in the list of authors?
If you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed? Would your old penname be retained in the list of authors?
The system allows authors to maintain multiple pen names and to post new stories under any of them.
I expect there's some way to change the pen names of existing stories but you might have to ask the webmaster to do that for you.
If you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed?
Yes. And on your Universes and Series.
Would your old penname be retained in the list of authors?
No. Penguintopia and Richard King no longer exist,except as echoes in SOL's Twitter feed.
AJ
@REP
If you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed?
@AJ
Yes. And on your Universes and Series.
How?
I know of one author who definitely posts stories under different pen names. Only the email address is required to login to the site, which then allows multiple pen names to be used. Doesn't it?
How?
I guess that a pen name is held in one place in the SOL database. If you amend it, the new version is automatically picked up wherever it needs to be displayed.
AJ
I guess that a pen name is held in one place in the SOL database. If you amend it, the new version is automatically picked up wherever it needs to be displayed.
That makes sense. So the answer to REP's question would be it depends on whether you edit an existing pen name or create another one?
If you create a new pen name and don't delete the old one, Ernest's observations kick in. I know it's difficult to avoid ambiguity, but I assumed Capt Zapp was referring to authors who amended their pen names, for example RICHARD.
AJ
... but I assumed Capt Zapp was referring to authors who amended their pen names
I wasn't questioning you; I was asking you questions. :-)
I ASK THE QUESTIONS AROUND HERE.
Which is something I'm sure you really wanted to know.
@REPIf you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed?
@AJ
Yes. And on your Universes and Series.
How?
I know of one author who definitely posts stories under different pen names. Only the email address is required to login to the site, which then allows multiple pen names to be used. Doesn't it?
There is a difference in using multiple pen names and changing an existing pen name. Changing an existing pen name results in all the stories posted under that name to display the new pen name. Moving stories between existing pen names without having to re-post them can be done by the webmaster.
Of course, if a writer using multiple pen names decides to 'consolidate' under one, or just fewer, names, it would be nice it they let us know then as well.
It would probably be a good idea to announce your intent in advance.
I like this idea.
If you do change your penname, is the author name on your previously posted stories changed?
I believe the copyright and by-line information in the stories is generated dynamically using the author's profile information. Did Michael Loucks have to go back and change all his stories? The 'More Info' page does not show them being updated so I assume it is dynamic.
What would be the point of changing a name if the stories (and blog entries) were still under the old one?
The stories and blog entries automagically change to the new name when that pen name is changed. If the author creates a new name, there would be no link between the old name and the new one.
The point I was trying to make was that it can be difficult to find a story by a particular author if the name they are searching for no longer exists. I just asked that the authors give us a bit more information than 'I changed my name to Joe Boxer' without telling us that name they used previously was 'Amelia Dippin'.
It is easy if the story is a serial still being posted, otherwise it can be really tough.
The Wanderer now calls himself Denham Forrest but made it easy for us by leaving the old stories as they were.
That was a case of an author creating a new pen name (Denham Forrest) in addition to their older one (The Wanderer).
If that author had done what some posters here are calling "change their pen name" the only sign of the old pen name would be in posts mentioning that name either here or within the body of a blog.
Several authors here on SOL either currently have more than one pen name at one point had more than a single pen name.
According to an older blog entry, one has 10. His best known one is Harry Lime.
Rachael Ross used to have furious fights in the Blog section with God of Porn. Who was also Rachael Ross.
Several authors here on SOL either currently have more than one pen name at one point had more than a single pen name.
There are 11 user accounts on the site with more than 10 pen names each. The one with the most has 15.
Of course the blog entry would have been under the new name even if he had posted it under the old name.
Since the blog entries show up on the feed, it is possible for the readers to see it there. Michael actually edited his blog entry after I asked who he was before.
If you ask Lazeez he'll transfer the stories between pen names for you, and all of the stats go with it.
However, it's best you leave the old pen name in the system instead of deleting it. If the pen name continues to exist, but it has no stories attached, it then the name doesn't show on the Authors list, however if any reader had bookmarked the story in the past the book mark link will still work and take them to the story. If you delete the pen name the old bookmarks no longer work. I don't know if that relates to the browser bookmarks or the Sol Library bookmarks, but that's the advice and reason I was given when I moved all of the works I was involved with into my own name.
