Diabetes in Books, Movies, Etc. / Happenings In The Outhouse 27-Sept-2024

First, I have already compiled a list of blog posts concerning diabetes for you to gander.

Done?  Good.  Let us begin . . .

Take pretty much anything, from lung cancer to diabetes and from firearms to plumbing, and the portrayal of it can be either done well or poorly.  Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing that if you have a great knowledge about plumbing and love science fiction, how about writing from the POV of a plumber in space?  Interesting concept, for sure.

Now, one can write very rudimentary and broad about a given topic, but when it comes to specifics, please get your facts right.  In firearms, Glocks do not have safeties like other handguns (they are in the trigger) and there is no hammer to cock back.  I have nearly stopped reading books because of an error like this.  It's annoying!

How about diabetes?  Trust me, I have more knowledge about it than I know what to do with.  But with my children, living with it day-after-day, they know more than me.

One of my daughters recently read a book where the main character had type 1 diabetes (T1D) and the author got it completely wrong!  Not only wrong, it was so wrong on so many levels that a simple Google search would fix many of the problems the author had.

I am currently writing a short story where the main character is a nuclear engineer on a spaceship.  I know virtually nothing about being a nuclear engineer, or being on a spaceship for that matter, but I'll gloss over what I need and that's it.

It's all about the story anyway.

But if you're writing about someone with diabetes and if their blood sugars are in the 70's, it's probably not the end of the world.  If it was in the 20's, yeah, that's an emergency and nothing else matters for the diabetic.  Also, when it comes to diabetes pumps, again, please get the facts right.  They're not all the same and each has their little . . . quirks.

Stamina And The Genre Snob / Happenings In The Outhouse 23-Aug-2024

Today's post is going to be a bit out of the norm.  Then again, when is it never . . . ?

Last weekend, my wife, three of our girls, and myself went to the Twin Cities to attend two concerts: Friday night was Metallica and Saturday night was Green Day.  We had a blast, to put it mildly.  I may deep dive into these concerts at a later time, but I want to touch on two things this week.  The first is stamina.

Green Day played, non-stop, for roughly two and a half hours.  With very few breaks.  And what breaks they did take were a few seconds at max.  They kept playing and playing and playing . . . to the point where I became exhausted.

Green Day has an enormous catalog of songs to choose from, and they played many of them.  Last year during the Bryan Adams concert, there were so many he played that I forgot that he even sang them.  Metallica also has an enormous catalog of songs.

What does this mean for the writer?  Simple: keep writing.  Ten years ago, I had written five full length novels and maybe a handful of short stories.  Now, I have over 60 individual stories, from novels to short stories and even a few flash fiction.  I keep going.

The second is what I am calling the genre snob.  The last song Green Day played was "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)".  After the concert, I overheard someone saying they didn't like the song and that it was outside of their genre--hence the reason they did not like it.

The genre snob isn't limited to musicians.  Take Stephen King and John Grisham.  King is known for horror, yet some of his better books are the ones that are not horror.  Grisham is known for his legal thrillers, and his better books are not in that genre.  It's okay to step out of the genre you're in.  Even reading the Wikipedia page on the Green Day song "Good Riddance" they note that the song was outside of the other songs.

Yet it is one song they are best known for.

The curse of a creative / Happenings In The Outhouse 23-March-2018

Last week, I wrote on how life experiences can enhance one's art.

Expanding on that notion, this young person whom I spoke about recently created something that involved a school shooting which, in his mind, shouldn't have been taken seriously.  Well, many people in his community did.  This young person even had three law enforcement officers visit with him, asking him to take his creative work down.  Especially in light of recent events, even if it isn't to be taken seriously and meant to only highlight how our society is heading, he saw the gravity of the situation and rectified it.

This begs the question of a curse.  The curse of a creative.  A few members of this young person's family are trying desperately to discover why he created what he did, and even went as far as to say that evil resides in him--which is a horrible thing to say, given that we're all sinners and no one is perfect.

No question about it, the tragedy in recent events are horrible.  But blame the person, not the objects used or those around him.  Only this piece of crap is to blame.

Going back to the young person I spoke about: what if he wrote a song about a person who was bullied in school, humiliated beyond all manner of comprehension?  Then, this person develops a supernatural skill, and uses that skill to exact the greatest revenge upon those bullies, massacring them to a fiery death.

Should the young person write a song like this?  I know many would say, "Of course not!"

