Self-Promotion

Or, “Getting your Hustle On”
Never a comfortable subject for an author as we so revel in being introverts that we adamantly shun drawing attention to ourselves. Though a clever person could argue that by the mere virtue of sending our stories out into the world we do draw attention to ourselves and interact with the public on fairly intimate level. But, for argument’s sake, let’s pretend no such clever person is around to point that out.

My lovely publishers, Untreed Reads, have given me some pointers on helping them, and me, promote my work. They’re quite good at getting review copies out and the pitch emails and other marketing things I know little of, but there is an area where an author can help out, namely: Libraries!

I have a list of all the libraries in the country and I’m slowly contacting each and every one of them - those that carry e-books - and asking them to please carry “The Fountain Pen”.

It’s a slow process, but not without it’s own interest. I’m finding such a variety of public libraries out there; some are small but deeply involved with their community, almost like a focal point, others are very large in major metropolitan areas where I run into very different attitudes. One big, library system sent a nice note to my query, while another large library sent an almost snide one saying they only buy materials that have gotten favorable reviews by the major reviewers.

Does that mean their library is smaller on the inside than the outside? Or does it mean those small libraries, one of which very excitedly emailed to say they were adding my story to their collection, are in fact much bigger on the inside than on the outside?

Either way, I am enjoying being part of the process that gets my stories and my name out there. If you like “The Fountain Pen” perhaps you could suggest it to your favorite library.

Thanks!

Memorable Lines

A recent article in the New Scientist mentioned a team at Cornell University had taught a computer to identify memorable movie one-liners. Such as “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”. We all know that one from Casablanca.

Apparently the goal of having taught the computer to ferret out these memorable lines is to - possibly - help politicians come up with truly memorable slogans to boost their campaigns.

What researchers found is that the quotes that stick in our minds ‘contain surprising combinations of words but at the same time use a structure that is common’.

I wonder when some enterprising writer will decide that this software is just what (s)he needs to come up with a memorable book title. Another catch phrase to boost sales. Or how about more catchy chapter headings and while we’re at it, how about those first lines of each chapter? But if all our lines are memorable won’t that mean our audience gets overloaded and won’t remember any?

Even Casablanca only has two memorable lines in it. The one I quoted at the top from the beginning of the movie and then the one at the end, ‘.. this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship’.

More than that would be too much of a good thing and spoil the fun. 

Perspective

I live in a doggie neighborhood and almost daily run into one or more of my neighbors and their four-legged companions. One of the things I’ve come to appreciate about this is that I get to hear the same story from many different perspectives. Yes, it’s also a gossipy neighborhood.
    It reminds me of something Madeline L’Engle apparently used as a teaching tool with her students to determine perspective in a story.
    She would have her students take a story they had just written and tell them to totally rewrite it, using the same events, but from the point of view of the antagonist instead of the protagonist. Not an easy thing to do, especially if you’re fond of your protagonist and think he/she is right and the other character is wrong.
    It was something a writing teacher taught her many years ago and though it made her angry to have to do that when her teacher first told her to, she learned the value of seeing the other side of the story. She learned that by seeing the other side her story could have more depth as it incorporated a bigger picture and greater understanding of perceptions and consequences.
    This is what I’m learning as I sift through the stories of various neighbors. And I find it is helping me in my writing.
    Another way animals enrich our lives!

The Fountain Pen

The Fountain Pen by E. Lynn Hooghiemstra - $0.99 : Untreed Reads Publishing

"When an inherited fountain pen from the 1940s is filled with ink and used again, it reveals some startling moments of its previous owner’s life under the German occupation in WWII in The Netherlands. A short story."

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

What I learned from translating

My first deep thoughts about translating and the impact a translation can have was when I introduced my child to a book I loved as a tween: Crusade in Jeans by Thea Beckman, a wonderful Dutch author who wrote many exceptional historical fiction novels for tweens and teens.

However, some of her magic was lost in the translation to English. The story still grabbed, but only by the wrist, not the jugular like it should have. So what had gotten lost and how was it lost? Before I answer that, I’d like to give an example of where translations have worked to keep the magic of a good book alive.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke is one such success story. It was beautifully translated by Anthea Bell and the book sold like hotcakes. A good translation can make or break the success of a book in foreign markets.

Here are her comments on translating, which I whole-heartedly agree with.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/47327-q--a-with-anthea-bell.html

What then makes a good translator? Is it someone who is fluent in both languages at a native-speaker level? Or is it someone who thinks like a writer? Or maybe someone who has a deep cultural understanding of the country the book is intended for? I’m leaning toward the last one. Only with a deep cultural understanding can a translator make it seem as if the book was actually written in the language she/he just translated it into.

Culture plays an important part in how well a story will do with a particular audience, especially considering that each culture - even subcultures within cultures - uses language differently or perceives the meaning of certain words differently.

Getting back to Crusade in Jeans, it was translated with the Dutch culture in mind instead of being localized for an American or English speaking audience. What that means in practical terms is that it reads more like a literal translation, rather than a smooth-flowing and suspenseful adventure story.

The warmth and passion, which glows at a different temperature in Holland, didn’t come through; the level hadn’t been adjusted for English.

