Kate Warren

the condensed writer

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Excerpt

Goodbye 2014!

12/30/2014

2 Comments

 
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That's me, chasing the year away with a stick.  All over Facebook I'm seeing everyone posting their "year in review" along with messages about what a great year it's been.  I will not be doing that.  Admittedly, it was tempting seeing the NaNo Winner icon in the center, but I declined to post it.

It's not that 2014 has been totally horrible.  I'm alive, I'm in a debatable state of health, but I can get around, and I'm sane. What? Stop laughing. But this year been challenging, and disappointing in some ways. Here are some of the highlights from last December to this December:



Diagnosed with PCOS
Put on medication for PCOS
Had to stop the medication due to side effects
Put on another medication
Got depression as a side effect
Started new medication for depression
Middle son had continuing school issues
Tried and failed at Camp NaNoWriMo in April
Lost a beloved but crazy dog
Summer - always pretty much a loss as far as doing anything productive
School started! Yay!

Middle son transferred to a special school
Still feeling bad but oddly not feeling depressed
Realized my continuing lack of energy/enthusiasm was actually burnout
Started looking for ways to fix burnout
Started getting better
NaNo time!  Managed to win and close to finishing the draft!
Post-Nano recovery and holidays/birthdays
This blog post.


That doesn't even get into the fibro and headache issues, or the aggressive meltdown problems with our youngest son.  As you can see, it was not an easy year.  But I have a roof over my head, food to eat, heat in the winter, and a reasonably reliable instrument for writing, so overall I'm good.  Just glad to see the back of 2014.


In continuing the celebration of my birthday week (it was Sunday, which was kind of awful, so I'm taking the whole week instead), I'm hoping to see a movie on the first.  Also, if you've read this far you will be rewarded with links to my contemporary novel Bridging The Gaps, the eBook of which is currently on sale for just 99 cents.  On Amazon.  On Barnes and Noble.  On Smashwords (multiple formats available here). If you happen to buy and read Bridging The Gaps, please consider writing a review.  


The next post will likely be on Saturday or Sunday for Weekend Writing Warriors.  Can't say for sure what I'll be posting, but it will likely be from The DeFord Chronicles, Part II.  Either continuing from last week's excerpt, or using my random scrolling method.
 
If I don't see you again before...Happy New Year!  Thanks for being you, and for supporting me through all my challenges and weirdness.


See you in 2015!

Kate
2 Comments

WeWriWa 12/21/14

12/21/2014

31 Comments

 
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Ladies and gentlemen, I'm back.  How I have missed the weekly camaraderie and visiting with my fellow writers!  Some of you may have wondered where I disappeared to, and the answer is burnout-ville.  For nearly a year I've been withdrawn and exhausted, and not even writing. The good news is that I am now on the mend, and returning to civilization.  And now...on to the eight!

We're in Chapter 43 of The DeFord Chronicles, Part II and Lord Everard Carlisle has just learned he's been outsmarted regarding the marriage of his niece.  The speaker is Count Marcel DuClerque, son of His Grace the Duke of Oglen. Carlisle has just demanded to see the duke about the matter.

          “You may seek an audience with him if you wish it, but he will tell you what I am telling you now.” Marcel may not have smiled but his eyes at least spoke of pleasure in the message he conveyed. “I saw the original draft of the contract.  Saw with my own eyes that it was always intended for my nephew to wed your niece. I saw the document while the ink of your signature was still wet.  If you wish to blame someone for the trick you feel was played you, blame the fool who signed a contract he had not bothered to read. You shall find him in the looking glass.  Good day to you.”

Marcel has turned out to be far more fun to write than I'd anticipated, and Carlisle is an odious man, so writing this scene was extra enjoyable.

I may not be posting next Sunday, as that is my birthday.  So I'll go ahead and say Happy New Year to you all, and Happy-Merry Whatever You Celebrate!

See you around the WeWriWa list.

