Take Me to the Sky | BTS+

Author's Notes and Other Fun Things

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.