Here he is to tell you about it -
Writing
in a Foreign Language
After ten years of living in Britain, I was pretty sure I had the
language down pat. So sure, in fact, that I decided to write a novel with
British characters, living in Britain, doing British type things. The book is
out now (and, yes, this post is simply a cleverly disguised commercial message)
and I am dreading the virtual spanking I am sure to receive for getting the
language all wrong.
The book is titled Finding Rachel
Davenport and it is about a young woman who works in a travel agency by
day, but is a self-styled crime-fighter by night. This
is not a fantasy novel, however; the antics Rachel gets up to and the trouble
she soon finds herself in are grounded in the real world. Although her aim is
to operate anonymously, her first mission goes horribly awry and she finds
herself pursued by the media, the police and an assortment of criminals who
want her silenced. And so she spends the rest of the book dodging bad guys and
nosey neighbours while trying to hold onto her job and juggling two would be
suitors. But all of that is beside the point...wait a minute, no it’s not! Go
and buy the book. Right NOW!
Anyway, it was
first offered to American markets who sent it back confused about acronyms such
as PC, SOCO and even OBE. So I offered it to the Brits, and a British publisher
acquired it. And then the edits began.
Did you know they
don’t call the “produce aisle” a produce aisle here? Neither did I, but you’d
think I would have picked that up by now. As the editing process wore on, I
discover that even though I knew a lot of British words, the real trick was
knowing which of my words and phrases were American.
Handbag instead of
purse is one I know about, but having cars booted instead of clamped caused the
editor a bit of confusion. Ziploc bag, roundhouse, lay of the land, storefront
and license plate all found their way into the manuscript, and all had to be
changed to the equivalent British term. (Go ahead, see if you can get them all,
I’ll wait.) One we didn’t change was “shucked,” because there is no British
equivalent for it.
Perhaps this experience will better prepare me for another novel set in
Britain, or, if the language pundits pounce on every other paragraph, maybe
I’ll move it to America, instead, as long as I can remember to not have one of
the characters “take the piss” out of someone.
Now for the commercial message:
Finding Rachel Davenport, published by Opis, an imprint of Propsera
Publishing, is out now and available at:
Amazon.com
and Amazon.co.uk
Michael Harling moved to Britain unexpectedly (and through no fault of
his own) in 2002. He is the author of three humorous books about expat life: Postcards From Across the Pond, More Postcards From Across the Pond and Postcards From Ireland. Finding Rachel Davenport is his first
novel.
I actually found myself visualising the book after reading your blurb, would make a good film I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks for passing on this information. It sounds a really good book. You wouldn't think there was such a difference between 2*English* speaking countries but I guess there is. (I just used an American expression which we have adopted!)
ReplyDeleteMaggie X
Nuts in May
ooh sounds intriguing. Will buy one and carry it around in my handbag or should that be pocketbook? I am a brit in USA and don't understand why call it a pocket book when it is neither pocket or book. hmmmm
ReplyDeleteRoundhouse?
ReplyDeleteAnd re EmmaK's comment, I was in America for over 5 years, and never heard a handbag called a pocketbook. Is that a regional thing? Or more to do with the fact that I didn't usually carry a handbag, but stuffed my car keys in a pocket, and just had a small purse/wallet, or even just stuffed my credit card in my pocket too.
The book looks intriguing. I'm going to buy it. Well done on the choice of name. Rachel Davenport sounds incredibly English, somehow.
Before I buy it, I need to know from Mike - will buying it from the US Amazon store get me an Americanized version? Do I have to order from the UK store for the 'British' version?
ReplyDelete