Kate
31 Comments

Language Barriers

12/15/2014

5 Comments

 
Authors are pretty lucky when it comes to choosing what language they can write their story in. Just like suspension of disbelief will let readers believe there are really ghosts in a book, it will let readers believe that someone living in Ancient Rome or on a distant planet speaks fluent English—or at least the book is a “translation” of whatever language they would be speaking. The problem, therefore, becomes what to do when a character is bilingual. Many times that raises issues of both needing to show a switch between languages while not confusing readers who very likely don’t speak both languages. After all, you can’t exactly run subtitles under the dialogue like you would in a movie.

In both of my most recent Broken Line books (novella, The Copper Rebellion, and Book 3, The Paper Masque) I came up against just this problem. While Books 1 and 2 take place in their version of England, The Copper Rebellion finds protagonist, Adela, abroad in a version of France and the protagonist of The Paper Masque, Elsie, finds herself dealing with a number of Irish Gaelic speakers throughout her story. While some readers might speak either of those languages, requiring all readers be trilingual to finish the series seemed like a tall order.

So what to do then, when your characters speak more than one language? There are a few different methods, all of which depend on your Point of View (POV) character.

POV Character is Bilingual

 

If your POV Character in a scene understands whatever the language being spoken is, the easiest method is to use tags like “in French” at the end of dialogue to show that the characters are now speaking another language. For example, in The Copper Rebellion we find:

“Bonjour, madame…” The tallest stopped in front of her, Adela’s mind taking a moment to click over into [French]. “…how may we help you?”

Adela gave a pretty smile, silently thanking her grandmother’s insistence on learning the language. “Good day. I am Adela Wembley, and I have come to call on his majesty, King Charles, if he is in?”

The reader has been filled in that they are now speaking in another language, and dialogue can continue on in English.

Note: To add credence to the switch, you can use a few words here and there of the language you’re switching from. Just try to make sure that they are either words that the reader would likely know (such as Bonjour) or words that are not important to the meaning of the sentence (so that the reader hasn’t missed anything if they don’t understand that word).

You will likely notice that I have used italics throughout the sample above after the language switch. If your character will be staying in one language more often than not, italics are not necessary (you can simply add “in French”/“in German”/etc. Italics, however, can be handy if you’re going to be switching in and out of a language quickly. For example:

“There is a messenger here for you, madame,” the servant continued.

Adela recovered enough to smile. “Mr. Fletcher. What a surprise.”

Antony seemed to take everything in, bowed as his gaze began to linger too long. “Your majesty.”

Louis turned to her. “A friend of yours?”

“Monsieur le duc, this is Antony Fletcher. He was a painter at my late husband’s court.” She looked back at Antony, flipped to [English]. “Mr. Fletcher, Louis Delone, Duke of Parnulle and brother to the king.”

Since Adela is speaking to Antony and Louis in two separate languages, it became simplest to establish that italics=French, no italics=English and remove “in English” and “in French” from appearing over and over again. You can determine if italics are necessary for clarity’s sake in your own writing.

POV Character is not Bilingual  

If your POV character does not speak the second language being used in a scene, things get a little trickier. You see, since the character doesn’t know what is being said, there is no way for them to relate what is being said.

The easiest way to get around this problem is to have another character translate. For example:

 

Stringing a rope along the ceiling, Úna continued to speak to Laurence as she worked.

“She’s dividing up the room,” Laurence translated. “She says we aren’t married so we can’t sleep in the same room together.”

By having a character who speaks the second language translate, you can get a summary of what is being said across without the POV character needing to understand it word for word.

If the POV character doesn’t have someone to translate for them, try to stick to things the reader doesn’t need to understand, put in enough so that the reader can follow along, or have the POV character make guesses as to the content. For example:

Colm continued to rant in [Gaelic], switching as he turned to Gordon, “Though, like you really understand what we’re even saying, eachtrannach.”

“Díul mó bhad,” Gordon returned, Elsie entirely willing to believe it was an insult just by the tone.

If someone speaks Irish Gaelic, they won’t need to be told that what Gordon says is an insult, but the rest of the audience has been told enough to pass over the phrase with the knowledge that Gordon says something insulting.