But it already has been created.  Not a song, but a book.  A book that started a career for one of the bestselling authors of our time.  This book, whom he wrote about a dozen pages and threw them away, was fished out of the trash by his wife.  She wiped the cigarette ashes from it, read it, and told him to go on.

The story?

Carrie.

The author?

Stephen King.

We, as creatives, walk a fine line between what he can do and what we should.

But as I ask this young person mentioned above: what is the purpose for the art you're trying to create?  Lead with your heart.  Not clicks, likes, mentions, or quick fame.

On a side note, bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith wrote an interesting blog post this week that pretty much sums the best advice I've ever seen as far as writing (or simply creative) is concerned.  It's titled Writers As Whiners.  Please read it.  Well worth it. In fact, subscribe to his blog so you get a dose of Dean's thoughts everyday.  The best quote from this post: "My contract deadlines always came first. How did I power through?  Simple. I stopped whining and just did the writing. Writers, by our very nature, are whiners. And lazy and full of excuses. Pretty much all of us."

Many of my stories are set in Minnesota / Happenings In The Outhouse 05-Jan-2018

Stephen King is synonymous (or at least in much of his early works) with Maine.

John Grisham, by and large, is synonymous with the Deep South.

Think of your favorite author for a moment.  Chances are, there's a familiar setting that goes along with it.

Me?

I have lived in Northern Minnesota all my life.  Despite the cold winters, I do love it here.  In looking at my life-long writing goal, I wish to do to Minnesota with what Stephen King has done to Maine.

If you dig deep enough into my various stories, you'll notice threads of real places throughout Minnesota and even North Dakota.

On another front, Strange Birth: Book One of the Repel Trilogy - An Order of Freaks Superhero Novel is up for pre-sale.  Publication date is February 1st, 2018.  Please click on the link for your favorite e-retailer.

Here's the cover:

I blame Stephen King for my first one million words / Happenings In The Outhouse 06-Oct-2017

In 1978, Stephen King published The Stand.  According to the Wikipedia page, it was 823 pages long, which was his longest book to date at the time (it was his fifth published novel), but it was republished in 1990 as the uncut and complete version.  This one was 1,152 pages.

In 1986, King published It, at a whopping 1,138 pages.  This was almost unheard of, for a horror novel.

My first two novels (both in the horror genre, and both at this time are unpublished) were over 1,000 pages long.  Keep in mind, this was on my Brother word processor, and the average words per page was between 250-350 words.  If my math is correct, that means my first two novels totaled 500K-700K.

Turn back the clocks a bit as these were the days of looking for an agent, praying someone would notice you, and then . . . well, sitting back while the royalty checks came flying in.  Okay, I know that's hardly ever the case.

When I contacted agents, I was proud that I could tell them I had a 1,000 page whopper of a horror novel.  Funny thing was, no one ever said it was too long.  But knowing more about word counts now, the usual horror novel is roughly 65-80K.  These were definitely too long.

But what King did was give us permission to write a horror novel that was longer than others.  I had no idea, at the time, that novels of this length were unusual.  Had he wrote It or The Stand before Carrie, The Shining, or Salem's Lot, chances are they wouldn't be published.

Since I had read the longer novels, that was what my mind worked out.  Did my first two books work?

Sort of.

I will tell you this: both have been pared down, and the second one will see publication around early 2018.

Write until it's done / Happenings In The Outhouse 29-Sept-2017

A few weeks ago, during our tri-weekly writers' group meeting, one of our members shared a piece of writing advice that we all thought was golden.
It's very simple.

Write.

And keep writing until it's done.

No more, no less.

With all the writing advice out there, this one goes to the heart of much of most writing.  Some writers try to push a short story idea to something longer just for the sake of making it longer.  Some writers even try to squeeze a longer piece into something shorter.  Again, just for the sake of making it shorter.

One of my recent publications titled Bruce is an example of this.  When the story was originally conceived, it was a short story.  A few thousand words at best.  By the time it was complete, it was just shy of 11,000 words.  Not a short story at all.  A novelette.  But I wrote the story that needed to be told.  I didn't cram anything in that didn't pertain to the story and I didn't leave anything out for the sake of keeping it short.

I wrote.

I wrote until it was done.

Try it.  Write a story without any notion of length.  There are a number of epic fantasy novels, many published a few decades ago, that were bloated just to fit the genre.  Stephen King has even written a few door stops--although we can argue if the door stops worked or not.  People have argued that the last 2-3 Harry Potter books could've been cut down too.

