Writers in the Storm

by Annette Spratte

Of course! If you would like to collect a lot of bad reviews, you should definitely do that.

Seriously, though. The quality of machine-made translations has improved considerably over the past years, which is why many authors get the idea they could save money on the expensive services of a professional translator.

What does a translator do where the machine fails utterly?

The Style

A machine does not have any feel for lingual beauty, building up tension or any other skill writers have a right to be proud of. While this doesn’t matter when setting up a contract, it matters a lot in fiction. A sentence structure which is perfectly fine in English might sound like the work of a third grader in German. The translator needs to do a lot of switching around of words to make sentences and paragraphs sound smooth in the new language. The machine only processes what it gets, minutely and hopefully accurately. Speaking of which…

Accuracy

Are you aware of how many words have double meanings? The machine doesn’t always know which one to use. Let me give you an example that had me snorting with laughter:

She finished her delivery tour sooner than expected.

Are you thinking of groceries? Good. My machine did not. It warbled something about babies arriving pre-term. Possibly in a truck. Now imagine this was your novel. You do NOT want that sort of thing to happen.
Being bilingual, I have used the DeepL translation service to translate my own books to save typing time. It is a horrendous amount of editing work to iron out all the inaccuracies and make the translation flow. I’m still wondering if it isn’t faster for me to translate from scratch after all. I would never use a machine to translate for a client.

Proverbs

Many proverbs have been around long enough to have made their way into the translation engines, such as ‘the last straw broke the camel’s back’. In Germany, we say ‘it was the last drop that made the barrel overflow’. Others, however, will be translated literally and thus not make much sense to the reader in the other language. My favorite one in the latter category is ‘the room was so small you couldn’t swing a cat by the tail.’ Of course a German reader would get the message, but they would be severely irritated as such a behavior is unheard of in Germany. A translator should know that. A machine couldn’t care less.

Research

Translations require research. Things exist in one country, but not in another or they are known in a completely different context. Let’s take military ranks for example. Gosh, the research I have invested to find the correct equivalents! Sergeant, in German, can mean any of these colorful terms: Feldwebel, Unteroffizier, or Wachtmeister. Two of them are army terms, one police. If the story is not set in Germany, I will take the easy way out and leave the English term. This is a wide-spread practice. But if the story is set in Germany, I will have to decide which word to use.

And now imagine all of this with a historical novel. Or science fiction. A machine would most definitely mess up. Did you know, that Tolkien spoke German and made sure that the word “Elves” was translated into “Elben”, thus creating a new word in German, rather than using the literal translation “Elfen”? I can only guess that he was aware the word “Elfen” would create the wrong image in the German reader’s mind.

Form of Address

While it shouldn’t pose any problems in translations from German to English, the form of address is a huge challenge from English to German. Germans have two forms of address – a familiar one (du) and a formal one (sie). The same goes for most European languages. They come with completely different grammatical rules. The translator not only needs to know which is which, they also need to know in which context to apply which. Are the people talking to each other friends? Then they use ‘du’. Are they strangers? Then they use ‘sie’. Are they colleagues on a first name basis? They will probably use ‘du’, but I have also come across mixed forms, i.e. colleagues addressing each other by their first names and yet using the formal ‘sie’. Or addressing each other by their last names, yet using ‘du’.
Translation engines top even that and switch the form of address several times within one paragraph. They can’t make any sense of it at all.

Conclusion

A good translator is worth their cost, and you won’t do yourself a favor by saving money in this area. Most readers aren’t interested which language the book was originally written in. All they want is a great reading experience. A good translator will take care that the text won’t sound translated, but will follow the natural flow of language. To verify that, you should get a trial translation from the person you wish to hire and have a native speaker vet it for you.

Since every translator has their own style, it would be wise for authors to hire the same translator for all books of a series. Please note that translations take time. I estimate two to three months for an 80 k novel.

By now, there are a number of translators like me who will work with Indie authors at affordable prices. A few of them can be found on the IndiesGoGerman website, where you will find lots of valuable information about entering the German book market.

Do you have experience with writing in a language that is not your own? Have you used a translating service or app?

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About Annette

Annette Spratte is an award-winning bilingual author and translator living in Germany. With nine books traditionally published in German so far, she has translated and self-published her most successful historical novels The Silent Maid and The Potbaker’s Niece into English (more to come). Her trademarks are life-like characters and a vivid writing style that glues readers to the pages.

Her translation schedule is tight, so if you wish to make use of her skills, you need to plan well ahead.