I wish I could be more concrete in my explanation, but I’d have to translate the whole book for you so you could do a side-by-side reading of both translations. Mind you, I’d love to translate Crusade in Jeans if an American publisher will pay me to do it. It will appeal to a wide middle grade audience, I promise!

What I can do is give a simple illustration of how tricky translating can be.

Take the Dutch word: Betrouwbaar
The most common and literal translation is :      Trustworthy
But in context one would prefer to use :             Reliable
The strength of the word in Dutch is often somewhere in between those two, so you see the challenge.

My own translation work has taught me that language is not static, it is an ever-changing creeper that branches and rambles, chokes off and regrows. It has helped me in my writing to choose words more carefully, to understand the cultural importance of the words I choose.

I’m sure I will explore this issue further in future blog posts.
Stay tuned.

Personal connections

For many years I’ve blissfully clung to the notion that a writer must be a lonely, starving artist feverishly writing by the light of a flickering candle in a drafty garret at the top of a ramshackle house. Surely it was the way to greatness and success; only by knowing extremes could my writing be imbued by the truth and the depths of humanness. Only toil and suffering could forge a true artist.

The problem with that image, well, one of the problems anyway, is that a lonely artist will have a heck of a time getting their work out to the world. Like anything in life, success depends on the connections you make and the relationships you forge.

Just like an agent or editor who is closed to submissions, might be willing to look at your work if you attended the conference they spoke at. Or the author you meet at a bookstore reading and signing event might be willing to give you just that piece of advice or feedback that changes your writing from good to great.

I wouldn’t have figured out how to rewrite “The Fountain Pen” - which recently sold and should be available soon on www.untreedreads.com - if I hadn’t gotten feedback from others.

Even the most introverted among us should get away from the desk from time to time. It seems simple, but sometimes the simple lessons are the hardest.

And sometimes we need to truly get away from it all. Not to revert to that lonely state, but to be truly inspired.

Tales of Sydney

I’d like to show how one of my children’s stories went from a short chapter book format all the way down to a picture book. Neither is published at this point, yet, but I do like the evolution of how the story was built.

The inspiration and challenge came from the imaginary friend of my delightful offspring. This imaginary friend was very important and I heard many of his stories. Sydney was always up to something and keeping his little human companion busy. Research shows imaginary friends are in fact very important to children and their growth and development. Research in an entirely different direction indicated that perhaps imaginary friends are the spirits of the deceased which children of a young age can still perceive, but we won’t go into that now.

Sydney was my first real foray into children’s writing. After years of toiling on short stories for adults I felt a need to stretch and expand my repertoire.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the first version of Tales of Sydney
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    The Great Jungle Adventure
    Chapter 1.
    Sydney moved in on a warm spring day, it was March 25th.
    It was a few months before my eight birthday and at first I thought he was an early present. But my mom couldn’t even see him for the first month and my dad is allergic to cats. Though he had not sneezed once ... yet.

    I asked him where he came from and he just grinned at me in that special cat way. Whiskers twitching and eyes sparkling. His eyes are blue, almost like those of a Siamese, but he’s nicer than a Siamese.

    At first I thought my parents couldn’t see him because he kind of blends in where ever he is. Or, maybe, it’s because of his size, he is rather small for a grown cat.
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I would say that was a decent enough start, but nothing terribly exciting.

Gradually I began to think that Sydney would be much better as a picture book. Just the bare, essential words to complement pictures. Something that a young child would want to look at and have read again and again. So I came up with the following (it took considerable trimming, time, and even a few tears).
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Meet Sydney

Look, up on my shoulder. That is Sydney, my cat.
He can be any size he wants.
Today, he is small, because he knocked over mom’s plant.
Usually he’s blue with grey stripes.
Sometimes he likes to be purple, just for fun.
We play together, all day, every day.
We never play checkers anymore, because we always end up in a fight.
And in Monopoly, Sydney can’t be the banker. He gives himself extra money when he thinks I am not looking, and bats the dice under the sofa.
I taught him chess myself. It was really hard.
Sydney says he would rather dance the queen across the board than play by the rules.
I know … Sydney cheats at just about every game we play.
But when there is nobody else to play with, he is there.
When we go out, Sydney slips into my denim jacket pocket.
He sticks his little head out and sniffs the air.
I have to try to keep him out of mischief.
Sydney likes to make a mess.
And then I have to clean it up.
Mom does not like mess all over the floor.
Mom says Sydney can’t take baths with me anymore.
He likes to dive off the cold-water faucet and usually water goes all over the floor.
Just last week he told me to make waves so he could go surfing with the bar of soap. He looked like a real surfer too.
Sydney helps me fall asleep at night, after I tuck him in good and tight so he can’t run off.
He keeps bad dreams away.
Mom says, “It’s okay.”
Dad just shakes his head and goes back to reading the paper.
Only I know Sydney is real.
He is my best little cat friend …
For always and ever.
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Now all Sydney needs is an editor to take him in hand and someone to bring him visually to life on the page. Anyone feel inspired? I’ll happily showcase your versions of Sydney in a follow-up post.