What Does A Break Look Like To You And Your Art / Happenings In The Outhouse 14-July-2017

Here's the scenario: you've worked on your manuscript for months and months, and have finally finished it.  You lean back, both exhausted and relieved.  You may even be a little apprehensive and scared.  It's your baby.  It's not quite ready for the world, in your mind.  How long do you wait before tackling any rewrites/edits?

Stephen King has advised to put your manuscript away for a minimum of six weeks before looking at it again.  Dean Wesley Smith doesn't rewrite at all (he has a circular writing technique that is very clever and I want to give a shot at on future projects).  In fact, Smith doesn't even look at the manuscript again unless his wife Kris tells him to fix a few things.

Where do you fit in?

Brandon Sanderson, between his enormous epic fantasy novels, writes shorter books.  I think I read once that Stephen King does the same thing with his novels, but don't quote me on that.

What does taking a break look like to you?  In the past, I've read much more than usual.  It's something I call "recharging my batteries," because I feel like I haven't read as much as I should (which is probably not the case) and I love reading new things.

I'm working on the edits for books 2 and 3 of the Shadowkill trilogy.  It's going well, much better than I anticipated.  And, of course, I'm looking to see what I should work on next.

Stay tuned . . . the future is very exciting . . .

"We'll never see this again in our lifetime" / Happenings In The Outhouse 25-Dec-2015

 

"We'll never see this again in our lifetime."

 

I heard this mantra last week when it was predicted that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would smash box office records in a way that will never be seen again in our lifetimes.  Funny thing is, I've heard this before.  Several times, in fact.

I'm in my early 40s and have lived through several of these so-called "never see again" eras.

"Oh, we'll never see as prolific a writer as Stephen King."

"There will never be as prolific a writer as J. K. Rowling."

"The success of Harry Potter will never be matched.  Ever."

"(Fill in the blank) will be the biggest Marvel movie ever."

I am utterly disgusted by the notion that there will never, EVER, be something better than what has currently been created.  Here is a list, from Wikipedia, on the highest grossing films of all time.  It's impressive how many were created within the last few years.

Do not get sucked into the mantra that there will never be anything as good as what has already been created.  I remember reading an article about this concerning the massive success Stephen King in the early 1990s.  Then, a scribbler from Mississippi had his second novel made into a movie . . . starring Tom Cruise.  The Firm was the name of the book and movie.  The author?  John Grisham.

And let's not forget J. K. Rowling and her "tiny" book series called Harry Potter.

I could go on and on.  Brandon Sanderson.  Andy Weir.  The Hunger Games.

Are we forgetting about Peter Jackson's theatrical trilogy version of The Hobbit?

Every time I hear the "never again" mantra I shake my head.  And so should you.  Because the "next big thing" is always right around the corner.

What "Stand by Me" taught me about storytelling (go deep and wide with your story)

In 1986, I saw the movie Stand by Me in the theaters.

In those days, I didn't remember seeing any movie trailers or hyped reviews about the movie, but in the small town where I grew up in (strangely enough, it resembled that of the fictional Castle Rock depicted in both the movie and in Stephen King's stories), there wasn't much else to do.

I was fascinated by the story.  Not only was it a tale about four boys who went out into the woods, in search for a dead kid their age, there were subplots upon subplots that not only kept the story interesting, it made for a more richer tale.

Each character in the story had a tale or two to tell.

In the end, when the credits started rolling, the packed theater was shocked when it was revealed that the movie was based on a novella by Stephen King.  I could hear his name being said repeatedly across the entire theater.  It was amazing.

When telling your tale, use some of the lessons that King has used.  Go deep and wide in your storytelling.  Let people know more about your characters.

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Laboring on Labor Day

That's right.  I'm laboring on Labor Day.

As an artist setting the course of our own destiny, we need to take each day as it comes and make the best of it.

Even if it is a holiday.

Stephen King writes 365 days a year, including on Christmas and his birthday.

You should too.

Happenings In The Outhouse 16-May-2014 / Another author's path is not the same as yours

Earlier this month, Seth Godin wrote a post in regards to the origin stories of successful people/companies.  It really struck home for me.  I love to read the biographies of successful people like Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, and how their humble beginnings fueled the fire that launched their careers.

But no one would be able to duplicate their success by following in their exact footsteps.  It's ridiculous.  Create your own success.  Create your own origin story.