Learn more about Annette on her website http://annettespratte.org

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

by Jaime Buckley

New writers often have questions. We want to understand the path to walk so we can find success.

Thing is, ‘success’ has various definitions, depending upon who you ask. You and I are motivated by different things, and this complicates conversations between writers.

YouTube and Facebook ads offer ‘secrets’ to success in nearly every aspect of the writing and publishing industry. Each ad pulls at newcomers, offering solutions to implied problems at a seemingly reasonable price, guaranteed or your money back.

Many would-be authors give up their future before they get a running start.

It’s sad.

I’ve personally watched people fall by the wayside due to the wrong information. People crippled by a fear of failure they probably didn’t have until the ad took hold! People who, in my honest opinion, probably have more talent for storytelling than I do — and I’ve made a living writing and drawing for decades.

But there’s good news here, and I’d like to share it with you. Hard won wisdom that’s kept me going in my own career, despite the odds, the crashes, and the setbacks. Two success factors the writing community doesn’t seem to talk about. 

Luck and time.

Do You Believe In Luck?

My personal belief is that God determines the results in my life, but it’s up to me to do the work first. The more things I do right, the more He accelerates and multiplies the results. It’s the way I live, and it works for me.

When I talk with others, I call it luck, good fortune, or chance.

Whatever title you’d like to attach to the event, I define this as something that happens that you cannot directly control. You can influence it, by being in the right place at the right time, doing the right things for the right reasons...but you cannot make the results happen.

It’s the unknown factor.

The easiest example I can think of is the internet. Web guru’s and marketing companies often make claims that they can ‘guarantee’ results — like getting a first page ranking on Google.

Well, yes and no.

Considerations for ranking

• What is the definition being used, and what are the parameters?
• Even if you can get keywords to the front page of Google, how long will it last? An hour? A day?
• Will it be a local listing?
• What size demographics will actually see this top Google ranking?
• Will the marketing company charge you for satisfying the technical definition, or truly satisfy you the client with actual, profitable results?

Results are manipulated. Rankings can be fudged. Reviews can be bought, forged, traded, and challenged. If someone has a bigger wallet, they will buy the position ahead of you. Yet none of this worries me. You know why?

Because I’m starting to believe you can’t measure your influence using the internet.

Stop laughing at me.

Seriously, it’s rude.

Oh, you can measure a portion of your influence, sure. You can also track internet sales. Yet the true measure and effect of your progress cannot be fully seen through Google Analytics or any other software. Let me show you why I think this.

Just Consider

You write a book. Everything is done as best you know how. It’s listed with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Draft2Digital, Smashwords, an armload of other platforms, Ingram Spark for hardback, and on your own website. Each service, including your own site, has some form of analysis/tracking program to show sales. You can track sales, visits, pinpoint countries, cities, even IP addresses around the globe. You have everything covered.

Or do you?

What happens when a reader talks about your book around the dinner table with friends? When the topic gets shared with people at work? Phone conversations with family out of state, maybe even out of the country. A chain of interactions you never saw and likely never will.

It was personal. Real. It was something you could not control, and I’m bringing this up because that’s how I’ve made a living since 2004. Over 90% of my success has come exclusively through word of mouth.

When Hard Work Looks Like Luck

There is a tipping point when we reach a certain stage in our progress. It’s when a connector — someone who knows and has influence with others — enjoys, supports and recommends your work, often causing a ripple effect. The influence of one turns the heads of the many.

The ‘luck’ part is that we never know when or where that tipping point will happen. It might happen in the first week...it might not happen for years...or at all. You may never have a landslide of readers, but perhaps a steady trickle that builds.

I’ve literally had a burst of sales, more than 9000 copies in a 72-hour period, which happened again months later, never to happen again. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t do a thing. It wasn’t a launch, it wasn’t a promo. There was no data to track, follow, or study.

There was a time I walked into a library in another city and found my books on display. I was flabbergasted, excited…and confused. When I asked the librarian, she said the books were requested by the mayor.

Yeah, I’ll let that one sink in, ‘cause I didn’t get it either.

I met an Indie Author so happy to finally be making $1,000 to $1,500 a month with his books. He explained that the income had grown every 90 days or so. After cheering for him (which I love to do), I asked how many books he’d published?

“I’ve written 40 stories so far.”

He’d been at this for years. Many told him it wouldn’t work, but he didn’t listen. Now he had a steady, monthly income that continues to grow to this day.

