My book is a real life type scenario with a band touring the country. I have left the country and cities names out of it because I'd like people to be able to relate thinking it might be in their country where ever that is. I read a book on writing and it told me I should always be specific of where the story is based. Do you think that's true? Should I add the locations? Also in my book, there is a girl who flies between Japan and the English speaking country (could be Australia, America, New Zealand etc. again, I'm leaving it to the reader.) I want her English name to mean something else in Japanese but it's been years since I studied the language so I can't remember many Japanese words. Does anyone here speak it and know of any names that could be lost in translation? The only word I know is Sara which means 'plate', but it's pronounced Sah-rah not Ser-rah which most people would read it as, so I was looking for something more specific.
I just had the same situation of coming up with Japanese names. I went to a baby name site and looked at the list until something jumped out at me. They usually have the meanings attached to them as well.
I can't help you with the character name, but how would you describe where they are? Especially if they're moving about...would you just describe the surroundings? Even if you didn't mention the names of the cities/towns/states/provinces/whatever, wouldn't it be obvious where on the map the story's taking place (A city in the middle east is nothing like a city in the West, for example)? Especially if you mention what people are wearing, how they speak, how they act, etc... I would just include specific places...but, of course, you might have some other creative way to go about it that I'm not aware of. Good luck!
Ima = Now Kame (Cammy) = turtle Kei (Kay) = reverence Kimie (Kimmy) = revered tree branch Koko = stork Mari (Mary) = ball Miki (Micki/Mikki) = tree trunk Rai (Rae) =(verb) next tami (Tammy) = people Tori = bird/chicken There are lots more but that's a brief sampling for your consideration.
Well it's their first tour, they're just starting out so I imagine they only go national, not international. Most of the describing I've had to do was his school and hometown and one of the cities where he was in a city park and he talks about the skyscrapers. I've made it general so it could be anywhere, but I personally live in Australia so the city I've described is Sydney. I just don't know, do you think it's important? Majority of the books I've read, they've stated the city they're in, but it's more like they have to. Like they need a city that has a lot of crime, or a lot of rainfall. It's not important in my story, but do you think its a necessity? Also, thanks thewordsmith. I like Kimmy, Tammy or Mary. I think I like Mary the most, seems more effective when she says "I couldn't go running around Japan with people calling me 'ball'" but it's a bit plain for her character. But thanks for getting me started.
Hi just saw this and thought it might be helpful to know that Mari in Japanese is pronounced more like Marie in English, and Mary in Japanese sounds more like mair-ree, so Marie might be a more fitting name.Also kimmy in Japanese would sound more just like kimi I would say, which kind of means a very informal version of "you", which may work for your character's situation.
