I have been asked why I use a nom de plume for this site on many occasions.  In the first place I guess I should reference Wikipedia for a definition.

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author’s name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her writings, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author’s name may be known only to the publisher, or may come to be common knowledge.

And that actually describes fairly well the why.

There is another reason.  When I first concieved the idea for this website I called it Bearly Books so it seemed valid that the owner and main creator of this site to be a Mr Bearly.

Who else would or could run Bearly Books?

There is yet another slightly more devious reason.  If I decide at any stage to become more hands off from the day-to-day running of this site then it could be almost seamless for you the visitor as Mr Bearly just might change his writing style a little but the name doesn’t change.

Plan ahead folks, you never know what challenges life will throw at you.  You may not be able to do the work you want to do in the way you want it done but that shouldn’t stop it being done.  There is always more than one way to do anything all you have to do is find it.

There is one other reason to use a nom de plume.  You can have more than one so you can experiment with different writing styles because every nom de plume you have has no baggage to carry based on prior performance.  Many writers have used nom-de plumes in the past for just that reason.

In a similar way musicians have formed and reformed bands to perform different styles of music.  They have done this for many yeasr and will continue to do so for many years.

In general I don’t see this as a deceptive practice unless the intent is to deceive, as it certainly is sometimes.  The challenge for you is to determine when deception is the main aim of the nom de plume and when it is purely for artistic license.

How do you feel about the use of a nom de plume for yourself and others?