And then yesterday, I was listening to the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast when the host Simon interviewed bestselling author Mark Dawson, about how he can write to prolifically while maintaining a full-time job and raising small children.  It struck me that he could've been interviewing me--not only do I have a full-time job, I'm raising three children and being a caregiver for my wife who is recovering from beginning ill three years ago with leukemia.

It's good to know what steps an author--or anyone else who's successful--to become a success.  But choose your own path.  Don't make the same mistakes they made.  Make your own mistakes.

And one day, far down the road, someone will hear about your origin story and will be inspired to pursue their own dreams.

Rome wasn't built in a day. So don't treat your writing career like it should be.

Stephen King didn't stop with The Shining, his first hard cover bestseller.

J. K. Rowling didn't stop with the first Harry Potter books.

John Grisham didn't stop with The Firm.

Brandon Sanderson didn't stop with the Mistborn trilogy.

George R. R. Martin didn't stop with Game of Thrones.

All of these bestselling authors (and many more) did one thing in common: they wrote more books.

Of course, there are runaways successes like Harper Lee, William Peter Blatty, and J. D. Salinger who wrote one book (or two in the case of Blatty and four for Salinger) and quit.  These are not the norm for most authors who want to have a successful writing career.

Write more books.

Rome wasn't built in a day.  I look back at my blog and am astonished at how long I've been doing this.  I also look back at when I wrote some of my previous (unpublished) books and wonder what in the world I've been doing.

I am in this for the long haul.  I will be writing, and publishing, more books.

Don't treat your writing career anything less than the building of Rome.  It may be slow, but keep writing.

The world needs you.

Sometimes the best thing your story needs is time

The first novel I ever wrote, as I've said before, was a deer hunting horror story.  I love deer hunting, however over the years my time spent at this activity has dwindled.  A few years ago, I actually didn't even hunt at all--something I honestly thought would never happen, but hey life happens and I had to work, for the good of the family.

What has struck me as odd is that this story never had a brother or sister or even a distant cousin.  This horror story, centered around deer hunting, was the only story about hunting I could come up with.  At the time.  For years since then, I've wracked my brain, working hard to come up with more stories.  The ones I constructed weren't very good, with the exception of one or two minor stories--I believe those are still sitting in the mental trunk.

Over a week ago, on November 9th, I went out hunting with my fifteen-year-old son.

Not only did I come up with a detailed plan to rewrite my first horror story, I came up with another one as well as a mystery/suspense series.  Roughly a month ago, I also wrote a deer hunting short story--my next submission to the Writers of the Future contest.

Then I realized that all I needed to construct these stories was time.  Time and life experience.  It's not necessarily a bad thing to set something off to the side because you're not ready.  When Stephen King came up with the idea for 11/22/63, it was in the early 1970s and he knew he wasn't ready to tell a tale of that magnitude.

So he waited.

If you're having troubles with a story, set it off to the side and do something else.  Because time is not necessarily a bad thing.

Why don't we hear about the failed stories?

Carrie wasn't the first book Stephen King published.  It was, in fact, his third--that is, if you don't count all of the others.

Because I'm sure there were.

How about all of the stories Tom Clancy wrote before Hunt for Red October?  Or the stories J. K. Rowling wrote before she came upon Harry Potter?  A Time to Kill I'm sure wasn't John Grisham's very first attempt at a book.

Why is it we never hear about the trunks of failed stories our favorite writer has stored in their attic?  The ones they wrote before they were published?

We only hear about the successes.  And, because of it, everyone thinks you need just one book to put you on the map to publication.  I don't know how many times I've heard, "If I can just write this one book, I'll be set for life."  Not true.

Brandon Sanderson, acclaimed bestselling fantasy author, has publically stated that he wrote 12 novels before he was ever published--that's impressive, dude!  And do you know what he was doing with those 12 novels?  Learning.

Learning the craft of writing by . . . well, writing.

And that's what all of the other writers were doing too.

So write and fail.  And keep failing.  Because at least you're doing something.  Then, one day, when your skills are honed like a razor-sharp knife, you will be ready . . . and published.

If you could have dinner with a writer (living or dead), who would it be?

Copyblogger has a great segment of articles they call The Writer Files.  They've interviewed many writers, from Seth Godin to Jeff Goins.

One of the more interesting questions they ask is: what writers, living or dead, would they like to have dinner with?

Who would yours be?

Here's mine: it's a small list, with various pros and cons tied to it.

First and foremost at the top of my mind is Stephen King.  That's a no-brainer.  The King of Horror himself.  As long as we talk "shop" - i.e. writing.

