Need a little help planning on writing a book

[Koronin]

Not sure where to put this, so am putting this here. I'm planning on writing either a book or a series of short stories. What I need a bit of help with is some common male names for Belgians and Dutch (and possibly for other other nationalities in that region of Europe). The reason is my story is of a young American cyclist who just graduated High School and is going to Belgium for college. He's gotten signed by a Belgium U-23 team. I need some common names for my fictional characters.

Thank you for any help.

 

[sir fly]

If you want to use common names, you can find them on various sites along with statistics regarding their incidence. But since you're going to make a literary work on a specific subject, maybe you should choose the names considering the characters' part in the fable. For example, Leif could be the name for a perennial aspirant, and so on in the similar spirit.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

If you want to use common names, you can find them on various sites along with statistics regarding their incidence. But since you're going to make a literary work on a specific subject, maybe you should choose the names considering the characters' part in the fable. For example, Leif could be the name for a perennial aspirant, and so on in the similar spirit.

Thank you. That's a good idea at least for a few of them. See, I knew there was a reason to ask for a bit of help with names here.

 

[King Boonen]

You’ll find differences depending on region (French or Flemish), this is something you should think about. I think the political situation is blown out of proportional, but bear in mind that if all of your protagonist have French names and all your antagonists have Flemish names you’ll open the story up to criticism and meaningless arguments.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

You’ll find differences depending on region (French or Flemish), this is something you should think about. I think the political situation is blown out of proportional, but bear in mind that if all of your protagonist have French names and all your antagonists have Flemish names you’ll open the story up to criticism and meaningless arguments.

Thanks. I knew there were regional differences just with names. Makes sense it could run a bit deeper. Figured the team would have at least 5 or so riders from countries outside Belgium as well. I'll definitely keep in mind the French/Flemish name differences.

 

[sir fly]

5 or so outside of Belgium... Then a guy from the Balkans, who grows moustache, rides his custom painted bike like he's plowing the roads and shares a half of all his bottles with the teammates is a must have!

 

[Koronin]

Re:

5 or so outside of Belgium... Then a guy from the Balkans, who grows moustache, rides his custom painted bike like he's plowing the roads and shares a half of all his bottles with the teammates is a must have!

LOL, well remember one of those 5 is my American rider. I was thinking a German time trialist could be helpful. A Dutch rider, just because, and a Dane because of all the Danish fans here. Wasn't sure where the 5th was coming from and then the rest being Belgians.

 

[sir fly]

The Balkan guy is inseparable from his fair-haired female friend who often distracts his rivals and helps him with flats and mechanicals...

 

[Koronin]

Re:

The Balkan guy is inseparable from his fair-haired female friend who often distracts his rivals and helps him with flats and mechanicals...

I think you need to write a book based on this Balkan guy. Sounds like it would be highly entertaining.

My main character is the young American who moves to Belgium for college and to continue his racing career.

 

[sir fly]

The fair-haired female friend has two sisters, who are not much into cycling, but, somehow naturally, know a lot about the build-up, tactics and recovery.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

The fair-haired female friend has two sisters, who are not much into cycling, but, somehow naturally, know a lot about the build-up, tactics and recovery.

You really need to write a book on that character.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

The Balkan guy is inseparable from his fair-haired female friend who often distracts his rivals and helps him with flats and mechanicals...

The guy has to be called Bobo and has an uncle into weapon smuggling and defrauding the EU out of olive oil tax subsidies.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

The Balkan guy is inseparable from his fair-haired female friend who often distracts his rivals and helps him with flats and mechanicals...

The guy has to be called Bobo and has an uncle into weapon smuggling and defrauding the EU out of olive oil tax subsidies.

Be free to take a part in our short story... Write a line or two, c'mon.