Republishing this piece in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the western drama, Open Range. (I was reminded of this by a fellow blogger! How time flies!)
First of all, I want to say I adored Uncle Lauran. I just had no idea…
Recently, someone asked on social media about using different pen names for different genres. My first reaction was that a name is the most important aspect of a writer and should sell the author, regardless of the genre. It’s hard to imagine using multiple pen names and struggling to brand each one for different genres. I already have a hard enough time branding my single pen name. Of course, I’m self-published in today’s world. Back in my uncle’s day… sigh… oh, to be a writer when people actually visited libraries.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s not a new question. Writers have used multiple pen names to differentiate their stories and guide readers toward specific genres for ages.
Then, I had a ‘slap my forehead’ moment when I realized that one of the most amazing and prolific writers of the twentieth century, who had mastered this concept, was my very own uncle, Lauran Paine, a man who, like so many of us, struggled to get published, found his niche, and launched a career that resulted in over 1000 books! Yes, that’s three zeros, folks!
Here’s what People Magazine said about Uncle Lauran:
Ernest Hemingway—Lauran Paine can outwrite you! Franz Kafka—Lauran Paine can outwrite you! Count Leo Tolstoy—you too! Lauran Paine can outwrite all you pretty-boy novelists put together!
Jack Friedman, People Magazine, May 13, 1985
Uncle Lauran was listed in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ as the world’s most prolific living author for many years. The first thing I asked to see during my visit was a copy of that publication. I already loved the fun facts in the Guinness Book, and having an uncle’s accomplishments listed alongside records like the tallest man ever recorded, the shortest woman, and the largest living cat… well, that was the best.
At the time, I didn’t think to link that to what it meant to have so many of your own books on a shelf. They covered an entire wall! And that’s the crux of my musings today: he used over 70 pseudonyms, both male and female, depending on the market.
I’m not sure why I haven’t given Uncle Lauran’s writing more thought since I became a writer. My Dad shares a story about him every time I talk about my writing (which results in a lot of stories… hmmm…), and I love hearing them. But it wasn’t until today that I realized how amazing he was in his chosen profession, and I started remembering how he shared his experiences.
I loved listening to them back then. Today, as a writer, those conversations mean even more.
Memories are funny things. I’m sure you’ve had that moment when a single thought opens the floodgates. Uncle Lauran married my Aunt Mona in 1982. She was his favorite research librarian at the Siskiyou County Library (actually, more like the only research librarian). It was a late romance made in heaven. All the memories started playing like a film reel—the holidays at the cozy A-Frame in the mountains. Uncle Lauran, scaring off a huge bear that came to visit at the back porch one Thanksgiving, and his office full of his own books in the stone-lined basement built into the hill under the house.
So, I had to share. Because now that I am a writer and have taken another look at his body of work, I am floored. I would love the opportunity to go back in time and learn more about how he achieved it. He was a rock star! I appreciate much more now what he accomplished by sitting down and writing every day with a set schedule.
Books were his bread and butter. He wrote full-time from 1948 (though he started writing in 1934) until just before he died in 2001. He always talked about having a formula. If you master the formula, you can write anything consistently. Mr. Friedman of People Magazine captured the formula best in Uncle Lauran’s interview.
Keep in mind, he was a genuine cowboy from a much earlier era…
Paine churns out more than oaters. “After a while,” he says, “I get bow-legged with all these Westerns.” He’s done history, science fiction, mystery and romance. “Romances are the easiest thing in the world to write,” says Paine, “if you can stomach them.” In conquering his digestion, Paine must also come to grips with a problem all fiction writers wrestle with: empathy. “I don’t know much about women,” he admits. “But what man does? They’re emotional creatures.” So Paine has devised a formula to probe the depths of female psychology. “They want him, they don’t, they don’t know. By that time, you’re on page 251.”
Jack Friedman, People Magazine, May 13, 1985
Uncle Lauran really said that about the formula! He said it to me numerous times to convince me I could write. I guess I did have aspirations back then. Hmmm.
U.K. Writer Ben Bridges does a beautiful job of highlighting Uncle Lauran’s career. You can find his article here. I love what he has to say about the pen names:
When the paperback market began to dry up in the 1960s, however, Paine adopted several new pseudonyms and began turning out westerns primarily for Robert Hale, its subsidiary John Gresham and the then-buoyant library market. Now, in addition to Mark Carrel, he could also be found masquerading as Clay Allen, A A Andrews, Dennis Archer, John Armour, Carter Ashby, Harry Beck, Will Benton, Frank Bosworth, Concho Bradley, Claude Cassady, Clint Custer, James Glenn, Will Houston, Troy Howard, Cliff Ketchum, Clint O’Conner and Buck Standish, among many others. Additionally, he published scores of crime, science fiction and romance novels (virtually all issued by Hale or Gresham), but later admitted that thrillers and SF required more thought, time and planning to make them work.
Ben Bridges
Mr. Bridges, also published by Robert Hale, has an impressive body of work himself under his own variety of pen names. I discovered another author I need to study and read!
My favorite part of Uncle Lauran’s story was how long it took him to find his niche, which didn’t happen until he got advice from his publisher to write what he knows. He was a cowboy, a stuntman, he owned cattle. He said he had the scars to prove it. He wrote what he knew and he gave his readers tons of it. He used to tell us some of his Hollywood stories about the times he hung out on the lot of the Lone Ranger. He was friends with Jay Silverheels, who was the legendary Tonto. That’s just a sample.
Two movies were made from Uncle Lauran’s stories: 1957’s ‘The Quiet Gun,’ inspired by Lawman, and 2003’s ‘Open Range,’ based on The ‘Open Range Men,’ produced by Kevin Costner and starring Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, and Michael Jeter. It’s an amazing movie and does justice to the original story. My aunt managed Uncle Lauran’s works after his passing, working closely with Lauran Paine, Jr., and put in a lot of effort with Mr. Costner to bring her husband’s story to the big screen. She attended the premiere.
Uncle Lauran didn’t just crank out serial fiction, but he also created an impressive, wide-ranging body of nonfiction. He brought this book to my Dad’s house during one of my visits, and I stayed up all night reading it. It’s enjoyable to discover these out-of-print books for sale from interesting booksellers. This particular one is listed by Common Crow Used & Rare Books.
Though I didn’t get a chance to thank Uncle Lauran for planting those seeds to tell a story when I was in my twenties, I hope he appreciated my fascination with all that he was and achieved, nonetheless.
By D. L. Lewellyn 