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[RokofAges75]

*comes out from her cave*
I've barely the time to read fanfics, life has been quite crazy here for while between my grandma going to the hospital and then her moving in with us (which meant me giving her my bedroom and cleaning my brother's old bedroom); plus, after some years of being jobess and a mild depression because of that, I've decided to go back to college so now I'm preparing for the preliminary exam. Anyway, I still write (yes, still slash if any one wants to read them XD) and read (and recommend) Erika and Tracy's stories. Those are the two that actually are actually keeping still hanging here, even if only lurking. LOL

Sorry to hear about your grandma, Cinzia!  I hope she's doing better now.  Good for you for deciding to go back to college!  It will be worth it once you're done and have more opportunities to make money.

[usako]

She is doing better, thank you. Driving us nuts but better than a 31 years old like me. LOL

It's quite scaring the thought about going back to study, especially since it's been almost eight years since my "first time" but I really couldn't keep staying at home and doing Cinderella. My parents are on board with my decision and they are not putting any pressure, plus I've chosen something that I love which is "Languages and Literature", hoping to be able to work as translator once I've finished.

[RokofAges75]

That sounds like a great plan!  Your English is so good, you could definitely work as an English-Italian translator.  Do you speak any other languages?  It is hard to go back to being a student, but it comes back to you quickly, like riding a bike.  Best of luck!

[usako]

I've studied Japanese for two years but it's definitely not enough.

[RokofAges75]

I've heard Japanese is a hard language to learn.  I took four years of German in high school and wish I remembered more of it!  I was never anywhere near fluent, but I know I've forgotten a lot.  I can usually read enough German to get the gist of it and could probably speak enough for someone to get the gist of what I was trying to say (if they were willing overlook my very limited vocabulary and atrocious grammar LOL), but wouldn't be able to have a conversation with someone unless they used very simple language and spoke very slowly LOL.  It's not that hard of a language to learn, once you learn the grammar and pronunciation rules because they never change, unlike English, which is full of rule-breakers.

Translating books sounds like a perfect job for you!

[usako]

Japanese is hard and beautiful at the same time. Hard because, aside the fact that you have three alphabets to learn, they imply a lot so you have to know all the cultural meanings and aspects of a single word in order to understand and translate a single word. And that is what I've found interesting.

English is not that hard to learn, there aren't as many rules as there are in Italian, for example, where you have several conjugations for each tense (present, past and future) and adjectives change for female and male. lol Luckily, I did study Latin in high school so German isn't going to that hard to learn. I've studied it a bit some years ago and my biggest problem was that I couldn't pronounce right "Ich" (I'm a little dyslexic).

[RokofAges75]

Cinzia, do you write your stories in English, or do you write in Italian first and then translate to English?  My apologies if I've asked you that before.  I know I've asked others the same question.  I'm just always curious to hear about the process for people who write in a language that's not their first language.  Anyone else who does that can weigh in too!

[usako]

No worries 

When I first started, I would write first in Italian and then endure the long process of translating the story in English. Now, years later, my mind immediately starts plannig and plotting the story in English so I write it directly in English: I still make some mistakes, especially with verb''s tense and I'm trying to make my vocabolary richer by searching synonymous and reading lots and lots of English book. But it's rewarding knowing that I can maintain my style even in a language that's not my first. Or that I can write a 12.000 words story in two weeks and being actually satisfied about it. lol

In the end, it's just a matter of practicing: the more you use it everyday, the more you become more secure; reading books helps, watching tv-shows and movies with their original audio; listening to music, having American and English friends to talk to everyday. (Though I have to say that I find easier to follow an American show without subtitles than an English one. English's accent is beautiful but so hard to pick up!)

[RokofAges75]

I definitely think reading and watching TV would help build your vocabulary and give you a better feel for dialogue, since phrases that are popular in one language don't necessarily translate well to another.

That is interesting about finding American accents easier to understand than English.  I think English accents are beautiful, too, but even I struggle if they are really thick, especially if the person is talking quickly.  Same with Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Australian, etc.  I love all of those accents, though!

[usako]

I love the British accent (hello Benedict Cumberbatch! lol) but, yeah, it's much more difficult to follow than American.

[RokofAges75]

Do any of you do any other kind of writing in your life outside of fanfic, either for work or fun?

[KeepThisSecret]

I WISH that I had the time to do more "fun" writing. Sadly, fanfic is my only source of writing for enjoyment and/or entertainment purposes. I do; however, do quite a bit of report writing for my job. Most of the people that I work with hate the fact that we have to produce so many reports, but I actually don't mind. I'm quite fast at writing them ... maybe because I spend so much of my time outside of work writing for fun.

[RokofAges75]

Same here with wishing I had more time to write for fun.  Sometimes I'm jealous of people who write for a living... but at the same time, I don't know that I would like the pressure of feeling like I HAD to write in order to make a living, plus all the other headaches that go along with being a published author, like meeting deadlines, doing required revisions, and so on.  In my ideal world, I would just marry a rich husband so I could quit my job and write purely for fun without any of the pressure - but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen. LOL

[KeepThisSecret]

Ha! In my ideal world, I would also have a rich hubby who wouldn't care if I sat around in the sun all day sipping cocktails and writing  a best-selling novel.  Unfortunately, I kind of dropped the ball when it came to marrying a rich man!! LOL In all fairness, I'm sure my husband really wouldn't care if I sat around writing all day ... provided that I could somehow manage to go to work, clean, cook dinner, and take care of our little one all at the same time. 

It has always been my dream to write for a living. I actually think the pressure of having a deadline would motivate me. I would just love to walk into a book store and see my name on the cover of a bestseller. *sigh* I guess I will just have to settle for seeing my name on the most recent page. HAHA

Have you ever thought about trying to turn one of your fanfics into a an original work? Someone suggested that to me once, but I haven't actually had the time to sit down and attempt it.

[RokofAges75]

I think it would be so cool to see your name on a real book too.  Ask Mare, she knows that feeling!  Another writer from AC, Kelly Oram (honey), has also gone on to be quite the prolific published author, and at least one of her books was originally posted here as a fanfic.

I have thought about trying to turn one of my fanfics into an original novel and even attempted it once, but it is harder than it sounds!  A few years ago, I had the idea to rewrite my story Broken as a YA novel; I planned out all the changes I would make to de-Backstreet-ize it and even started writing it (the first few chapters are on AC), but I could never get very far on it.  I'm not sure why.  I thought it would be so easy because the original story was a breeze to write; I was obsessed with it and never had writer's block.  Re-writing has always been really tough for me, though; I lose interest in it quickly.  I think it would be easier to write an AU or something that could be revised instead of totally rewritten.  I attempted to do that with a different story, Secrets of the Heart, but I finished that one four years ago and haven't pursued trying to get it published.  Maybe someday...  It worked for the Fifty Shades writer, so why not us?