reader mad

[LitrpgBird]

>be me
>click book
>oh cool, written by a chinese person
>oh cool, they have unique names
>oh, it's a cultivation novel. unique.
>oh cool, it's in a chinese setting
>wth are these names and why are they all the same
like i understand having traditional names but im sick of hearing the same set of names over and over again. Please someone tell me if this is a translation thing or a literary accent or im going crazy. It feels like there is just an ai generating names from a short list of names and surnames creating the things that some of these names are. I've heard Sung Li and Wang Zu too much for my liking. Is it just a culture difference???? I know theres a lot of examples in american english with this (i.e john, will, josh, jack, ben, nathaniel)
but the difference is just so huge to me.

 

[ParticleOfSand]

Many all the authors just use the same list of common names, you know the bare amount of effort

 

[TheEldritchGod]

If it's from ACTUAL China, the CCP checks EVERYTHING that is published.
EVERYTHING is approved. Chances are, there is a very limited number of names to choose from because if you choose a name that offends someone in the POWERS THAT BE, yer dead. No. Correction. You VANISH. Dead implies there is a body to find or some sort of electronic record that you ever existed.

There was a woman who was working on curing the common cold in China. It was the same research being conducted by the US back in 2015 that Obama shut down because they were making superflu to figure out how the common cold worked. It involved combining Herpies and the Flu. Specifically, the orf10 RNA sequence. It creates a very stable virus. It's why there are only like 10 versions of Herpies in the past 12 thousand years. So, take orf10 stick it on the flu, you get a stable flu, and you might FINALLY be able to work how the flu works. It just mutates too much.

The US thought making LUNG HERPES was a bad idea and shut that down.

China? China thought, hey. That sounds cool. Let's see if that works.

And I will admit, the lady in question, who I will not post the name of, was very good at what she did. I think she had a good shot at working it out. But, then COVID happened and she happened to be working in the same facility as where COVID started and... well...

One viral researcher is just as good as another... right?

She notified her family that she was going on "vacation" and then send some generic text messages and just... poof. Now, you can't even find her NAME on the internet anymore. I mean, China disappeared her. HARD. So, from that point on, if you use her name in any Chinese publication, or even PART of her name, it will get red flagged.

How many names do you think are on that list?

At this point, in China, it is most likely safer to just pick from the list of approved names, than to check the list of disapproved names. The approved list is likely shorter.

 

[LitrpgBird]

If it's from ACTUAL China, the CCP checks EVERYTHING that is published.
EVERYTHING is approved. Chances are, there is a very limited number of names to choose from because if you choose a name that offends someone in the POWERS THAT BE, yer dead. No. Correction. You VANISH. Dead implies there is a body to find or some sort of electronic record that you ever existed.

There was a woman who was working on curing the common cold in China. It was the same research being conducted by the US back in 2015 that Obama shut down because they were making superflu to figure out how the common cold worked. It involved combining Herpies and the Flu. Specifically, the orf10 RNA sequence. It creates a very stable virus. It's why there are only like 10 versions of Herpies in the past 12 thousand years. So, take orf10 stick it on the flu, you get a stable flu, and you might FINALLY be able to work how the flu works. It just mutates too much.

The US thought making LUNG HERPES was a bad idea and shut that down.

China? China thought, hey. That sounds cool. Let's see if that works.

And I will admit, the lady in question, who I will not post the name of, was very good at what she did. I think she had a good shot at working it out. But, then COVID happened and she happened to be working in the same facility as where COVID started and... well...

One viral researcher is just as good as another... right?

She notified her family that she was going on "vacation" and then send some generic text messages and just... poof. Now, you can't even find her NAME on the internet anymore. I mean, China disappeared her. HARD. So, from that point on, if you use her name in any Chinese publication, or even PART of her name, it will get red flagged.

How many names do you think are on that list?

At this point, in China, it is most likely safer to just pick from the list of approved names, than to check the list of disapproved names. The approved list is likely shorter.

Probably just an asian author then.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Often different names uses different words but are spelt the same in english because they are homophones, but does not come across since its translated and loses the meaning that would be apparent if written in chinese.

 

[AYM]

AI Formations can easily generate the names in English by combining general pronunciations for characters.
English pronunciations for character are very reductive because they reduce the meaning of the text to the pronunciation, and English text usually never includes the tone's pronunciation. Certain names may also hold literary significance or historical references that are never properly expressed. This is why it might seem extremely stupid for a main character named "Li Xin" to disguise himself under the name "Xin Li." Yes, he could have picked something different, but it's not as stupid as it may initially seem.

Because family names are typically also only one character, it's more difficult to differentiate between names without seeing the actual character text. Names are also never longer than 4 characters.

 

[J_Chemist]

skill issue

 

[HungrySheep]

lung herpes

 

[melchi]

I think some of it might be cultural. Like when I was visiting Korea people who didn't have the last name Kim or Park were from a bad family or some such things. No one said it outright but my friend said that was one of the weird cultural things.

 

[Notadate]

Japan also has unique taste in name, superstitions and such. Like no four, it’s all for a meaning

 

[Sylver]

Have you ever been to China? Do you not know how popular the names Sung Li and Wang Zu are?

It is considered both a tradition and an honor to inherit such names.

And best of all, they're gender neutral, now we can all be enlightened with our children named Sung Li and Wang Zu!

 

[Pixytokisaki14]

>be me
>click book
>oh cool, written by a chinese person
>oh cool, they have unique names
>oh, it's a cultivation novel. unique.
>oh cool, it's in a chinese setting
>wth are these names and why are they all the same
like i understand having traditional names but im sick of hearing the same set of names over and over again. Please someone tell me if this is a translation thing or a literary accent or im going crazy. It feels like there is just an ai generating names from a short list of names and surnames creating the things that some of these names are. I've heard Sung Li and Wang Zu too much for my liking. Is it just a culture difference???? I know theres a lot of examples in american english with this (i.e john, will, josh, jack, ben, nathaniel)
but the difference is just so huge to me.

