fannish musings and marginalia
Mar. 20th, 2023 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meikureestill immured in IRL business, sorry to everyone I owe replies to! life has been a lot lately; it's not you, it's me. it's survivable stuff but for today this is a two-parter with 1) reflections on recent writing business and 2) me rambling on about one of my favourite topics (writing) as a treat to myself :
someone translated my Pieck/Hange fics into Chinese (blood to gold; the slow mending) and I don't think I can describe how surreal and magical it was to open up the translations and read the labour of someone who'd bothered taking time to reconstruct my writing in a different language, especially one I'm familiar with. I've done Chinese -> English translations for fandom and considered writing fic in Chinese if only to improve my writing skill via my hobbies, hah, but I'm under no pretense that my English vocabulary far supersedes my Chinese one, and any ambitions I have of trying English -> Chinese translations are best left to the pros. so needless to say everything about the translations amazes me.
(quick clarifying note for anyone who might be wondering: people tend to translate from a source language to a language they're much more proficient in, because you need that proficiency and familiarity to interpret how syntax, figures of speech, cultural norms, etc. should be transposed and changed.)
in the past, while translating Chinese into English, I've griped about how English has a flattening effect. though obviously, in retrospect, this is also an effect of my limited translation skills. to be precise, I described English as a steamroller with a woeful universalising impulse that ironed out many elements that made reading Chinese pleasurable and exciting: its musicality, its cadence, its concision, its many colouful and nuanced 成语 (idioms) that English often has no straightforward way to accommodate.
then I checked out a few handbooks on Chinese ⇔ English translation and was put in my place because I learned this is normal; every language has single words that are uncomplicated in the original language but have several possible equivalents in the target language. the translator's job then is to discriminate which equivalent fits based on context. still, I've walked away in the past with the impression that where English flattens, Chinese has a diffusing or enriching yet clarifying effect; a simple word like 'quick' could be translated as 敏捷, 迅速, 疾速, 神速, 风驰电掣 etc. depending on the nuance of aim. in my -- I'll admit -- early knee-jerk responses I thought English's word bank a poor one for getting across the subtle nuances often present in Chinese synonyms for a single word.
I say all this to mention that the translated texts of my fics magnified my writing and added touches of poetry and dimension, creating depth very efficiently without changing sentence-level constructions. this feels self-aggrandising already, but I can quote examples if asked; all credit goes to the translator, of course.
I'm biased, obviously, but to me the translator really did pay attention to my fics and ohhh. man. translation is never just a one-to-one mapping; it's more like destroying and rewriting a text from scratch, it takes a lot of interpretive work where -- for fiction at least -- you have to intuit the intent or purpose behind someone's writing, and I'm still recovering from the fact someone did it for my fic. it's practical criticism on steroids.
in more prosaic writing/fannish news, I haven't had the braincells to write good comments lately. my comments tend to follow a [overall sentiments and my personal reaction] [one specific line or detail I liked] [an interpretation and other compliment] ... not-script, not-formula, but springboard, and it totally is surficial. I really admire people who can be analytical, insightful, AND enthusiastic with their comments, sieving out overall concerns and meanings in one sentence, but as the old saying goes: you don't need to get a good grade in ao3 commenting, of all things. this is not a 101 undergraduate literature class. I like commenting, I like coming up with insightful things to say, I especially like authors coming back to say my comments were perceptive or made them cry/tear up, IRL just leaves me with few beans for all that now. ;__;
now for the weather. it's funny and unsurprising how my opinion on my writing wavers like a windvane; I think I'm good now at assessing why my old pieces fall flat, but I'm also kinder to myself. everyone's allowed to be a work in progress. mine is that I'll allow myself a platitude in every post or two.
the flipside: it means something when I still like a fic one or two months after I've posted it. one of my favourite? for now? pieces is the fiercest calm (CW: incest, sexual abuse). I've talked about it before. I'm surprised; it’s one of those stories you expect to be hard to love. it's probably one of my darkest stories... and yet also, I think, one where my prose was vivid, which offset that darkness.
I tried hard with while still also relishing in the effort of prose with this. and who knows, I might regret that aspect months down the road, consider it over-written. but usually sentimental writing's a mixed bag for me; I feel embarrassed any time I dare to be indulgent or overwrought in prose; here I let that go and I've liked my voice when I've read it back to myself.
I think the first scene comes off as grafted on, and there are bits where I dialled the angst button too contrivedly high, but the rest of this, with the unerring escalations, and the mix of despair and life is. well, it's a flavour that appeals to me! and that's good enough. so I win. and I liked the parts that are, I think, realistic: mai missing and also resenting maki. complicated family dynamics (an understatement), and all that jazz. I wrote this in a Björk and Tori Amos-induced fugue, and I'm still astonished some lines came from me. sometimes, that's all that a fic needs to do: to surprise its own writer.
someone translated my Pieck/Hange fics into Chinese (blood to gold; the slow mending) and I don't think I can describe how surreal and magical it was to open up the translations and read the labour of someone who'd bothered taking time to reconstruct my writing in a different language, especially one I'm familiar with. I've done Chinese -> English translations for fandom and considered writing fic in Chinese if only to improve my writing skill via my hobbies, hah, but I'm under no pretense that my English vocabulary far supersedes my Chinese one, and any ambitions I have of trying English -> Chinese translations are best left to the pros. so needless to say everything about the translations amazes me.
