Katharina Gerlach's Blog, page 17

T – Translations

First things first: today is “Blogger Schenken Lesefreude” (bloggers give reading pleasure) day and I’m participating. You’ll find the giveaway below my blogpost. But first a few words about people I admire:

I thought I’d tell you something about translators today. Their names are always in the small print, implying they’re unimportant. On the surface, that might be true. After all, it’s the author who wrote the novel, right? Well, sort of. However, the influence on the novel (and its success or failure) in a different market depends a lot on the translator’s talent. By choosing the right words and putting them in a specific order, (s)he creates the atmosphere needed to carry the story through the new language. So, let us appreciate the hard work of these people. Do you know someone who translates texts?

Here’s the giveaway. Participating is really easy, and everyone who enters will get at least an eBook:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

S – Symbiosis

Although I’d love to, I’m not going to hold a biology lecture on the subject, promised. This post focuses on another aspect of creating stories.

Humans have two sides to their brain that handle different things. The right brain is considered the creative side and the left brain is thought to handle logical aspects. I, as an author, even go so far as to identify them as separate entities. I refer to them as my Muse and my Editor. When I’m writing first drafts, my Editor is slowing down my Muse, and when I revise, it’s the other way round. Thus, it is really hard for me to write more than 1500 words a day.

However, when I looked at the two more closely, I found that they are working together well and that I profit from it. They give me interesting stories that make sense, all things considered. And they get to connect with people other than me through my keyboard. In that sense, this is a relationship where all sides benefit – and that is considered a symbiosis. Isn’t that strange?

R – reMIND trailer

Here is a little film I made for my kickstarter campaign which will start early May. It’s a trailer for reMIND. Enjoy and let me know if you like it.

By the way, I’m still looking for helpers. If you want to help me spread the word about the campaign, please sign up below. I promise I will only use your information for the kickstarter campaign and delete it right after.

Q – Qindie

With “Scotland’s Guardians” winning a B.R.A.G. medallion and “Parlan’s Children” an Indie Book of the Day Award, I could have called myself an Award Winning Author already. Now, this has been confirmed again. My book “Urchin King” was awarded the Qindie-Logo which, similar to a B.R.A.G. medallion, is a label of high quality Indie published books. I am very, very happy the book qualified, and I promise to strive for the highest quality I’m capable of. Thank you Qindies!

P – Possible Series

Snow White and Rose Red

I love fairy tales, the less they are known the more I like them. On my bookshelves, I no longer count the books by numbers but by meters (I’ve got 2,64m already). It seems natural that I’d start writing fairy tales, right?

Near the end of last year, I started my first try at retelling a fairly tale and think it turned out quite well (ask my beta readers). I used the story of “Snow White and Rose Red” from the dwarf’s perspective (who is not the bad guy in this case). I had so much fun, I started to retell “The Beauty and the Beast” in a steampunk setting right after. You can read and comment on the first draft here.

And I already have another idea… what do you think, should I turn this into a series? I could move on to fairy tales not as well known as my first two tries and add the original to the finished eBook once I publish.

(this post appeared in German as M – Märchen, eine Serienidee)

O – Ogers, Dragons & evil wizards (the bad guys in fantasy)

As an author, I spend just as much time on creating my bad guys as I do on creating the hero/heroine. The fun thing about Fantasy is that I have much more freedom in choosing the basic layout. I can use humans (naturally) but there are also creatures we find awesome that make for really good villains (ogres, dragons, dark elves, death, the devil, and many more). I have the most fun if I can twist characters that people initially think evil into something else (how about a vegetarian dragon like the one in my story “The Witches of Greenwitch” which you get if you sign up for my list). Some great examples for using a stereotypical bad guy in a really funny way are the books about Death in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchet. Have you ever read them?

(this post will appear in German as T – Tod, Teufel und Drachen)

N – Nothing New

Today, I’m going to fetch my eldest daughter. Like always, she’ll stay with us for a week until Easter. Tomorrow, my brother-in-law will come for the same reason. Fortunately, my husband won’t have to work this Easter, which is an improvement over last year but nothing new either. However, despite the routine of things I enjoy this time. My garden is in bloom (mostly yellow daffodils and blue Siberian squill), the birds are singing, sometimes I can feel the sun burn on my skin… what’s not to like?

daffodil

M – Make Ideas

I think one of the easiest parts of writing is coming up with new ideas. I get so many of them, I can’t write them all. However, I’ve heard that some people find this the hardest bit (for me, that would be sitting down to write the first draft). So, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. watch children play, they show you first hand how to make up stories

2. play the “What if” game using everyday situations as a starting point (what if an alien stood in the line at the cashier in front of me today) and see where it takes you

3. use brainstorming techniques like mind-mapping to get the details for your idea

4. join Holly Lisle’s “How to Think Sideways” course if you can afford it (It’s really, worth the money)

(This post appeared in German for J – Jagd auf die Idee)

L – love (in stories)

Recently, I found a review for “Scotland’s Guardians” on a German (hold on tight) Romance-review site (how strange is that?). You probably already know what they complained about… the lack of romance. Surprisingly, that has always been the major reason why German traditional publishers declined my novels. It kept me wondering if every YA novel has to have a romantic subplot. For me, the answer is “only if it adds to the story”. In “Scotland’s Guardians” it would have destroyed the basic concept (which is friendship and loyalty), so I deliberately didn’t write a romance into it. In my soon-to-be-released fairytale retellings, I’m using romance because a lot of fairytales will not work otherwise (imagine The Beauty and the Beast without…). Do you think romance has to be in every YA novel?

K – kickstarter

I’m sure most of your know what kickstarter is (a crowd funding platform for those who don’t know). Some of you maybe even supported a cause or two (I backed seventeen so far). So, tell me, why did you do it?

I once supported the creation of a WordPress Widget for a bookshop which I can’t use because in Germany online shops are so heavily loaded with regulations and legalese (with fines if I don’t get it right), I refuse to participate. However, I loved the idea so I supported the project. Would you consider supporting a project you couldn’t really use? If so, what would it take? (I’m trying to learn here, you know)