One of the reasons I don't like to read anything related to cultivation stores. Especially those from china

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

The sect leader of the midnight jade dragons of heavenly insight: Bartholomew of Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff

 

[Anon2024]

Big Wang is a name they need to use.

 

[georgelee5786]

Names get reused alot. They're the Chinese Steve and Jim

 

[LunaSoltaer]

I feel like cultivation in itself is a cool thing that you can just yoink out of a CN cultivation book, integrate it into most other frameworks, and have it work.

(wondering if I should try writing a silly book just to demonstrate the concept)

 

[fluffypie374]

Googles cultivation novels for cultivation ranks, mash up common protagonist chinese names to form my own, throw in some half-baked knowledge of cultivation-related and chinese stuff... and wala... I wrote myself a novel that others have criticized for using terms without understanding or explaining what they mean...
P.S. I am indeed too lazy to change names too often so... just use the same one or change a single word hahaha....

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I feel like cultivation in itself is a cool thing that you can just yoink out of a CN cultivation book, integrate it into most other frameworks, and have it work.

(wondering if I should try writing a silly book just to demonstrate the concept)

I think it would be fun for you to figure out how to create a side character who pushes the boundaries of magic in your story by being the one to create a cultivation-style system! It would be super cool if a cultivation mechanic or two were integrated into the framework of magic you created in your main fiction.

It could just be where I stopped, but other than the magic the main character has, much of the magic system has already been explored and most efficiencies have been exploited. This gives a subtle sense of stagnancy, with no possibility of evolution and vast changes. But if the hypothetical side character compiles this method of cultivation. and then gives a lecture to the school... and if the MC is at the lecture, and everyone - and I mean everyone - is deeply inspired by it, it could create a really fresh and new growth in your story!

And through this plotline of cultivation, all kinds of mages, including the MC, can start exploring this new field of magic. Since they are already specialized in diverse ways, they can push the boundaries in super unique directions (which can differentiate the cast from each other in massive manners). Magic use starts developing rapidly due to this breaking point, and the side character becomes a sort of national treasure meant to be protected.

It would allow you to introduce foreign agents who also explore this cultivation research, and rapidly push the main character's emotional development by putting them in contact with the philosophical nature often found in cultivation, as well as putting them in heavy conflict with numerous parties. If I remember correctly, there was a plotline involving something called Nightmares? If you make the Nightmares evolve and grow with this cultivation too, you can make them a much more immediate and dangerous threat, because it means the enemy can adapt and be a wildly greater threat like nothing in the annals of your fiction's history/

 

[placeintime]

One thing that's different between Chinese and English is that tones matter a lot. There are 4 tones. When you say a word, depending on the tone, it changes the meaning. So an example I would give is Ma, it could mean mother, horse, a question participle, or scold depending on the tone you use. For Chinese, the characters are different from one another. However, when you translate to eng, you don't see the tones. You only see the pinyin part and defintion. So all of it would be ma(There would be symbols on top of the pinyin to signal which tone but that isn't shown on novels XD). The character and meaning will be different.

So when you say the name Sung Li. The sung and Li could be entirely different from another novel.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

I think it would be fun for you to figure out how to create a side character who pushes the boundaries of magic in your story by being the one to create a cultivation-style system! It would be super cool if a cultivation mechanic or two were integrated into the framework of magic you created in your main fiction.

It could just be where I stopped, but other than the magic the main character has, much of the magic system has already been explored and most efficiencies have been exploited. This gives a subtle sense of stagnancy, with no possibility of evolution and vast changes. But if the hypothetical side character compiles this method of cultivation. and then gives a lecture to the school... and if the MC is at the lecture, and everyone - and I mean everyone - is deeply inspired by it, it could create a really fresh and new growth in your story!

And through this plotline of cultivation, all kinds of mages, including the MC, can start exploring this new field of magic. Since they are already specialized in diverse ways, they can push the boundaries in super unique directions (which can differentiate the cast from each other in massive manners). Magic use starts developing rapidly due to this breaking point, and the side character becomes a sort of national treasure meant to be protected.

It would allow you to introduce foreign agents who also explore this cultivation research, and rapidly push the main character's emotional development by putting them in contact with the philosophical nature often found in cultivation, as well as putting them in heavy conflict with numerous parties. If I remember correctly, there was a plotline involving something called Nightmares? If you make the Nightmares evolve and grow with this cultivation too, you can make them a much more immediate and dangerous threat, because it means the enemy can adapt and be a wildly greater threat like nothing in the annals of your fiction's history/

I'll be honest, I was thinking of making a book in my setting that follows a girl who lives with and is apprenticed to an Enchanter who specialises in working with Spell Circles, which is a system that Emmett in Solstice is entirely locked out of because.... Because Luna's a bitch :P

Solstice's system as a whole touches a tiny tiny bit on cultivation, but only in the "work on yourself and practice to strengthen your abilities/resolve/understanding/etc", but to do proper cultivation....

The hilarious thing is, it's possible. Solstice was not written with a complicated magic system in mind; it started off as a NaNoWriMo project fueled by SPITEFIRE!!! but I have this habit of forcing myself to finish things, because I have a nasty habit of dropping things especially as life gets hairy.

I would love to go into more detail, but HOLY BLIMEY SPOILERS! ... If you're interested I could DM you with some ideas and concepts I've been cooking for a while.