As Time Goes By

People, specifically Americans, tend to want everything yesterday. Patience falls by the wayside and many forget the journey, focusing instead on the destination. Many miss hidden opportunities along the way…a wealth of growth offered to those looking for it.

Life rarely turns out the way we think it will, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You simply have to accept the reality that there are no shortcuts in this venture. Yes, there are stories you will find online, talking about riches and overnight success — but if you dig deeper — you’ll likely reveal years of labor to get there.

Yes, I said years.

This is one aspect many marketers try to hide.

To sell the books and programs, there must be ease, shortcuts, and again let’s not forget the famous ‘secrets’ promise. All backed by a ‘guarantee’ to wipe away any hesitation or fear of spending money, or worse, money you don’t have.

What gets me, is what’s wrong with working hard on a worthwhile project until you succeed?

Oh, that’s right...nothing at all. 

This is a good time to think deeply on how important being a writer is to you.

• How committed are you?
• What price are you willing to pay?
• What sacrifices are you willing to make to achieve your goals?

Admit the hard truth…

It isn’t about if you can do this, but will you do this.

Only you know the answer.

Amanda Hocking became one of the first self-published Indie Author millionaires in America. She got rich in less than 12 months after publishing to Kindle. Yet most don’t recall the painful nine years previous to that point. The hard work and determination she exuded until the tipping point.

It was like…luck.

Hmmm.

Overnight Success?

Amanda wrote 17 novels and had every book rejected by traditional publishers. She did all her own editing. She did all her own formatting for Smashwords and Kindle, as well as marketing on Twitter, Facebook, and her own blog.

I understand her pain and frustration, trying to get everything ‘just right.’ Having people pick out flaws in her work, no matter how much editing she did. Amanda dealt with technical issues, answered countless emails, and created her own book covers. No wonder she got burned out! 

Despite all the hardships, she sold more than a million copies of her books, finally catching the attention of the New York publishing houses. A bidding war started between them to get her contract. In the end, Amanda saw her dream realized.

Unlike many of her fans, I applauded when she signed that traditional contract. That was what she wanted…the freedom to write and entertain people for a living. The money and fame were secondary. The publishing house offered a professional staff to do all the frustrating work for her.

The point here, my friend, is that it took over nine years for Amanda to become an ‘overnight’ success. Time was something she accepted and was patient about. She focused on doing what she loved, committed for the long haul, not the short sprint.

Look For Anchors

In 2009 I sat down with a famous author to discuss my first book, a meeting arranged by a mutual friend. I was nervous. He had told my wife and I the day before that it took an average of seven years to get published. He then added that it took another seven to get onto the NYTimes Bestseller list.

All I could see was fourteen years of struggle ahead of me.

He’d taken my script, agreed to skim it over that night, his intent to provide some advice. Instead, he’d read it in its entirety, then asked us the following day to take us to lunch. For what seemed like an eternity, he just sat across from me…staring.

Then he said something I never expected.

“You could send his out, right now, without changing a thing and you’ll get picked up. You’ll find a publisher and make a living.” He paused. “But with a little work to get your skill level up, I think this is New York Times Bestselling material.”

Kathi cried.

I think I might have also.

Manly tears, of course.

Encouraging comments from a veteran in the industry was a historical marker in my journey. An anchor that helped me shun the unsolicited opinions of those who didn’t care for my future. An anchor that caused me to look at myself, my circumstances, and then chart a course I was determined to follow.

I’ve published many works since then and made a living doing what I love. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.

I’d just do it better.

The Takeaway

So, my advice to you, now and forever, is to keep going, no matter what. Things will happen, and that’s okay. Just bob, weave, take a breath, adjust your course when you need to, get back up, laugh it off, or ignore them all and prove them wrong.

Because the longer you walk, the closer you’ll get.

Don’t be afraid of hard work and consistency. You just might achieve what you shoot for…and if you make a habit of paying attention, a whole lot more.

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by Ellen Buikema

There are times when a writer is stuck, not because of a lack of content, but due to fear that their work isn’t good enough for anyone else to read.

Writing, in some ways, is an act of love. Our stories—our children. We craft and care for our stories and our characters—the wonderful as well as the hateful. Sharing your writing with the world is hard. It takes bravery. What if it’s not good enough? What if someone…hates my child?

Handling Rejection

Rejection is part of the writer’s career. At some point you have to get used to it. Don’t give up. Instead, use rejection to better your writing.

