Line #35 Main/HousePseudonym


1	A House Pseudonym is a PenName that can be used by any writer at a given publisher.
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3	House Pseudonyms have been used to disguise that a long series has become a FranchiseZombie by allowing other {{ghostwriter}}s to use the creator's name. They have been used to make a collaborative work look like it came from a single author, using a name that belongs to neither of the actual writers.
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5	In the internet age, some websites use them as well. It may be a conscious decision, or it may be the byproduct of giving a standard moniker to posters who aren't signed into the site.
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7	[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_name#Collective_names This article]] on Website/TheOtherWiki will tell you some of them.
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9	See CollectiveIdentity for the in-universe version of this.
10	----
11	!!Examples:
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder:Anime]]
16	* Hajime Yatate is a collective pseudonym for the Creator/{{Sunrise}} staff.
17	* Izumi Todo (best known for ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' and ''Anime/PrettyCure'') is the pseudonym for the producers at Creator/ToeiAnimation.
18	* Moriyama Ayako is the pseudonym for the Irodori studio of Anime/KemonoFriends fame, that came from an independent anime they made years earlier..
19	* In-universe: in ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'', "Annabel Crème", author of the ''[[LongRunner 365-volume]]'' ''[[FictionalDocument Night Fall]]'' novel series (an obvious sendup of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''), is revealed to be just the pseudonym of at least 13 (and counting) witch authors as of the anime's beginning, although in this case the name is handed down to a successor instead of used simultaneously for a whole circle of ghostwriters, making it overlap with LegacyCharacter. It becomes a minor plot point when Lotte is offered to write the latest sequel and in so doing become the next Annabel (the current one is a tiny 12- or 13-year-old, despite "Annabel" supposedly having written the series continuously for 120 years). The current Annabel never reveals her real name though.
20	[[/folder]]
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22	[[folder:Film]]
23	* ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene'' has a sort-of in-universe example: All of the cult members must give their name as either "Marlene Lewis" or "Michael Lewis", depending on their gender, when they answer the phone.
24	[[/folder]]
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26	[[folder:Literature]]
27	* Carolyn Keene of the ''Literature/NancyDrew'' and ''The Dana Girls'' novels, and Franklin W. Dixon of ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' novels, fronts for the Creator/StratemeyerSyndicate. Notable due to the fact that both series has lasted long enough that you have to apply a serious dosage of ComicBookTime to even pretend to believe in the house pseudonyms. The writing careers of Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon span more than eight decades. If they were real people, they'd have to be well over a hundred years old by now.
28	* Creator/KAApplegate of Literature/{{Animorphs}}, retroactively. There is a real K. A. Applegate, who now goes by her first and last name of Katherine Applegate, but she left the series about halfway through to work on other projects[[note]]though she returned for the finale[[/note]] while a string of ghostwriters kept it alive.
29	* Victor Appleton of the Literature/TomSwift books, and Victor Appleton II of the Tom Swift, Jr. books (also for the Stratemeyer Syndicate).
30	* Maxwell Grant of the Shadow novels (usually Walter B. Gibson, but also Theodore Tinsley, Bruce Eliott and on one occasion [[Literature/DocSavage Lester Dent]]).
31	* Kenneth Robeson of the Literature/DocSavage novels is usually Lester Dent, though later authors like Creator/WillMurray continue to write under the Kenneth Robeson name.
32	* Inverted with ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Due to the great complexity of the series, several readers thought it was the work of multiple authors; however, J.K. Rowling rebuked those claims by stating it was indeed just her, much to the awe of this disbelieving side of the fanbase.
33	* Creator/ErinHunter. When starting ''Literature/WarriorCats'', they decided to use a pen name because there were two main writers and they wanted to avoid having the books on two different shelves. Later, the pseudonym expanded as [=HarperCollins=] added other authors and editorial teams working on similar animal-focused series (''[[Literature/SeekerBears Seekers]]'', ''[[Literature/SurvivorDogs Survivors]]'', and ''Literature/{{Bravelands}}'').
34	* James Axler of the ''{{Literature/Deathlands}}'' series and its spinoff, ''Outlanders''
35	* Dr. Haha Lung: Author of a large number of books on war, martial arts, and ninjutsu such as ''Mind Control: The Art of Psychological Warfare''. Due to the similar content and writing style of the books, for a time, this was suspected to be a pseudonym of Ashida Kim but he has denied it and has stated that Haha Lung is a house name used by Citadel Press, a former publisher of his books with whom he had a falling out years ago. He has also pointed out that Lung is a Chinese word for "dragon" and combining with the name Haha suggests "laughing dragon" (as in "Ha Ha") so this pseudonym is probably intentionally meant to be a pun of sorts. Kim has been taking issue with Citadel on what he perceives as theft of intellectual property and denial of royalties on past books published with this firm. He notes that the material in most of Lung's books is identical to the material in the books he published with the same company.
36	* Jack [=McKinney=]: Author of the ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' novels, which actually consisted of James Luceno and the late Creator/BrianDaley. After Daley's death, Luceno would write three additional ''Robotech'' novels using the pseudonym.
37	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has had Richard Awlinson, of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' "Avatar" trilogy (the first two were Scott Ciencin, the final one was Troy Denning), and T.H. Lain of the "Iconics" novels (nine different authors). According to an article in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'', the thinking behind this was getting all the books in a series shelved together in bookstores.
