TheAriesAtlas
asked
Rin Chupeco:
I see that you answered another user's question indicating that both Japanese and Middle Eastern culture and philosophy are the resounding influence behind The Bone Witch, but are the terms that you used in TBW (e.g. hua, asha-ka, cha-khana - pretty much all of the ones that are italicized) made up or did you pull those from one of the influencing cultures that you mentioned?
Rin Chupeco
A little of both! I'm Chinese and also studied Japanese culture, so I took a lot of influence from those. There's also a bit of Zoroastrianism involved because the whole Legend of Blade that Soars and Dancing Wind is that with a Chinese naming aesthetic. Using the examples you gave:
hua - "flower" in Chinese
asha-ka - "asha" is "truth" in Zoroastrianism, and "-ka" usually is attached to female names and means "scent" or "perfume"
cha-khana - "cha" means tea in Chinese, "khana" is my invention
(I was never taught the pinyin / English phonetic spellings of Chinese words though - that happened long after I graduated school- so with these I usually just went for what looked natural to me when writing it down!)
hua - "flower" in Chinese
asha-ka - "asha" is "truth" in Zoroastrianism, and "-ka" usually is attached to female names and means "scent" or "perfume"
cha-khana - "cha" means tea in Chinese, "khana" is my invention
(I was never taught the pinyin / English phonetic spellings of Chinese words though - that happened long after I graduated school- so with these I usually just went for what looked natural to me when writing it down!)
More Answered Questions
Nusrat Sultana
asked
Rin Chupeco:
Hi! I wrote to you some time ago; I absolutely love your writing. I'm very excited for the second book! You've become one of my favorite authors :) I know you said there aren't any plans for a third, but I wanted to ask if you'd ever consider continuing the series, or if this is really the final book. (The cover for The Suffering is absolutely gorgeous! Is that Okiku?) Looking forward to more of your books!
Carter Llewellyn
asked
Rin Chupeco:
Do you ever play horror video games? The Suffering kept making me think of the mid 2000s games like early Silent Hill and Fatal Frame 2, and I was wondering if you had played and were inspired by any of them. I'd also like to say that your books are darker and creepier than many of the horror novels I've read that are aimed at adults, and are some of the best novels I've ever read.
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