Heyho there! Have you ever asked yourself if you can write a novel in English when English is not your mother tongue? Whether you are aiming to publish your very own fanfiction or decided to write a book, there is a number of problems that you will probably have encountered already.
When I first started writing in English in 2016, I started with Imagines and fanfiction and I quickly realised that while I had a vast vocabulary in German (my native tongue), I was missing quite a few terms and phrases and synonyms to write the way I wanted to in English. But I promise you, regardless of what the Internet is trying to tell you—just because your native language isn’t English, that doesn’t mean you can’t publish books or Imagines in that language.
So I sat down and thought back to the things I did and partially still do when I write in English and I gathered 12 tips that have been very helpful for me. They’re all based on my personal experience and while they focus on writing in English, they can be applied to any language you want to write in. Let’s go!
- Read English books. Dozens of them.
Now the first tip is probably the most obvious. If you are already reading English fanfiction and books, that is great! Keep them coming! You have no idea how many phrases, terms and how much vocabulary your brain subconsciously picks up on until one day, you start using words you didn’t even know you had saved up there. Here’s the thing: When you read a book and you come across a new word, it’s not always necessary to look up a translation. If you can still pick up from the rest of the sentence what the word means, your brain will automatically make a mental note. I call this the “going back to learning languages like an infant” method. Listen, it doesn’t sound fancy but an infant doesn’t have translations in their head. They will see a guitar and their parents will tell them “That’s a guitar”. They won’t tell them that “guitar” means “Gitarre” (in German). It’s a very practical way of picking up new words and that makes a huge impact on your own writing.
- Practice your language skills.
When you’re not reading, what you want to do is improve your language skills regardless. Learning a language is a process and you never really stop. I live in London and have been speaking English for over a decade and I still come across new words every now and then! My favourite tip for language learners is to watch your favourite TV shows and films in English—at first with subtitles in your native language, then with subtitles in English and sooner or later you will realise that you won’t need subtitles anymore at all. It’s a great way to pick up colloquial speech as well as new words, terms and phrases.
- Keep a list of words.
If you ever do come across a word (and you will) that makes you question the entire context or sentence, you can still look it up! I recommend you keep a list of new vocabulary, either digitally or in a notebook. That’s a direct way of forcing your brain to acknowledge the new word. This method is also quite fancy for words you do understand but would only love to use for your own writing at some point!
- Save synonym websites to your bookmarks.
If you read a lot, you will automatically start improving your writing skills. There is a difference between your active and your passive vocabulary though, so your first difficulty to overcome will be turning your passive vocabulary (aka all the new words you know but don’t necessarily actively use) into your active vocabulary. It’s like building a house. You start with the ground floor with basic vocabulary, syntax and grammar rules and work your way up—once you’ve got the foundation, you can build a first floor in the form of synonyms to broaden your vocabulary. No one likes too many word repetitions, so why not use “profound” instead of “deep”? The websites that I use are:
- Save dictionaries to your bookmarks.
It’s a little self-explanatory but I want to tell you about my method. I have been writing in English for more than eight years now and I still come across terms I don’t know the translation of. Don’t rely on Google Translate. Whenever I’m in a “writing flow” and there is a word I want to use but don’t know the translation of, I write the word down in my native language but with capital letters and then I highlight it. Here’s a random example:
“Quiet music was DUDELN from the hidden speakers in the corners of the bar, adding to the calming atmosphere.”
It might look ridiculous but it will not disturb your flow as much. Once you’re done with the chapter or the paragraph and you’ve got a moment to think, look it up. The dictionaries I use (and that I found to be the most reliable and easiest to navigate) are:
- Look up the meaning of your words and make sure you use them right!
Let me give you an example. The German word “Gesellschaft” has two meanings, in English, however, there are two different words for it. The first is “society”, and the second is “company”. If you need to translate a word, make sure you use the correct one. In addition to that, if you are unsure of how to use a term or phrase in a sentence exactly because of the correct preposition etc., these websites usually help me with this all the time:
- Do your research on punctuation.
