My Real Name is Michele, But you can Call me Constance
Why a pen name lets you tell the truth your real name never could.
Constance Vaughn Isn't My Real Name. That's Kind of the Point.
By Constance Vaughn
Anne Rice once said she wrote under a pen name so she could explore a subject without restraint.
I read that and thought: Yes, obviously. Why would anyone do it any other way?
Here's the thing about your real name: it comes with an audience that already has opinions.
Your mother.
Your college roommate.
The ex who still checks your social media, even though you both agreed to move on.
Your real name is a party where everyone already knows each other, and nobody wants to cause a scene.
Constance Vaughn shows up alone and says exactly what she thinks.
The people who love you most are also your most enthusiastic editors — and not the kind you hire.
They edit out of love, out of fear, out of that very human instinct to protect everyone in the room, including themselves.
I do it too.
We all do.
You learn early that some truths are dinner-table truths, and some are absolutely not.
A pen name is just a polite way of saying:
This is a no-dinner-table-truth situation.
I chose this name because I wanted to write the real story.
Not the version I would tell at Thanksgiving.
Not the version where everyone comes out looking reasonable.
The version where people are exactly as wonderful and exactly as terrible as they actually are — which is honestly so much more interesting than anything I could make up.
Fiction is just life with the names changed and the pacing improved.
Someday, someone I know is going to read one of my books and recognize themselves.
Maybe it's the car their character drives.
Maybe it's a throwaway line of dialogue that sounds exactly like something they said to me once in a parking lot.
Maybe it's just a feeling — that little ping of recognition that hits before your brain catches up.
They'll know.
Whether they admit it is their business.
I'll be over here writing the next one.
You want to know if you're in there, don't you?
Of course you do.
Everyone does.
It's the most human thing in the world — the hope that someone found you interesting enough to write down.
Here's my answer:
Pick up the book.
I changed the names.
I kept everything else.
Constance Vaughn writes what she actually thinks.
Her novel is available now.
You've been warned — lovingly.