The other thing that happened was the Author name with the story changed to the name of the account in use, so I went in and changed the copyright information of the transferred stories to reflect the old name as well. While I did that after the fact, I think if you did it before you moved them the copyright information would go as it is at the time of transfer.
typo edit
If you ask Lazeez he'll transfer the stories between pen names for you, and all of the stats go with it.
That's what you do if you're moving the stories from an existing Pen Name A to existing Pen name B the way i did. However, there's an easier and safer way to do it if you want to change your name from existing Pen name A to a non-existing Pen Name B.
You go to SoL Home Page - Authors/Editors link - Manage Pen Names link. This will list your Pen Name or Pen Names with some icons beside it. The far right icon is a magnifying glass, click on it to open a page with the info about the pen name. At the top is a button with Edit Author Info - click on it to open a page with the information where the first item is the Pen Name. You need only change the name in that field and it will change the name in everything relating to that account. Thus all the links etc will still work and you don't have to do anything else.
One thing to keep in mind with making any changes is it sometimes takes a little while for the changes to fully propagate throughout the system.
I think we're missing the main point of pen names. In the cases referenced, someone changed their SOL ID, rather than their pen name. This is often done when someone decides to abandon a pseudonym and write under their own name.
What happens more often, is if an author writes a different kind of story, and doesn't think his regular readers will appreciate it, or wants to appeal to an entirely different market. Thus if someone writes romance stories, and decides to try their hand at horror, they'd create a separate pen name to keep their reader bases separate. Or, if someone normally writes normal romances, but decides to write a gay romance. His regular readers might not respond well to that, so he'd create a separate pen name just so his other stories wouldn't take a beating from the homophobic one-bombers.
Going to the posting right at the top of this thread,
Recently, several authors have decided, for one reason or another, to change their pen-names.
Or, if someone normally writes normal romances, but decides to write a gay romance.
RIP Crumbly Writer, stoned to death by the militant LGBTQ lobby :(
AJ
I'm afraid to ask
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer. I've probably missed a few others.
It's now politically incorrect to call heterosexual 'normal'.
AJ
It's now politically incorrect to call heterosexual 'normal'.
'cisgender hetero white male' is now the dirtiest of descriptions on western campuses.
I was on campus few months ago delivering supplies to my niece and some butch looking lesbian called me that as I passed in the dorm. She spat it out like somebody of old would be saying to a girl 'you're a fucking whore'.
I'm afraid to ask
For some pervert reason, AJ loves to baffle his annoyed audience with dubious acronyms.
In British English, we'd say 'perverted reason' ;)
I think in US English as well. That leaves me without any viable choice; I have to admit the mistake.
That leaves me without any viable choice; I have to admit the mistake.
Don't panic, you'll win on penalties. The Germans always do! ;)
AJ
Don't panic, you'll win on penalties. The Germans always do! ;)
Not true!
20. June 1976: European Championship Finale, penalty shoot-out - Germany vs Yugoslavia - Germany lost!
Only the Brits are too palsied to ever win against Germany in a shoot-out.
It's politically incorrect to make fun of the disabled.
Besides, you Germans cheat. You practise penalty-taking in training ;)
AJ
It's politically incorrect to make fun of the disabled.
I didn't state the Brits are palsies, a notion which would indeed make fun of the disabled and thus political incorrect. I wrote the Brits are too palsied to win, which merely points out a character flaw.
I wrote the Brits are too palsied to win, which merely points out a character flaw.
I agree that is the correct meaning in British English of your statement.
It is only the noun palsy which relates to the medical condition. The form you used, 'palsied', is derived from the verb to palsy. The verb means "to paralyse". Grammatically speaking, your statement was using the verb palsy with the passive voice.
I agree with your statement too: that it is the character flaws within English footballers which results in them losing to Germany so often.
According to Oxford Dictionaries https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/palsy, the verb has the (dated) medical meaning. And yet their usage examples include the (archaic) non-medical meaning.
Someone needs to give Oxford Dictionaries a good kicking!
AJ
According to Oxford Dictionaries https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/palsy, the verb has the (dated) medical meaning. And yet their usage examples include the (archaic) non-medical meaning.
Someone needs to give Oxford Dictionaries a good kicking!
I don't understand your objection. Why would you object if they include an archaic meaning as long as they also included the one you wanted. Many dictionaries include multiple meanings of words, and some dictionaries sort the definitions according to when it came into use, the oldest first (not the most "correct.")
I don't understand your objection.
It wasn't an objection so much as an observation.
I wouldn't use palsied in the way that robberhands did because it's too archaic and could be deemed derogatory towards the disabled.