Punctuation in English might be different than punctuation in your native language. While the odd missing comma here and there might not matter, messing up punctuation can disturb the reading flow. Make sure to familiarise yourself with how to use quotation marks and when commas are used in English sentences. It can be tricky. I too struggle with putting commas in the right place but if you are ever in doubt, simply copy and paste the phrase into Google and search for it. The Word Reference forum (https://forum.wordreference.com/) and this website (https://english.stackexchange.com/) are very helpful for this as well. Other than that, there are countless sources for a collection of punctuation rules in the English language available online for free. This is the one that I use: https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation_rules.asp
- Use grammar tools/grammar checkers to check your spelling and phrasing
First things first: A grammar tool does not replace an editor and/or proofreader when it comes to a book. But especially when you’re working without an editor for non-commercial online stuff, grammar tools are a great way to pick up on typos and other spelling/punctuation/grammar mistakes you might have made. Needless to say, especially the free programmes are not flawless which is why you will want to use more than one different grammar checker to be sure. The one that I use most frequently is “Grammarly”. You can install a free add-on to your Word and it will make you aware of mistakes, especially when it comes to commas and prepositions (my two great weaknesses, haha!). Other grammar checkers you can use for free are listed here (the ones marked with * I haven’t personally used yet).
- https://www.grammarly.com/
- https://www.reverso.net/spell-checker/english-spelling-grammar/
- https://linguix.com/*
- https://languagetool.org
- https://www.outwrite.com/*
- https://www.scribens.com/*
Please note that nearly all of these grammar checkers have a premium version that comes with a monthly cost. It’s up to you whether you want to invest in that but even then, keep in mind they still can’t replace an editor or a proofreader for a book!
- Post your work!
If you would like to keep your novel a secret and you don’t want to post anything about it until it’s finished, that’s fair enough. But if you write any short stories or other types of fictional stories you won’t publish commercially, or fanfiction, that’s a great way to practice. I’m unable to count the number of times I have been told by readers that they want to post their own Imagines but they’re too scared of whether they’re good enough but you know what? Just go for it! What’s the worst thing that could happen? Never make the quality of your work dependent on how many notes/likes/reblogs/kudos/comments you get or how many books you sell. Of course, it can be frustrating not to get any interaction on social media but readerships grow over years! It’s nice to get feedback and especially if you are a non-native speaker, use the opportunity and ask for direct feedback on your writing! Tumblr and Archive of Our Own are great places for that and helped me so much back in the day!
- Don’t be afraid of making mistakes!
Before you can consider publishing a novel in a foreign language and feel confident enough to do so, you will have to accept that you are not perfect. As I mentioned before, I have been learning English for more than thirteen years. That’s a long time. Do I know every single word? No. Do I know every idiom and every colloquial phrase? No. Do I still come across terms in books I need to look up? Yes! Do I still make mistakes myself? Of course! There’s probably even mistakes in this blog post right now! Even if you reach the “native level” in a language, what you have to keep in mind is that spoken language is very much different from written language. Just take sex scenes for example. How many synonyms for “penis” would you use in daily life, apart from the rather naughty ones like “cock” and “dick”? Member? Length? Manhood? Erection? Probably none of those. It’s okay to make mistakes. Think of it this way: With every mistake you make, you improve yourself and proofreaders are here to help for this exact reason!
- Consider getting a Beta reader.
Now, this step is purely optional. Beta readers receive your writing before you post it and go through it to spot mistakes, typos and other errors. There are a number of people both on Tumblr and AO3 who do this for free. Simply make a post or add it as a comment to one of your stories if you’re looking for one. If you are planning on publishing a book, getting two or three Beta readers/test readers whose native language is English is something that can help a lot before you hire an editor.
- Don’t get frustrated.
So you’ve done it. You’ve done everything I stated above and still, somehow, every now and then, you find yourself to be unable to phrase something the way you want to. Every now and then, you realise that you made a silly mistake and sometimes, your brain shuts down and you’ll need to take a break from writing in English altogether. It’s okay. Writing in a foreign language is a process—one that you can’t learn overnight. So be patient and keep going! I think that if you’ve asked yourself the question if you should write your novel in English, you’re probably already reading in English… you’re also reading this blog post after all! And if you’re reading in English, it’s only a matter of time and practice until you can write in English as well! You got this!
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