pronouns in Japanese writing?

[rayman.the.one.and.only1_498570]

So I'm a writer and I'm attempting to start writing (stories) in Japanese but I'm curious how to write in story form in Japanese....

So do writers usually drop pronouns when writing? Or do they use pronouns in writing or maybe even just always uses a characters name? (I'm particularly curious about when to use he/she/they in writing or if I should at all)

Also do writers use suffixes when referring to their characters? (Like if my character's name was Mary would I call her 「マリさん」　or 「マリちゃん」　during narration or would I just use that during dialogue when another character is referring to her/talking to her?

Any help would be appreciated thanks -Yoroshiku

[mertzem8535]

Well Rayman, in general, the more you omit from a Japanese sentence the more natural it sounds as long as the original subject remains clear. So if I'm talking about myself I'd use 'watashi' or 'boku' in the first sentence and thereafter omit it completely from the following discussion as long as I'm still talking about myself.

However, story writing (whether it's short or a novel or a screenplay) is quite an art in any language. What's more I'd guess that Japanese story writing can be even more of a fine art if you consider that the complex history of Japanese poetry (tanka and haiku) and performance theatre lies in the background. And then there's things like style change depending on genre or target audience to consider. If you are just interested in learning how to write, consider first joining a professional writers group like this one at http://www.critters.org/ I Learnt a hell of a lot about story writing there.

If you really want to focus on Japanese story writing then I have only one suggestion: the best way to learn is from example. You'd have to be really energetic and possibly have to have a fair grasp on Nihongo, but I'd suggest that you try to read Japanese stories in both the original language and translated versions, carefully comparing the sentence and paragraph structures. That should give you the best feel for how pronouns etc. are dropped from Japanese writing vs. English. I know that the novelist Haruki Murakami has translated his works into English so you could try him out. Perhaps another (maybe easier) option would be to read some Japanese and English versions of Manga side by side. At the very least it would help you become comfortable with what the major differences in the dialogue structures are.

Hope that helps a bit.

[rayman.the.one.and.only1_498570]

Thanks. ^_~ I'm going to be translating my book into Japanese at some point and this is really helpful. ^_~ domo arigatou. ^_~

[mertzem8535]

Douitashimashite!

[Murius]

Also quite often I have encountered this form, using one's name instead of a pronoun:

"みほは,見つけたんだな。自分の戦車道を"
miho ha, mitsuketandana. jibun no senshadou wo
I [ie. Miho] have found it. My way of the tank.

I find it interesting because this comes from the cover of the third volume of Girls & Panzer's light novel while in the anime she says :

やっと見つけたよ,私の戦車道
yatto mitsuketayo, atashi no senshadou
I've finally found it, my way of the tank.

Go figure...

[Murius]

Just found two more instances of replacing 私 with one's name in the first episode of the kantai collection anime:

勝手は榛名で許しません.
katte ha Haruna de yurushimasen.
I [Haruna] won't let you do as you please.

睦月もう頑張らなくちゃ.
Mutsuki mou ganbaranakucha.
I [Mutsuki] must work harder.

[mertzem8535]

Oh you're so right! I totally forgot that Nihonjin often refer to themselves by name rather than by pronoun. Thanks for the reminder!