POV Character is Learning

For the most part, I don’t suggest taking the “subtitle” route, where you give lines in whatever foreign language a character is speaking and then add the translation verbatim after it. This is primarily because it can become clunky/disrupt the flow of the scene. Readers who don’t know the original language will have to skip over to find the translation meaning more “clutter” in the scene which often leads to slower pacing. It can be effective, however, if used for small stretches. I primarily use this strategy when it comes to a character learning the other language. For example:

“Mon père est un soldat, comme mes frères,” Antony pieced the sentence together, doing his best to explain his family—the martial proclivity he hadn’t seemed to inherit with the rest of his brothers.

“Vous ne voulez pas être un soldat?” Henriette asked quickly.

You did not want to be a soldier? Antony pieced the words together with just a little delay, answered, “Non. Not at all.”

“You really are not bad.” Henriette switched back to [English].

The extra wordiness in these instances can work well since it forces in the lull it takes the character to think of what the other characters are saying. The POV character is likely a step behind and so the “clunky” feel to the wording will suit for pacing.

All in all, when in doubt, understandability should be the goal when it comes to using two languages in your writing. You don’t want your readers to miss an important plot point just because they don’t speak as many languages as your character—or worse, to get so frustrated, they put your book down. Err on the side of caution and, when in doubt, call in a beta reader or two and see if it makes sense to readers who don’t speak a second language.



Find Jessica Dall online at her website jessicadall.com
On Facebook: facebook.com/jkdall 
On Twitter: @JessicaDall 

5 Comments

There's no place like home?

12/3/2014

2 Comments

 
Hello and welcome to my annual post-NaNo report, but first a word about sharing.  Sharing is a wonderful thing, but sometimes a virus or bacteria comes along that should be kept to oneself. To put it bluntly, I see sick people. Someone suggested to me today that I should go to a hotel so I can avoid getting sick too.  More about that later.  Now back to our regularly scheduled paragraphs about NaNoWriMo.

Once again it was a great event. This year marks my sixth time participating. Since I’m dealing with burnout issues, my family thought I was totally bonkers for even trying NaNo, but I had a plan!  And yes, it was cunning!

All right, so there were all kinds of reasons not to even attempt NaNoWriMo this year, but I also had some really good reasons for trying: 1) hadn’t really written anything of note since November 2013; 2) the first installment of The DeFord Chronicles came out in 2006; 3) I really, really need to finish the first draft of The DeFord Chronicles, Part II.  Thus, the plan…

  • Step 1. Primary goal is do not stress.  No word count panic allowed.
  • Step 2. If I start panicking, or stressing about word count, I will quit.
  • Step 3. I don’t like quitting.
  • Step 4. Secondary goal is finish the draft.
  • Step 5. Tertiary goal is win if possible or necessary to finish the draft.
 I managed everything except finishing the draft, but I’ve made immense progress in that as well.  Where before I was lost in the woods of middle-noveldom, I am now able to see the ending and write toward it.

Once again I hosted (hostessed?) the NaNorphans Guild for Mentorless Newbies. It was a pleasure, as always to see new WriMos blossom, and be part of making it a positive experience for them. And if anyone thought I was obnoxious, they had the grace not to mention it. J

Had to take this week off.  I’ve got three kids and a husband with strep. I’m thinking of referring to this week as Strep Fest 2014.  Now the remaining kid and myself have to watch out for symptoms.  So far so good on that.  One of the sickos also has a nasty cold, probably the same one the others had over Thanksgiving break.  There have been a lot of missed school days in this house, but hopefully on Friday they’ll all be back in…or is that out?

The draft writing will continue and I hope with regular writing sessions to complete it before the year’s end.

You can read a sample of this November’s efforts on my NaNoWriMo Profile page here.

NaNo was something of a healing event for me. Taking the time to write was immensely helpful and remarkably restful for me.  I did lose some sleep, but that was mostly sleep I would have lost anyway so I'm not counting it. With a renewed creative energy, not at my best yet but definitely improved, I plan to resume blog posting on Wednesdays. I can't promise I'll always have something interesting to say, but I'll at least share something.

Until next week,
Kate

P.S. Check out my inspiration board on Pinterest for The DeFord Chronicles, Part II.  I'm looking for good pictures of castles surrounded by snow for inspiration for upcoming scenes set at the royal family's winter palace. If you see one, let me know.
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