Next would be Brandon Sanderson--fantasy author.  I've listened to enough podcasts and watched enough videos to give me a good sense of what he can teach, and then again he's teaching an upcoming class over at Write About Dragons.com next month.

That's all for the living authors--I know, it's a short list and I didn't even mention others such as J. K. Rowling or John Grisham.  Or even Dean Koontz.

The deceased authors, on the other hand, are a bit more interesting.

One such fellow is J. R. R. Tolkien.  Nothing more needs to be said there, do I?  Next would be John Gardner--his novel On Becoming A Novelist is a classic in my book, and a must-read for any author.

In the end, if I had to choose one, it would be the recluse J. D. Salinger.  Why?  He doesn't even write genre fiction, so why Salinger?

He is a master of dialogue, for one.  And his method of storytelling far exceeds most writers.  I'd just like to know how he approaches the craft of writing and even dialogue in general.  There's one such story he wrote--it wasn't Catcher--where we meet two characters conversing for over fifty pages, while one is in the bathtub.  And I was enthralled by it!  How in the world did he pull it off?

Ancient mysteries I'd like to know.

In the end, I'd set aside King (although if I really had to pick a living author, it might be his son Joe Hill) and Sanderson for the mighty Salinger.

Yeah, that's who I'd pick.

Who's yours?

If I met Joe Hill at a party

I could really name any number of people on this post instead of author Joe Hill (son of mega-bestselling author Stephen King) but one of the reasons I chose Joe Hill at this point was because of a recent interview he gave on Wired.com's Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.  Joe gave a gracious, insightful interview, and I was amazed at how humble he was.  I was impressed.  Joe spoke for over an hour, so click on this link and listen.

Back to the issue at hand, if I met Joe Hill at a party, one of the things I would ask is about his newest book release.  Why?  Because I knew he had one just recently launched.

A few weeks ago, I was at a large family event and there was family from as far away as Seattle.  Some were relatives I never met, and there were a few aunts and uncles I hadn't seen for a few years--I will note that one such cousin who I hoped would be attending but was unable to has a successful blog called Inside the Oldwolf Workshop.  He does woodwork unplugged, meaning without power and using hand tools.  His work is amazing, so you should definitely check out his blog.

Anyway, if I met this cousin Derek, I'd ask him about his latest projects.  Why?  Because I follow his blog regularly.  Not just once every six months.  I read every single blog post, so I know what projects he's working on.

Here's what I heard from a few relatives at this gathering: "Oh, I just love your blog.  I read it."

Great!  But there's just one thing missing . . . not one single person mentioned my latest published book Guest of Honor.  Not one.

I'm fine they don't read it on a regular basis.  Frankly, this blog isn't for them.  It's for writers, fans of mine, and basically anyone who wants to be successful.  I don't take offense at it.  I just found it odd.

Amazon link to novelette "Guest of Honor"

Kobo link to "Guest of Honor"

There's no excuse nowadays

I grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota.  The only radio station was a local AM which played oldies from the 50's and 60's.  If you were lucky, on a clear night you could pick up the faint whispers of an FM pop music station out of Grand Forks, ND--Magic 96 it was called.  Needless to say, my exposure to great amounts of rock music was limited to the selection held at the local Ben Franklin store--Poison was my first taste of hard rock, and I've loved that kind of music (80's hair bands being my favorite) ever since.

This was the genesis of the compact disc.  Portable CD players were large boom boxes guys held over their shoulder like a bazooka.  And the bigger the better!

My selection of books was also limited to whatever was at the local library.  Now, I must admit, there might've been a wider selection, but no one ever showed me where it was so it's possible it never existed--I mean, the section where great tomes of science fiction and fantasy were housed.  I read Stephen King and practically memorized the AD&D DM Guide and Player's Handbook.  I listen to a lot of podcasts nowadays, and while so many great writers and editors are mentioned, I feel like I'm behind the eight-ball due to my lack of exposure in this field.  However, it's a lack of exposure I'm quickly eliminating the more I learn about the field and the who's who.

Today there's no excuse for this lack of exposure.  Through the web, there is a vast field of knowledge right at your fingertips.  What's your excuse for not learning about your desired field of work?

There is no excuse.

I have no excuses either.  I am tearing down the barriers of my limited knowledge--although, isn't all knowledge limited to some degree, as you can't certainly know everything about everything.

And, as an aside, one day . . . I would also love to see my favorite band in concert.

