I have a dream.
I’m a die-hard fan of romance novels, and when I decided to try my hand at writing, it was only natural that I wanted to dabble in romance.
I figured that having read thousands of romance novels would automatically qualify me for that job.
Turns out, it’s not that simple. Huh.
I forgot to take into consideration one important fact.
I live in India, and most of my readers would be people I know – friends and family.
I realised that I was very squeamish about them reading romantic/steamy scenes, knowing that I had written them.
All my life, I’ve faced judgement for reading romance novels. That judgement would be so much worse when people found out that I was writing them, as well.
That was the beginning and end of my writing journey.
Or so I thought.
I was grumbling about this to someone, and they asked me if I had to write under my own name.
Of course!
That was the solution to my problem.
I decided to write under a pseudonym, and Rhea Sen was born.
In the next couple of posts, I will talk about the fun and the pitfalls of writing under a pseudonym.
Have you faced such roadblocks in your writing/blogging journey?
Do comment below to tell me about it.
Rhea Sen 
That’s an interesting thing to go through as a writer. I myself don’t have such inhibitions, but I don’t write romance. The only reluctance I have to share my work is that I think it’s crap sometimes. Thanks for sharing and wishing you all the best on your romance-writing journey!
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Thank you, Stuart. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Writers are never satisfied with what they write. So, just put it out there and let the readers decide.
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Very interesting reason! If people are squeamish – that’s their problem, isn’t it? But if this works better, good luck.
As you know, I’m an absolute fan of romance, especially books that have a lot of clever conversation in them.
Looking forward to reading your books under whatever name you publish them! 🙂
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Thank you, Corinne!
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Ha ha thats an interesting one. I know what you mean about people one knows, reading what I write- it can be quite daunting. One imagines the judgement too much and it can be scary. All the best with your writing journey Rhea – nice name 🙂
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Thank you, Shalz!
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Though I don’t write steamy scenes, I feel hesitant to share certain thoughts in my head with the people who know me, because it would bring up conversations that would lead to problems. I am waiting for that reluctance to go away. I hope one day I would gather the courage. Also, when I write a story or a poem, I hate it when people begin to assume that it is me or my experience I am talking about. Many times, these things are born out of pure imagination. But people would take their time to give advice based on a poem I wrote – I feel that as an insult to my imagination.
Glad to read about your experience, Rhea. The thought of An assume identity is like having superpowers. I like it. 😊😀
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You’ve summed up my feelings perfectly, Vinitha!
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