There's been a debate apparently about the main female protagonist's name. Her Japanese name is Kotone, her English name is Lyra, and the fan-made name is Soul. However, it's come to my attention that some people feel calling her Soul is stupid/wrong, and I wanted to address why I chose to name her as such in Follow Me.
I started writing Follow Me long, long before it was ever posted. To be honest, I don't recall if the Japanese name was even released, so as a placeholder, I named her Soul, intending on changing the name to the English name when it came around.
...Then I found out what the English name was and was disappointed by how...bleh it was. No offense to those who like it, I just feel it's an ugly name. *shrug* So I had two choices: stick with Soul, or use the Japanese name, Kotone.
I debated on using Kotone. I really, really did. But by this point, I was a good 4 chapters in, and had grown fond of using the name Soul in the story. As an added bonus, I was thinking about Silver's name (you know...Silver...) and how it was an "odd" name. If Silver could be accepted as a name, why couldn't Soul? It got me thinking that maybe I should keep it as Soul to fit in with other "odd" names, such as Silver, Gold, Leaf, etc.
Now, however, I'm starting to feel like this was a mistake, and perhaps I'll consider changing it if it really bothers people (I've warmed up to the name Lyra, so I guess I wouldn't be opposed to using it). I just don't feel it affects the quality of the story at all just because of her name being "wrong."
Any thoughts?
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Actually, even Silver is called Kamon, as that is apparently his Japanese name, but that sounds awkward, so most people use Silver. As for me, I prefer the name Kotone to both Lyra and Soul, but all I really care about it the fanfic, and yours is really good, so I don't know why people complain about it.
ReplyDeleteI actually like all three, Kotone, lyra and Soul, for her so speaking for me it I don't care which of the names a fanfic writer uses. So just stick with Soul if it's the name you most prefer. It's your story and if people are bothered only by the fact that you named her Soul and not Kotone or Lyra then they should stop reading (though that'd mean they miss a really good story!) and complaining.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, you chose a really neutral way (since Kotone is always more Japanese and Lyra more Western) and - as you wrote - it fits with all the other names like Silver, Red, Leaf and whatnot. They are accepting these, so they should accept Soul too :)
While I don't mind at all, I think I like Kotone best. (though I *in game* named her Scarlet so I like that as a name for her more than Soul) Soul just sounds a little weird as does Lyra. But when reading, I come across stuff that is ether a grammatical mess, or otherwise and I have learned to automatically fill in, rephrase, or replace words/sentences. So while I don't care what you name her, I replace it with Kotone.^_^ Do what ever feels right.
ReplyDelete(P.S. You may remember me from Fogu^_^ I was RavensFire ;3)