Card is the son of Willard Richards Card and Peggy Jane (nee Park), the third of six children and the older brother of composer and arranger Arlen Card. Card was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Santa Clara, California as well as Mesa, Arizona and Orem, Utah. He served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Brazil and graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Utah; he also spent a year in a Ph.D. program at the University of Notre Dame. For part of the 1970s Card worked as an associate editor of the Ensign, an official magazine of the LDS Church.
Pseudonyms
Over the years Orson Scott Card has used at least seven pseudonyms.  He used the names Frederick Bliss and P.Q. Gump when he was asked to write an overview of Mormon playwrights "Mormon Shakespeares: A Study of Contemporary Mormon Theatre" for Spring 1976 issue of Sunstone magazine. According to Card he used these pseudonyms because the article included a brief reference to himself and his play "Stone Tables".  The name Byron Walley was used by Card on his first published piece of fiction "Gert Fram" which appeared in the July 1977 fine arts issue of Ensign magazine. According to Card he used this name because he had a non-fiction article, "Family Art", a poem, "Looking West", and a short play, "The Rag Mission", appearing in the same issue. Card also used the name Byron Walley in stories he published in Friend magazine, New Era magazine and in the anthology Dragons of Darkness. Stories by Byron Walley include: "Gert Fram", Ensign magazine, July 1977; "Bicicleta", Friend magazine, October 1977; "The Best Family Home Evening Ever", Friend magazine, January 1978; "Billy's Box", Friend magazine, February 1978; "I Think Mom and Dad Are Going Crazy, Jerry", New Era magazine, May 1979; and "Middle Woman", Dragons of Darkness, Ace Books, 1982.  He used the name Brian Green in the July 1977 fine arts issue of Ensign magazine. He used this name for his short play "The Rag Mission" because he had three other pieces appearing in the same issue. The name Dinah Kirkham was used to write the short story "The Best Day", in 1983. The name Noam D. Pellume was used by Card for his short story "Damn Fine Novel" which appeared in the October 1989 issue of The Green Pages.  Card wrote the novel Zanna's Gift (2004) under the pen name Scott Richards, saying, "I was trying to establish a separate identity in the marketplace, but for various reasons the marketing strategy didn't work as we'd hoped."

Q: what are pseudonyms?
A: He used the names Frederick Bliss and P.Q. Gump when he was asked to write

Q: did he win anything for them?
A: unknown

Q: how many did he do?
A: Over the years Orson Scott Card has used at least seven pseudonyms.

Q: did he win anything for them?
A: unknown

Q: who did he work with?
A: He used the name Brian Green in the July 1977 fine arts issue of Ensign magazine.
why did he use a different name?
I was trying to establish a separate identity in the marketplace, but for various reasons the marketing strategy didn't work as we'd hoped."
I was trying to establish a separate identity in the marketplace, but for various reasons the marketing strategy didn't work as we'd hoped."