History Main / MoustacheDePlume

The chicanery might not end there. The "About the Author" blurb may lack a photograph and deftly avoid using any identifying pronouns, and the author's official website and social media pages may also lack any personal photos or biographical info, focusing ''only'' on the books.

* The famous Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues used the name "Suzana Flag" in the 40's when writing newspaper columns of melodramatic stories about love and cheating before his name became popular, both because he didn't want to sign them due to the censoring of the time and because the editors wanted a foreign name to attract attention from the public. Suzana's columns became immensely popular — eventually being enough to be turned into seven novels — to the point a reader sent a love letter wanting to meet her (Nelson sent a response saying Flag was married). Rodrigues also used another female pseudonym, Myrna, this one also answering letters from lovestruck readers in newspapers.

Sometimes successful and well-known female authors will create a Moustache De Plume if they are publishing a type of book well outside their normal material. For instance, Creator/NoraRoberts (a romance novelist) published mystery books under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. But after Roberts started getting famous, the mystery series was credited to "Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb."[[note]]Ironically, "Nora Roberts" is itself a pen name. The author's real name is Eleanor Marie Robertson.[[/note]]

The Mustache De Plume is the age-old practice of female authors taking a male PenName for professional purposes. There exists a belief that novels written by women, at least in certain genres, won't sell. Perhaps it's the stereotype that women only know how to write fluffy romances and children's literature. Perhaps it's because historically most of the works considered the great masterpieces of the literary canon were written by men. Perhaps it's because certain fandoms are predominantly male and publishers assume these men won't take books by female authors seriously, such as sci-fi, gritty spy thrillers, or gay male romance.[[note]]There ''is'' a female market for male/male romance novels, but there's a marked difference between the ones written for women and the ones written for gay men. A female author might take a male or ambiguous pen name as her way of saying she's not ''just'' writing [[GuyOnGuyIsHot guy-on-guy fantasies]] for other women but wants her novel to appeal to gay men too.[[/note]] In years past, many publishers wouldn't even consider a novel with a female name attached to it.

The Mustache De Plume is the age-old practice of female authors taking a male PenName for professional purposes. There exists a belief that novels written by women, at least in certain genres, won't sell. Perhaps it's the stereotype that women only know how to write fluffy romances and children's literature. Perhaps it's because historically most of the works considered the great masterpieces of the literary canon were written by men. Perhaps it's because certain fandoms are predominantly male and publishers assume these men won't take books by female authors seriously, such as sci-fi, gritty spy thrillers, or gay male romance.[[note]]There ''is'' a female market for M/M romance novels, but there's a distinct difference between the ones written for women, and those written for gay men. A female author might take a male pen name as her way of saying she's not ''just'' writing [[GuyOnGuyIsHot guy-on-guy fantasies]] for other women but wants her novel to appeal to gay men too.[[/note]] In years past, many publishers wouldn't even consider a novel with a female name attached to it.

Sometimes successful and well-known female authors will create a Moustache De Plume if they are publishing a type of book well outside their normal material. For instance, Creator/NoraRoberts (a romance novelist) published mystery books under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. But after Roberts' started getting famous with her romance novels, the mystery series was credited to "Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb."[[note]]Ironically, "Nora Roberts" is itself a pen name. The author's real name is Eleanor Marie Robertson.[[/note]]

# Adopting a gender-neutral name (bonus points if it's her actual name, like "Samantha" becoming "Sam") in hopes that readers will assume male.

# Adopting a gender-neutral name in hopes that readers will assume male.

The Mustache De Plume is the age-old practice of female authors taking a male PenName for professional purposes. There exists a belief that novels written by women, at least in certain genres, won't sell. Perhaps it's the stereotype that women only know how to write fluffy romances and children's literature. Perhaps it's because historically most of the works considered the great masterpieces of the literary canon were written by men. Perhaps it's because certain fandoms are predominantly male and publishers assume these men won't take books by female authors seriously, such as sci-fi, gritty spy thrillers, or gay male romance.[[note]]There ''is'' a female market for M/M romance novels, but there's a distinct difference between the ones written for women and those written for gay men. A female author might take a male name as her way of saying she's not ''just'' writing [[GuyOnGuyIsHot guy-on-guy fantasies]] for other women but wants her novel to appeal to gay men too.[[/note]] In years past, many publishers wouldn't even consider a novel with a female name attached to it.

The Mustache De Plume is the age-old practice of female authors taking a male PenName for professional purposes. There exists a belief that novels written by women, at least in certain genres, won't sell. Perhaps it's the stereotype that women only write fluffy romance novels that only appeal to other women. Perhaps it's because historically most of the works considered the great masterpieces of the literary canon were written by men. Perhaps it's because certain fandoms are predominantly male and publishers assume these men won't take books by female authors seriously, such as sci-fi, crime, or gay male romance.[[note]]There ''is'' a female market for M/M romance, but there's a distinct difference between the novels written for women and those written for gay men. A male or ambiguous pen name is often a female author's way of saying she's not ''just'' writing her [[GuyOnGuyIsHot guy-on-guy fantasies]] but wants her novel to appeal to queer men too.[[/note]] In years past, many publishers wouldn't even consider a novel with a female name attached to it.

