Friday, December 18, 2015

Writing matters


Although in December 2014 I uploaded Chance of Reign via the German ePubli platform so that it would be on offer not only as a Kindle edition but also in a range of other ebook shops, a revision of the manuscript has been since the month of May once again my 'work-in-progress'. (Link is to audio.)


The currently available version is a 1,548 KB file, estimated to amount to about 541 pages of trade paperback reading. But I found myself needing to return to the story, to extend my account to include happenings (both true and fictitious) in the August and September of 1936. My research leads me to astonishing discoveries with regard to that year.

It's going to be a much fatter file and if printed as a 'booky book' would probably bear a resemblance to a telephone directory. Does this imply that I'll earn more than the paltry sum thus far received in royalties from ePubli (EUR 2,75 in July)? Probably not. But the fate of my characters fascinates me and the work has kept me happily busy during the long months uninterrupted by paying work.  


Today, however, a change of context! Not paying work, but an unremunerated assignment I welcome for a number of reasons. Su Turhan's Munich thriller Kommissar Pascha I found brilliant when I first read it.

How good is it? Enough to be filmed as a television movie for the state ARD channel. Enough to be licensed to an English-language publisher? In my opinion, yes! 

So maybe my translation of a fifty page excerpt will help in that regard... I hope so. More significantly, even if unpaid, this job will be my chance to show that I can handle creative literary translation and not just the kind of mundane commercial stuff I was dealing with (and making a living from) in years past. 

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