(quick clarifying note for anyone who might be wondering: people tend to translate from a source language to a language they're much more proficient in, because you need that proficiency and familiarity to interpret how syntax, figures of speech, cultural norms, etc. should be transposed and changed.)
in the past, while translating Chinese into English, I've griped about how English has a flattening effect. though obviously, in retrospect, this is also an effect of my limited translation skills. to be precise, I described English as a steamroller with a woeful universalising impulse that ironed out many elements that made reading Chinese pleasurable and exciting: its musicality, its cadence, its concision, its many colouful and nuanced 成语 (idioms) that English often has no straightforward way to accommodate.
then I checked out a few handbooks on Chinese ⇔ English translation and was put in my place because I learned this is normal; every language has single words that are uncomplicated in the original language but have several possible equivalents in the target language. the translator's job then is to discriminate which equivalent fits based on context. still, I've walked away in the past with the impression that where English flattens, Chinese has a diffusing or enriching yet clarifying effect; a simple word like 'quick' could be translated as 敏捷, 迅速, 疾速, 神速, 风驰电掣 etc. depending on the nuance of aim. in my -- I'll admit -- early knee-jerk responses I thought English's word bank a poor one for getting across the subtle nuances often present in Chinese synonyms for a single word.
I say all this to mention that the translated texts of my fics magnified my writing and added touches of poetry and dimension, creating depth very efficiently without changing sentence-level constructions. this feels self-aggrandising already, but I can quote examples if asked; all credit goes to the translator, of course.
I'm biased, obviously, but to me the translator really did pay attention to my fics and ohhh. man. translation is never just a one-to-one mapping; it's more like destroying and rewriting a text from scratch, it takes a lot of interpretive work where -- for fiction at least -- you have to intuit the intent or purpose behind someone's writing, and I'm still recovering from the fact someone did it for my fic. it's practical criticism on steroids.
in more prosaic writing/fannish news, I haven't had the braincells to write good comments lately. my comments tend to follow a [overall sentiments and my personal reaction] [one specific line or detail I liked] [an interpretation and other compliment] ... not-script, not-formula, but springboard, and it totally is surficial. I really admire people who can be analytical, insightful, AND enthusiastic with their comments, sieving out overall concerns and meanings in one sentence, but as the old saying goes: you don't need to get a good grade in ao3 commenting, of all things. this is not a 101 undergraduate literature class. I like commenting, I like coming up with insightful things to say, I especially like authors coming back to say my comments were perceptive or made them cry/tear up, IRL just leaves me with few beans for all that now. ;__;
now for the weather. it's funny and unsurprising how my opinion on my writing wavers like a windvane; I think I'm good now at assessing why my old pieces fall flat, but I'm also kinder to myself. everyone's allowed to be a work in progress. mine is that I'll allow myself a platitude in every post or two.
the flipside: it means something when I still like a fic one or two months after I've posted it. one of my favourite? for now? pieces is the fiercest calm (CW: incest, sexual abuse). I've talked about it before. I'm surprised; it’s one of those stories you expect to be hard to love. it's probably one of my darkest stories... and yet also, I think, one where my prose was vivid, which offset that darkness.
I tried hard with while still also relishing in the effort of prose with this. and who knows, I might regret that aspect months down the road, consider it over-written. but usually sentimental writing's a mixed bag for me; I feel embarrassed any time I dare to be indulgent or overwrought in prose; here I let that go and I've liked my voice when I've read it back to myself.
I think the first scene comes off as grafted on, and there are bits where I dialled the angst button too contrivedly high, but the rest of this, with the unerring escalations, and the mix of despair and life is. well, it's a flavour that appeals to me! and that's good enough. so I win. and I liked the parts that are, I think, realistic: mai missing and also resenting maki. complicated family dynamics (an understatement), and all that jazz. I wrote this in a Björk and Tori Amos-induced fugue, and I'm still astonished some lines came from me. sometimes, that's all that a fic needs to do: to surprise its own writer.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-20 07:22 pm (UTC)(And very happy you're loving your own work, because it is always beyond excellent *___* !)
no subject
Date: 2023-03-21 11:58 pm (UTC)I don't get a whole lot of comments on my fics, so any comment is sure to lift my spirit! I appreciate every comment you've made on my own fics <3 it's always exciting to see your name in a comment email.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-22 12:34 am (UTC)Also congrats on loving an older piece! I am in a position now to pick over the deficiencies of a lot of my old writing and try to mitigate my impulse to be harsh with critique by remembering how I had a good time writing the thing or learned a lot... it's a continual process of improvement and somewhat natural that we feel critical of earlier work, but also, that was an important step in getting you to where you are. And it is so gratifying to feel good about something even if there are things you'd do differently given a second go-around.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-24 07:55 pm (UTC)Anyways, wishing you luck with the IRL business and happy fandoming!!!!
no subject
Date: 2023-05-15 04:44 pm (UTC)<3 that’s so nice and it’s a relief to hear that! from the other end it’s a joy to see your fic and your great worldbuilding, always.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-15 05:18 pm (UTC)and totally — it’s a cliche, but there’s that saying about having to make 100 bad pots first in art because each iteration and opportunity to make mistakes is precisely how you grow. that, and each piece is allowed to be a product of its time and place instead of timelessly good. if it filled even some small need when you made it, that’s good enough. <3
no subject
Date: 2023-05-15 05:34 pm (UTC)back at you, too! it’s been a joy to see your recs on my reading list :)
no subject
Date: 2023-05-15 05:47 pm (UTC)and thank you, you’re too kind to me ;_;