A question about writing a book

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But prove yourself to whom? A writer's strongest critic should be him or herself. When you've done something worthwhile you'll know it.

im doing it for myself to its something that can keep your busy for a while but ill wait a while before i do it need to be in a calm and free place and thats not the situation

Writing is thought, so write in Nederlander.

Translation is tricky, I have read several English translations of the same work, Le flurs du mal, and they were very different. Mal gets translated as bad, evil, or sad. Perhaps they are just depressed flowers?

Write like you think, then beware of English, word for word does not work, American and British are different.

Within my own language, I have rewritten things many times to convey just the thought I was after.

What does not translate is the implied meaning that every language has, when I say this, you should fill in the blanks. Each language does it. Word for word creates some odd blanks.

Mostly write, and write, and write, and prime the flow of words. It takes a bit till it runs clear.

I am Flemish and just finished a book in English, a second one and a tird one is under way. The most difficult thing is to find a publisher. There is www.Lulu.com to publish on demand and www.freemusketeers.com
and there is a page called schrijven on the net where you can get literary advice.

A short story in Dutch I have written in 1990 and got prized with is abailable on my blog on my art website at www.alann.exto.be

good luck

cool thx (bedankt =P)
but with even how much i hate it to say but i cant do anything under the
surcemstances i live now im to anxiety or whatever its calld right now im to depressed and stuff i might have to wait till im moved out (or rund away)
whatever is going to happen but untill then i just cant consentrate

I wrote an unpublished book. I would advise you to maybe write first three chapters and then get plenty of feedback before going a bit further. It so easy with A.S. to spend years and years like I did ( ) I'm not disappoiinted, I'm glad I finished the story, but I wish I had learned at the beginning that there is a difference between a story for myself and a story for the market-place. It would have helped to know which I was doing and not try to do both. I managed to join a tiny writing group in a library. I think the web is really good for writing forums but the group in the library was good because I could read out loud. My mum writes too. We both tried to be published and we have both submitted to loads of agents but it very tough because the market is very very very tough out there.

With all do respect, judging by your spelling and grammar in this post, I have to doubt your ability to write a book. I am sure you are creative, I just find that you might need to brush-up on your English skills before going ahead with such a task.

i dont know for sure in what language i will write yet cause im not english from origin and if i do write english i wont make mistakes really i never look at my spelling when i chat and i wont publish it without some one reading it and correcting it

but the reason why i whant to write english is because the english language feels so emotional and full of life by some reason

i even think in english much even more than i do in my original language very strange i know but my inner world is english rather then dutch

but talking still feels bether as dutch

same here, english is not my first language but I do almost all of my writing in it, wrote my thesis in english and the proof-reader only had to change a few small things, mostly my polish semantics going it the way.

I find english to be much more precise, it's so much easier to communicate my thoughts in it. with my native polish I feel a massive block when talking about my feelings. weird huh?

I love you too dude.




I've always found English lacking as a language. I don't feel as if there are enough words to describe thoughts and feelings accurately. Like I love Jones Soda. I also love my mother. Those are two completely different types of love. It's not accurate to say that I merely like Jones Soda; I feel that it would be a betrayal of the pure cane sugary goodness that it gives to me. That's just a rough example but you get the idea.

I feel that way about my native language.

the worst one is swedish though, I find it incredibly poor in that stance (no offence anyone). I love the sound of it though.

don't know if thats true but I heard that english has 5 times more words than any other european language. I guess that would imply greater precision but maybe it's just me.

You can love a Soda... you can love your mother, but you'll be "in love" with someone else... it is possible to love objects or food in different ways than you would love humans... would you marry a soda? No, LoL

I've yet to encounter an american who couldn't tell you something as simple as where dutch came from, unless you are counting children or special ed students


the fact that you would even consider there being a need to tell where dutch is spoken, even if you hadn't stated it, indicates to me that you do not know enough about english-speakers to effectively pass off a book in english. I have no doubt that it would be riddled with silly errors that were done because of your attempts to offer corrections on things that you misunderstood. Like using your own example, say your grandmother visited me, and I asked "Did you drive over here?" You'd likely go into a paragraph about geography rather than taking the common sense approach that I was asking did she drive over here, as opposed to being dropped off by a taxi/walking/taking a bus from the hotel/airport etc. And you wouldn't be doing that because you were intentionally trying to belittle americans, or other english speakers, but because you don't understand the english language as well as you think you do. It would be shooting your ownself in the foot before you even went to one publisher. It would be neither funny nor helpful to explain anything about geography in such a context - it would just be annoying and showing a bit of stupidity on the part of the explainer

Then of course you also have to make sure your story makes sense for the English that you are using. You wouldn't set a story with an American who explored using a torch, unless it was hundreds of years ago, and you wouldn't set a story about a briton who popped open his hood on the side of the road. And you certainly wouldn't have a male american taking off a jumper. A schoolboy taking out a rubber in the UK is very different from a school boy taking out a rubber in the US. "Shaggy," "mistress," "knock you up," "fa***t" and "a good screw" also have very different meanings depending on which english speaking country they are used in. If you were invited to a pot luck would you bring something or expect the host to provide everything - it depends on which country you are invited in. Asking someone about their fanny pack is okay in the US- it is not okay in the UK


*Ps if you want to tell ridiculous stories about Americans and geography you should come up with something that is remotely believable whether than one like this about your grandmother where a simple glance can tell you its a farce

Main factors in the decision will be:

How fluently do you write in English, is it a viable option?

You seem to think it is, so the next question is:

What will be the subject matter of the book, will it appeal more to a Dutch-reading audience or an English-reading audience?

Consider how marketable it might be in either language. Is there a shortage of books on this subject in the Dutch language? This could mean two, opposite, things. Either there's a gap in the market, or it's not saleable.

Only an agent or a publisher would be able to give you a better idea of whether your book would be commercially viable. Or how about doing some research, asking the head librarian in your local library or the manager of your local bookstores if they think there would be a market for such a book in Dutch and/or English language?

But all that assumes that you're writing the book with the commercial aspects in mind, that you want to be a successful author.

Some people are happy to self-print. This is known as 'vanity publishing'. You could Google information. But you would need to be careful, because if you went down this route, you could end up spending a lot of money, and end up making a loss and being severely out of pocket.

Oh, and p.s. the advice to join a writing group is a good one. I agree with that advice.

Online and irl writing groups can be good to get feedback and constructive criticism.