: Awkward language translation So Iâ€™m currently writing a book that takes place in Finland, though I am American and speak English. My main characterâ€™s name can be used as a play on words,

So Iâ€™m currently writing a book that takes place in Finland, though I am American and speak English. My main characterâ€™s name can be used as a play on words, and people use it to mock him throughout the story (For example, the name Adam Zapel would be pronounced aloud as â€œAdamâ€™s Appleâ€. Something along those lines). The issue is, the word is in English, whereas in the story, everyone would technically be speaking Finnish. Should I just keep things how they are? As soon as I look to find a way to make it work in the language the characters would be speaking, the lines between translation just get blurry.

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: You could have a look at how this is done in Sarah Pinsker's story "And Then There Were (N-One)" which has (almost) all the characters with the same name. They can be identified by different

@XinRu607

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: Need help cleaning up a sentence I'm having trouble with a particular sentence in my book. I had originally written: Monicaâ€™s group of friends was a diverse mixture of race, gender, and background.

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: Can I mix one character's dialogue with another's POV in the same paragraph? I'm struggling trying to write a scene (fiction novel). I want to know if it would be confusing to write it this

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@Si5022468

This reminds me of Life of Pi.

The protagonist is a young man from India named Piscine (French for "swimming pool". I forget why he's called this, but I'm sure he does explain it). As a kid, he was bullied at school because his name sounds like "pissing", so he shortened his name to "Pi" and made it stick by reciting hundreds of digits of pi on a blackboard.

Logically, the characters in Life of Pi (at least at that point in the book) would not be speaking English, just as those in your story would not be. But Life of Pi just ignores this issue for the sake of telling a good story. You should too.

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@Eichhorn147

I personally wouldn't find it unrealistic that people in any country today mocked somebody for the way their name sounds in English.

I'd say keep it. I'm aware that not all countries have a capacity of speaking English as if it were their second official language, but in Denmark, it's pretty much the case. I'd believe something like this to happen in Denmark. I'd also believe to happen in Finland.

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: Awkward language translation So Iâ€™m currently writing a book that takes place in Finland, though I am American and speak English. My main characterâ€™s name can be used as a play on words,

More posts by @XinRu607

: You could have a look at how this is done in Sarah Pinsker's story "And Then There Were (N-One)" which has (almost) all the characters with the same name. They can be identified by different

: What's a moment that's more impactful on a reread called? I've met a few of these but the most recent instance was two characters discussing buying a third character a drink when they all

: Need help cleaning up a sentence I'm having trouble with a particular sentence in my book. I had originally written: Monicaâ€™s group of friends was a diverse mixture of race, gender, and background.

: Can I mix one character's dialogue with another's POV in the same paragraph? I'm struggling trying to write a scene (fiction novel). I want to know if it would be confusing to write it this

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