Names and Things

I had a lot of fun with deciding on what to name a few things. Here's a quick reference:

Chimin: I changed the spelling of Jimin's name to make it easier for non-BTS fans to keep track of the characters. I figured that switching up the spelling would give them one less 'J' name to try and learn. So that's why that happened.

Noon Mool: For the non-K Pop fans: "nan pit tam nun mul" is a rough sound-guide for how you say 'Blood Sweat and Tears' in Korean. This is the name of one of their most popular songs produced to date. "Nun mul" is the word for "tear." I just romanized the spelling in my own way. Because I knew that Noon Mool Fortress wasn't going to last after this book, so I figured that the word for 'tear' was appropriate as a name.

Geji Blade: I forget just how I came up with this name, but I was looking up Japanese swords. Genji with an "n" is a Japanese surname, and it also refers to a certain period of Japan's history. Though I honestly forgot how it was relevant. ^^' Oh well.

Satoor Ai: I tweaked another Korean word for this name. "Satoori" in Korean means "dialect." I really like the BTS song, Satoori Rap, which is basically a song in which Yoongi and Hoseok have a rap battle using their own different dialects in the song to boast about where they're from. I don't know Korean well enough yet to know the full meaning of the song, but I just thought it'd be cool to incorporate anyway.

Gwangju Ai: Bias alert. Gwangju is the province in South Korea where J Hope aka Hoseok is from. Yes. I know. I'm as extra as it gets.

Okie Port: Yes, I am American. The state of Oklahoma may just be a flyover state in the world's eyes, but it holds a special place in my heart. "Okie" is a word that was used to refer to people from Oklahoma who had to migrate west during the Dust Bowl with nothing but the shirts on their backs and what they could carry/fit into their cars. (If you've never heard of the Dust Bowl, Google can help you learn more if you'd like.) These people who migrated were called Okies by Californians when they made it out west, but the name was derogatory. It's become more a local pride thing now, to say you're an Okie when you live in Oklahoma. This was a nod to that state and the memories it holds for me.

Generally speaking: Many chapter titles are references to songs by BTS or other pop culture things, and so was the decision to go with 'House of Card' for Shae's family name. Other names I just chose because I made them up, or because they were simple and would be easy to remember.

Who's Who?

Once I was a quarter into the story, I created a 'who's who' list for myself to help me steer the characters as the plot unfolded. Then I turned it into a kind of challenge/question for the reader that I snuck into the description of the book. You may have missed it--that's ok!

Basically, each member of BTS fulfilled one of these roles:

court jester

code breaker

madman

genius

red herring

murderer

monster

I have in my mind who's who, but I wonder if you would agree? In case you've wandered here but haven't finished the story yet, I won't put my version directly on this page.

Who do you think was which role? Feel free to comment inline your theories and explanations. Or, if you just want to know my version, post a comment and I'll respond. ^^

That way it's on this page if people want to look for it, but not too obvious for anyone trying to enjoy the suspense!

____

Friendship

The female leads in the story are actually very basic caricatures off of myself (Shae, surprise surprise), _CallMeQueenV as Ava, and Immortan_Liv as Lilith. These two friends and I all essentially started a little writing club together, each of us sharing chapter by chapter and giving each other feedback through Google Docs, just for fun. The first draft of this happened to be my story.

Their hilarious--and far from Wattpad appropriate--jokes in my Google doc first draft were how this whole crazy thing began. They're both hilarious, and they're both great writers in their own right.

V writes more chick lit/beach read dramas that'll make you SWOON. She does romantic tension and well-paced real-life drama like nobody's business.

Liv writes dramatic, romantic, dark fantasy with the kind of gorgeous prose that makes you read lines over again because they're just so lovely.

They both plan to share their *excellent* stories on Wattpad at some point soon. So you should go follow them. :)

A Few Chapter Titles

Some of the chapter titles had a more particular inspiration or reason behind them. I thought it'd be fun to explain a few of them. Hope you don't mind!

Dark Roast and Caramel Macchiato: inspired by the BTS song Coffee and the way Kookie sings 'Macchiato.' The drinks are meant to be quick symbolic summations of Shea and Ava's different personalities.

To the Edge of the Sky: This is the name of a BTS-themed fan made story game that I stumbled across in the App store on my iPhone toooootally by accident. It's like a dating app, adventure story thing. I respect what they were trying to make, but the qual was so-so to me. Anyway, this chapter title is a nod to that.

The DNA Dilemma, Blood Sweat and Tears, Her, Danger, Pied Piper: Non K-Pop fans, these are all BTS song name references.

Jeon Solo: A Han Solo pun. But also a pun on the fact that Jeon Jungkook in real life has so many singing solos.

Barber Shop Quartet: For anyone who doesn't know, a barber shop quartet is classically a group of four singers doing song routines in perfect harmony with each other, with no music to accompany them. There were four members of BTS in the bathroom while they were cutting Tae's hair. So it was a double-pun.

Enter the Dragon: This is actually the name of a Bruce Lee movie that I have never seen, but the internet calls "one of the greatest martial arts films of all time." I liked the nod to Asian-American culture. The political commentary I read on it was also interesting, so I decided to use it as a chapter name.

There Will Be Blood: There's actually an American film with this exact title that's about a guy who goes crazy in his obsession for building his oil-tycoon empire. I've not seen it, but in some ways I felt like the oil-money-power obsession of the film was fitting for some of the geopolitical conflict underlying this story.

Broken Stained Glass Scattering Light: A phrase of my own making, it's meant to invoke a sense of 'holiness' in loving others when we are ourselves, and they are, so broken/flawed. Because stained glass is used in churches to paint pictures of 'divine' imagery. It's a way of saying that our humanness channels light and goodness and love, not our perfection. Also it symbolizes how loving so truly while being broken is...well, beautiful. I was thinking of the use of the phrase "stained glass" in the song Neptune by Sleeping at Last--a song that beautifully captures the sentiment of that closing chapter, in some ways. You should listen to it. ^^

Crossroads: There's this myth that you can literally meet with and make a deal with the devil when you're standing at a crossroads. So not only is this title to say that the story is changing in an new direction, but it's to say that someone is going and making a deal with the devil AKA Petra.

A Few Last Words:

If you don't know K Pop, this may not make sense to you. For anyone else, I don't hate EXO. I swear. I actually think Sehun is really good looking, and the expressions D.O. makes are absolutely hilarious to me (even if they're not meant to be). Making them villains in this story happened purely because D.O.'s RBF makes me laugh so much and it inspired me to make him an RBF sassy villain.

Petra is purely of my imagination. But I may have channeled some Regina George into her, and I don't feel bad about it.

The depictions of the members of BTS in this story are purely a fictional fabrication of my own imagination. I used them more as character archetypes--borrowing features and mannerisms we associate with them. But even when writing the romantic stuff, it was with a kind of mental detachment from the real people. It was just from one character to another. So for anyone who may not like how I portrayed one of them over another, I hope you'll have grace for me! This was purely a work of fiction, and these characters do not accurately represent the true nature and motive and actions of the real people that they are based off of.

Q&A

If you have any general questions for me, about writing, about this story, or about whatever, feel free to comment inline here. I'd love to answer them if I can. ^^

You guys are wonderful! Thank you for reading!

If you're on your own journey of learning how to be the writer you want to be, GOOD LUCK. BEST WISHES. I BELIEVE IN YOU! It's hard, but it's worth it.

So much love, y'all! <3