Whenever potential publishers or agents turn your story down, it isn’t personal. There’s always a reason. Perhaps:

• Your Title or title/subtitle isn’t grabbing their attention.
• The content isn’t what they are looking for right now.
• They are receiving better writing, and yours needs more work.
• An agent feels the work is good but doesn’t have anyone to pitch it to at the time.

It’s also possible that they not getting your vision. Many wonderful stories have initially been rejected. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected many times. She pinned her first rejection letter to her kitchen wall to remind her of what she had in common with some of her favorite writers.

Here’s how to work around rejection:

Steps to take whenever receiving unhappy notifications.

• Breathe and put on your rationality hat: Being distraught is to be expected. Allow that feeling to happen and then let it slide away after processing your emotions. Do not type angry and hit send. Sometimes typing what you really feel in a separate document that will never be sent can be therapeutic, just don’t send it.
• Ask for suggestions for improvement: If after reading through your work as well as the publisher’s or agent’s guidelines you still aren’t sure why your work was not a good fit, ask for suggestions. You may hear crickets, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. You might get lucky and receive a response.

Everyone gathers rejection letters. Learn why your work wasn’t a good fit and keep moving forward.

Dealing with Anxiety While Writing

The story is too complicated

Sometimes it feels like a story is so full of twists, turns, characters, and subplots that you’ll never be able to work out the ending. Anxiety creeps in and you freeze.

Complicated books, especially series, take a lot of time to plot out.

Possible Solutions

Look at the story one piece at a time. Start small. Write a story idea with a limited word count, under 1000 words. Divide your story into three parts, beginning, middle, and end. You can expand the story from there.

Try writing prompts for practice and a change of pace. There are many online sites for these prompts. This one is promising.

I can’t get started

Writing a book is a big undertaking, and there’s more than one way to do it. You could spend years pondering all your options.

Possible Solution

Make a roadmap including:

• What your book is about
• Who are your readers
• Problems solved
• Benefits offered (for nonfiction books)
• A basic outline. Even if you don’t usually outline your story, a few points on an outline will help with organization.

Don’t overthink it. These suggestions will get you started.

The story is taking too long to write

Are you a plotter or a pantser? It’s helpful to know what kind of writer you are.

Do you need structure to write your work and feel at sea unless you have step-by-step happenings before you get down to writing in earnest? Then you are a plotter.

If you write as inspiration hits you while figuring out What happens next? as you write, then you are a pantser. One who basically writes by-the-seat-of-one’s-pants.

Many writers are a combination of both.

Still stuck? Try NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a non-profit organization that promotes creative writing. In its annual, international event participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November. Authors write "pep-talks" to cheers other writers on.

I didn’t think that I could do it, but I tried anyway and managed to write 50,000 words in a month. There’s a lot of encouragement for the participants, and you are only competing with yourself. I found this well worthwhile, and empowering.

Another possible solution

If your story has taken you in too many directions, it’s helpful to use story planners. This one is free for one story plan and there is a membership for more. There are many other options available online.

Here’s an article that lists the ten best story planning programs along with their pros and cons. Story Planner is #6 on this list.

Examples of novels that were a long time coming

If you are writing fantasy that requires in-depth worldbuilding, the story will take a goodly amount of time to complete. The research needed for historical fiction may also take more time than anticipated. (Beware of the rabbit holes you may fall down while researching. They are wonderfully distracting and get me every time.)

Consider J.R.R. Tolkien. It took him more than ten years to complete the main narrative of The Lord of the Rings. He wrote between teaching sessions, day-to-day responsibilities, and had to deal with the paper shortages due to the Second World War. Then, there were the many rewrites.

“One writes such a story [The Lord of the Rings] not out of the leaves of trees still to be observed, nor by means of botany and soil-science; but it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mold of the mind: out of all that has been seen or thought or read, that has long ago been forgotten, descending into the deeps. No doubt there is much personal selection, as with a gardener: what one throws on one's personal compost-heap; and my mold is evidently made largely of linguistic matter.”

Jean Auel’s historical fiction, The Clan of the Cave Bear, began as a short story. That story became a manuscript of nearly 500,000 words. Too long for the publishers. After several rewrites she found a publisher willing to work with her.

“The story led to research, the research fired my imagination, and the wealth of material made me decide to write a novel.”

Obstacles are everywhere, but you can do this! More suggestions can be found in Part 1.

Do you use story maps? What is your favorite one? How do you deal with anxiety when writing?

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About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Image by Fabien - Pixabay Ambassador from Pixabay