Thanks Bret, Rikki, Bobby, and C.C. for the great tunes.  And a special thanks to Bret in his fight to cure diabetes.

Pseudonyms - reasons why you don't (or may not) need to

Two days ago, I posted on the reasons why you should have a pseudonym.  Now let's talk about why you may not need one.

"But, Mark, my readers will get confused if I start writing in other genres."

Hogwash!  Readers are not stupid, and may even like it when their favorite author writes in another genre.  I just got done reading the latest John Grisham legal thriller (The Racketeer), and I have to say that it was a lot better than many of legal thrillers he's been publishing over the past few years.  But here's the funny part: my favorite books by Grisham are not the legal thrillers (okay, maybe a little bit) but the stories that outside the genre: Skipping Christmas, A Painted House, and Bleachers.  The same goes with Stephen King.  My favorites from him are The Green Mile and On Writing.

This seems to be the main reason why publishers want authors to write under a pseudonym.  Dean Koontz wrote several stories under a pseudonym, and has since becoming a mega-bestseller republished those books under his own name.

"Okay, Mark, I get it.  But I'm not Stephen King or Rowling or Koontz.  I'm just (insert your name here) from (insert place of residence)."

You make a valid point.  However, all of the writers you named above started as a nobody.  They, through sheer dogged determination, churned out books that connected with people en mass.  You can do this to.  Just sit your ass in the chair and write.  That's all they do.

Here's my final argument for why you don't need (or may not need) a pseudonym.  Why do you really think you need to?  Years ago, I wrote several of my novels under a pseudonym--name to be withheld at this time--but then came to the realization that I may not have to, and if a publisher forced me to do so in order to publish a book, then I'll consider it.  For now, I write under my own name.

I want to repeat this again: readers are NOT stupid.  They may also appreciate it when you do branch out into other genres.  Let me leave you with this final thought (okay, I said this above, but now I'm serious): who is Elvis Presley?  He's the King of Rock and Roll!  But did he sing just rock and roll?  No.  The reason he was--and still is--considered the King was because he branched out into so many other musical genres, including hymnals and folk, that he captured the lovers of those musical tastes and drew them back in to his rock and roll.

Elvis was a master.

Follow what the masters have done.

And remember: readers are NOT stupid.  They just may not be able to find you if you happen to write under a pseudonym in another genre, and you could've expanded their reading tastes.  Not long ago, I read a collection of science fiction/western short stories by Alan Dean Foster.  I'm not a reader of westerns, but after that I may branch out my reading tastes to include the likes of Zane Grey and Louis Lamour.

Pseudonyms - reasons why you should or may have to

You are a man who strives to write romance.

Or erotica.

Or you are a woman who has an itching to write thrillers or horror.

Let's say you've written multiple fantasy novels and now wants to branch out into horror or thriller novels.

Your name could be boring.

Or simple.

Or too generic.

Or too difficult to spell or pronounce.

You don't want your readers confused when you suddenly write in another genre.

You've written nonfiction, have even won awards for your work, and now want to write genre fiction (i.e. John Sandford).

Or you could do the old Stephen King/Richard Bachman experiment where you're convinced that people buy your books solely due to your name and not on the quality of writing.

All of these, and countless more, are reasons for you to write under a pseudonym.  The choice is yours.  If you do, you're in the company of grand writers such as Mark Twain.

What are some other reasons you could think of to write under a pseydonym?

I want to be the next Stephen King

Not really.

Although, at this point in my life, I'd certainly take his bank account.  But I wouldn't have earned it.  Therefore, it's not mine.  Not mine to take.  It's Stephen King's.  If he wants to give it to me, I wouldn't complain.

Once again, I wouldn't have earned it.

Go back almost forty years . . . it's the early 1970's.  Stephen King is barely scratching by on a meager teacher's salary.  What is a Stephen King back then?  He didn't want to be the next . . . Richard Matheson or Ray Bradbury or Shirley Jackson.  He wanted to be himself.

He's Stephen King.

And this is his house.

He earned it by being himself.

Others have also done it.  Neil Gaiman is Neil Gaiman, not some hacker-wannabe.  So is Dean Koontz and John Grisham and J. K. Rowling.  They are themselves because they don't want to be anyone else.

Who are you?

You are yourself.  Be yourself.  Earn it.

Then, you can live in one of these:

And drive one of these:

You can do it.  It takes time.  Be patient and learn to be yourself, not some wannabe.