Re: CHAT: Middle Initials

On Tue, 13 Feb 2001, Dan Jones wrote:

> I've noticed something. Loads of American names have an initial in the
> middle, like Raymond E Feist, Kathlyn S Starbuck and even our own David E
> Bell. Whereas over here we don't do this. Generally we just ignore our
> middle names, and consequently a random letter in the middle of the name
> looks weird to me. To me Daniel B Jones looks slightly pretentious. So, a
> question for you over on the other side of the pond, why do you do it?
Someone cited legal reasons, but I notice you mentioned Raymond E.
Feist.  I do know that sometimes writers include middle initials in their
bylines (their "published names") because it *does* help differentiate
them, especially in the occasional case where their name looks like that
of an existing well-known author.  'Course, if you're a "John Smith" or
coincidentally a "Stephen King" you may want to write under a pseudonym,
period.  And some *writers* use different pseudonyms or bylines or
versions of their name in different genres.

My sister was thinking about using Y.K. Lee as her byline, because she
hasn't met a non-Korean-fluent person yet who can pronounce "Yune Kyung"
correctly on the first try.  :-p  Her one story-sale hasn't been
published yet, though (it's on the queue) so I don't actually know what
she decided.  I considered publishing under Yoon H. Lee because "Ha" just
sounds ludicrous, but I decided just to use my full name.  There can be
all sorts of reasons.  =^)

YHL
or if you prefer, Yoon Ha Lee