Fall Reading

Fall is by far my favorite time of the year. Not just for all the standard reasons; fall colors, colder weather, wool sweaters, fall foods, pumpkins. Aside from all those wonderful reasons it is also the time I read certain books. Most of the year I’m not that specific in matching my reading matter with the season, but for autumn, I’m particular.

As a caveat, I must say that I can only read War and Peace when it snows. Needless to say, with Seattle’s limited exposure to snow, it will be a few more years before I finish that tome.

But back to fall.
I can still vividly remember the fall storms raging outside on the October nights I read Wuthering Heights when I was in my teens.

I also have very fond memories of reading Dragon Rider with my son one lovely, soggy October some years back. And only a few short years ago I spent October and November - it was a thick book - deeply ensconced in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

But this year I’m still looking for just the right book, that book that blends just the right ingredients into the story. While I search I’m keeping entertained with Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, but it’s not quite meeting my autumnal reading requirements. Sigh.

The book I’m looking for has to be a little spooky, a little paranormal (I suppose that’s the right term), an exciting adventure, and must be well-written.

If you know of any such book, please let me know. It can be middle grade, YA or adult.

Happy Reading!

The Ego

 
Ah, the Ego... a troublemaker since well before Freud ever decided to label him, or her, or it. One day when I was in need of a boost to my ego I chose to take a look at all the sites where my story “The Fountain Pen” is available. Such a lovely way to boost flagging spirits on a gloomy Seattle day - even if it wasn't raining for a change.

I was happily clicking along, my spirits rising with every new page-view, though I’m not entirely sure what the Japanese site was trying to tell me when I entered my story title in, what I sincerely hoped, was the search box. And then it happened... I went to the Dutch site bol.com, by then lulled into a falsely inflated sense of self-importance, and entered the name of my story.

A spinning beach ball of only few seconds in which I felt a slight twinge in the pit of my stomach, thoughts of ‘what if they didn’t carry it after all?’ trying to claw their way up my ego balloon. And then, glory of glories... there it was. My story. A warm glow was about to wash over me when it changed to a distinctly cold shower.

The reason for the sharp intake of breath, the abrupt sitting up in my chair and the nearly spilling of hot tea was the fact that the story had been attributed to a different author!

Oh sure, they got the last name right, in The Netherlands they can manage Hooghiemstra, but I got lumped in with another author with my last name! Suddenly my story had been written by Erna Hooghiemstra. I’m sure she’s a lovely person, but she did not write my story.

Once the first shock and outrage had worn off, I sat back and laughed. Served me right for seeking such cheap ego gratification when I should have been writing and submitting books and stories.

A quick set of emails back and forth to the Dutch site and a few weeks later, it’s all fixed. Phew.

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.