The GenderFlip of this trope, a male author taking a female pen name, is not unheard of, particularly with {{Romance|Novel}}, children's, and young adult novels, genres where a ''man'' is often believed to be out of his element.

There exists a belief that novels written by women, at least in certain genres, won't sell as well. Perhaps it's the stereotype that women tend to write domestic novels or "fluff" that have very narrow appeal. Perhaps it's because historically most of the works considered the great masterpieces of the literary canon were written by men. Perhaps it's because certain fandoms (SpeculativeFiction for instance) are predominantly male and publishers assume these men won't take books by female authors seriously. Perhaps it's because the publishers themselves wouldn't even bother to read a book with a woman's name on it.

However, this has not stopped many women from writing and successfully publishing their works. They just have to pull small sleight of hand: conceal their gender. Since authors are usually not on film and therefore not seen, this can be done simply by adopting a PenName. Typically, female authors take one of three approaches.

# Adopting an ambiguous name in hopes that people will assume male.

Sometimes highly successful female authors will create a Moustache De Plume if they are publishing a type of book well outside their normal material. For instance, Creator/NoraRoberts (a romance novelist) published mystery books under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. When she became better known under her real name, the mystery series was credited to "Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb." This is ironic, as "Nora Roberts" is itself a pen name. The author's real name is Eleanor Marie Robertson.

There are, in fact, {{Spear Counterpart}}s, as in the RomanceNovel business.

* P. D. James, who wrote a series of detective novels starring police commander and poet Adam Dalgliesh, among other works.

* Jameson Rook (the male protagonist of [[Series/{{Castle}} Richard Castle's]] Nikki Heat novels) secretly writes romance novels under the pen name "Victoria St. Clair".

* Creator/KAApplegate: Publishers were afraid that boys would turned off of reading Literature/{{Animorphs}}, a series about teenagers being forced to fight a secret guerrilla war if her gender was obvious. She has written some latter non-''Animorphs'' books as Katherine Applegate. K.A. Applegate was also a shared pseudonym with her husband, Creator/MichaelGrant, who co-wrote some of the books.

Subtrope of PenName. See also SameFaceDifferentName, GirlShowGhetto, and TomboyishName. Related to GenderBlenderName, when it's the person's given name that's ambiguous.

* Sgt. Baldocchi in Brazilian soap opera ''Uga Uga'' writes romance novels under the pseudonym "Laura [[GratuitousEnglish Love]]". The other reason he cannot use his real name is that [[HeroWithBadPublicity he's a fugitive]] who cannot clear his name because the real culprit is [[TheDreaded too dangerous]].

* The editors of [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel UK]]'s ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' reprint title in the seventies included Peter L. Skigley (actually Petra Skigley) and Matt Softly (actually Maureen Softly). These were, after all, ''boys''' comics.

* Creator/JKRowling does not have a middle name; her real name is just Joanne Rowling, and she simply added the "K" (short for Kathleen, her grandmother's name) at her publisher's demand. She also writes the ''Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels'' as Robert Galbraith, which is likely a combination of gender issues and simply seeing if her non-''Harry Potter'' books could stand on their own merit.

* Creator/JKRowling does not have a middle name; her real name is just Joanne Rowling, and she simply added the "K" (short for Kathleen, her grandmother's name) at her publisher's demand. She also writes the ''Literature/ComoranStrikeNovels'' as Robert Galbraith, which is likely a combination of gender issues and simply seeing if her non-''Harry Potter'' books could stand on their own merit.

* Creator/JKRowling doesn't actually have a middle name but added the "K" at her publisher's demand. Although by now, few people mistake her for a guy. And now her ''second'' male pseudonym is out: Robert Galbraith, author of a crime novel, is [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-cuckoos-calling-by-robert-galbraith-jk-rowlings-secret-bestseller-8707707.html the same person as JK Rowling,]] although the second is likely a combination of gender issues and simply seeing if her non-''Harry Potter'' books could stand on their own merit.

* ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}:'' One of Jasnah's Veristitalian colleagues is revealed to be an elderly male baker who publishes philosophical and scientific treatises under a female pen name (presumably to avoid censure by the Vorin church, whose strict gender rules forbid men from learning to read or write).

* A major plot point in ''Manga/GoodbyeMyRoseGarden'' is the identity of Victor Franks, a reclusive writer who is the idol of Hanako. At one point she begins talking about him to a bookstore owner, who speculates that "he" may be a woman writing under a man's name. As it turns out, [[spoiler: he's correct, as Victor Franks is the pseudonym of Alice, Hanako's employer.]]

* The famous Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues used the name "Suzana Flag" in the 40's when writing newspaper columns of melodramatic stories about love and cheating, both because he didn't want to sign them and because the editors wanted a foreign name to attract attention from the public. Even while Nelson wrote other stories with his real name, Suzana's columns became immensely popular, eventually being enough to be compiled into 7 novels, to the point a reader sent a love letter asking to meet her (Nelson sent a response saying she was married). Rodrigues also used another female name, Myrna.