I don't know where Ross got such an unequivocal definition for the verb. I've seen it (albeit vanishingly rarely) used in both medical and informal senses.
AJ
Dictionary.com:
palsied [pawl-zeed]
adjective
1. paralyzed; unable to move or control certain muscles.
Contemporary Examples
"He sketched it quickly, his hand trembling, giving the drawing an awkward, palsied look."
Dictionary.com:
palsied [pawl-zeed]
adjective
1. paralyzed; unable to move or control certain muscles.
I looked back one further step in that definition. The adjective is obviously derived from the verb form: it is the past participle. The first meaning of the noun form is related to the medical condition. The only meaning given for the verb form is paralysis.
AJ will surely spit on dictionaries, again, and I won't care.
My German vocabulary vastly exceeds my wordpool in English. So I did what I always do when I want to use a familiar German term in an English sentence; I looked into a dictionary to find a translation. I mainly use LEO as I did here too.
LEO translated the German adjective 'zittrig' giving four synonyms:
1. palsied
2. shaky
3. shivery
4. tremulous
I chose the first, unaware of its political incorrectness or an only archaic use.
I chose the first, unaware of its political incorrectness or an only archaic use.
In the UK, I think 'palsied' has more or less gone the way of 'spastic'. (How many Brits remember The Spastics Society, a charity raising money for the disabled?) Nowadays it seems to only be acceptable to use palsy and spastic in medical discussions (eg cerebral palsy, spastic colon).
I may be wrong. Please holler if you think otherwise.
AJ
The only meaning given for the verb form is paralysis.
Isn't that the medical definition (although Oxford has recently added tremors)?
I would rather call the meanings literal and idiomatic.
Both robberhands' examples, the palsied England team and the palsied-looking drawing are IMO idiomatic. The England team are clearly not paralysed (although most of their World Cup squad get nosebleeds when they cross the halfway line) and a drawing can't 'look' paralysed (with or without tremors).
AJ
I don't know where Ross got such an unequivocal definition for the verb.
dictionary.com
Don't panic, you'll win on penalties. The Germans always do! ;)
Did you take note of the Championship playoffs a year ago? Huddersfield were promoted after winning 0-0, 1-1 and 0-0. They scored second in the 1-1 so were not ahead in any match at any time.
Penalties.
Their manager is German.
For some inspired match reports see http://www.htfc-world.com/reports/Sheffweds3/sheffieldweds140517.htm and http://www.htfc-world.com/reports/Reading2/reading290517.htm
This is as off-topic as it gets and contains some inside jokes, but very entertaining.
Grrr, I remember Huddersfield throwing a vital late season match against Birmingham City, enabling the latter to avoid relegation at the expense of a more deserving team. And the authorities did nothing.
Hopefully gegenpressing won't keep them up for a second season!
AJ
Grrr, I remember Huddersfield throwing a vital late season match against Birmingham City, enabling the latter to avoid relegation at the expense of a more deserving team.
They did that another time as well, when Lou Macari was in charge and they had already confirmed a place in the playoffs. Their playoff attempt failed, they went down themselves a season later and I don't think Macari has managed since.
So when are you Aussies going to apply to join the EU? You have already been accepted into the annual self-humiliation of competing to supply 'a song for Europe'.
AJ
'a song for Europe'
It's all over for European song contests as far as I'm concerned - after hearing the 'fat lady sing' :(
It's all over for European song contests as far as I'm concerned - after hearing the 'fat lady sing'
@robberhands
... or a 'pervert's reason'.
Or the fat pervert sings! 'D
For some pervert reason ...
Did you get a homophobia wrong in that comment, or was it some kind of perverse joke?
RIP Crumbly Writer, stoned to death by the militant LGBTQ lobby :(
That's exactly why my one gay romance book never made it to SOL, because it would severely impact the scores on every single one of my other stories. Instead, I posted it on a 'gay friendly' site without a similar voting/punishment option for readers.
Did anyone else read this title and have the first thing that came to mind was the scene in "Coming to America" when one of the women in the club puts a burning lighter to her palm and declares "I was Joan of Arc in my former life."
Well... maybe it's just me.
Did anyone else read this title and have the first thing that came to mind was the scene in "Coming to America" when one of the women in the club puts a burning lighter to her palm and declares "I was Joan of Arc in my former life."
Actually my first thought was that it would have made a better musical introduction to CSI (Las Vegas) than 'Who Are You?'.
AJ