38	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheBicentennialManAndOtherStories'': In the introduction, Dr Asimov [[DiscussedTrope shares the anecdote]] that in the review for ''Literature/AsimovOnChemistry'', he was called a "label and linchpin of a New York corporate authorship", meaning that the reviewer thought that other people had written the book and Asimov was a publishing house churning out books. However, Dr Asimov quite proudly considers himself a one-man operation in his career. There was a writer's convention where the emcee asked the authors in the audience to introduce themselves. Asimov spoke first and mentioned his current book; but the next writer ''also'' claimed to be Asimov, author of a ''different'' Asimov book. So did every other writer in the row. (Asimov himself was apparently not in on the joke.)
39	* The tie-in novels to a number of Creator/TomClancy series video games were written by various authors under the collective name "David Michaels". The first author, Raymond Benson, wrote ''[[Literature/SplinterCell Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell]]'' and ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda.''
40	* Gold Eagle Publishing released two spinoffs of ''Literature/TheExecutioner'' in the 1980s; ''Able Team'', credited to Dick Stivers, and ''Phoenix Force's, credited to Gar Wilson. Both were house names; the actual author would be credited in the book with the line "Special thanks and acknowledgement to (actual author) for his contribution to this work".
41	** Somewhat applies to the original series as well; while there was a real Don Pendleton who wrote all but one of the original 38 ''Executioner'' novels, he sold the rights to Gold Eagle in 1980. All further installments were ghostwritten, despite having Don's name prominently on the cover. The actual author would be credited with the same "special thanks" line.
42	* The British children's series ''Animal Ark'' was credited to Lucy Daniels, a pseudonym for a team of ghostwriters working under the creative direction of Ben M. Baglio.
43	* Prolific western author Noel Gerson wrote both the ''Literature/WagonsWest'' and ''Literature/WhiteIndian'' series under the pen names of Dana Fuller Ross and Donald Clayton Porter respectively. After he died, new authors continued his series but kept the pen names he originated.
44	[[/folder]]
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46	[[folder:Magazines]]
47	* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' has several pen names that are used by various contributors, typically to mask conflicts of interest among contributors (as most of their staff is freelance) or invoke AlanSmithee.
48	%% * Pretty much any humor magazine that involved Paul Laikin at any point would have him contributing both under his real name and as various permutations such as "[[SignificantAnagram Pula Kinlai]]" (or even the name of his deceased wife!) so as to mask his copious credits and/or garner kickbacks.
49	* ''The People's Friend'' has cover illustrations by "J. Campbell Kerr", who's been at it for the best part of a century.
50	[[/folder]]
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53	[[folder:New Media]]
54	* "Anonymous Coward" at Website/{{Slashdot}}.
55	* "Anonymous" at 4chan. The website allows people to make posts without creating an account or even picking a username, in which case the post is attributed to "Anonymous". Occasionally, people jokingly suggest this is actually an AvertedTrope and claim that all the posts from "Anonymous" were made by one person actively choosing to go by "Anonymous" and [[TalkingToThemself replying and responding to their own posts over and over.]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(hacker_group) Anonymous]] is said to have started when a group of people decided to actually do this for real.
56	* Toshiaki of Futaba Channel.
57	* Music/SiIvaGunner contributors who wish to remain anonymous have the artist information on their songs read "Barney Rubble" on the albums (in keeping with the channel's ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' theming). ''Highest Quality Rips Volume FOUR HOURS!'' instead uses "Principal Seymour Skinner" (as the album chronicles the channel's ContinuityReboot, which substituted ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' for ''The Flintstones'').
58	[[/folder]]
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60	[[folder:Newspapers]]
61	* In the fifties and sixties, "Uncle Jim" was the name by which whichever ''Bucks Free Press'' journalist who couldn't avoid get out of doing the children's page was credited. Most newspapers with a children's page had something similar, but the ''Bucks Free Press'' is worthy of note because one Uncle Jim turned out to be Creator/TerryPratchett, who replaced the twee stories about woodland animals with, well, early Terry Pratchett.
62	* The ''My Week'' column in the ''Sunday Post'' has been running since the 1930s, and has been credited to Francis Gay all that time. The original Francis Gay, Herbert Leslie Gee, died in 1977. Until the 1990s, nearly ''all'' the paper's columns ran under fake bylines, which allegedly led to one sportswriter being so annoyed he didn't get credit for the Bill [=McFarlane=] column that he threatened to change his name to Bill [=McFarlane=].
63	[[/folder]]
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65	[[folder:Radio]]
66	* WOR radio in New York created the character of Martha Deane during TheGreatDepression as a fictional GrannyClassic who hosted a daily show giving domestic tips and conducting interviews, and several women played the role. The most popular one, Mary Margaret [=McBride=], gradually gave up the pretense of the character (even admitting that she was in her 40s and didn't even have children, let alone grandchildren), and when she left to do network radio she continued under her own name. A later Martha Deane, Marion Young Taylor, played the role for over three decades, and adopted the persona full-time. When she died the character was basically retired.
67	* KILT in Houston started the Hudson & Harrigan show, one of the first [[DumbassDJ "morning zoo"-type Top 40 radio programs]] in 1967. A few years later the duo quit, but wanting to keep the brand going, KILT hired at least two other pairs to take the roles of "Hudson" and "Harrigan" over the years. The show ended up running [[LongRunner until 2010]].
68	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HousePseudonym