Quote by AmuseBouche
Hello Laura,
English is my second language, too. Most of all - write what you want, that inspiration makes a big difference. If it is not enjoyable, stop, think, change course.
When I started writing erotic fiction it was more than the words I was using, some conventions are different than French, and we use far more adjectives which does not work so well in English. I have read my favourite French authors and then read the English translations - they are subtly different. My advice to you is to read as much English as you can, stories here, anything. It will help you find how it flows, it has its pacing, and its composition, which is unique compared to the romantic languages of Europe.
The next thing is to write small stories. I had so much time during the Paris lockdowns, that I tried to write a novel. This was silly - I know. I wrote and wrote, and wrote. My husband used to write here, and I helped him, which was a blessing in disguise. I wrote in English how French is written. It was such a mess, some 60,000 words that would need a horrific amount of editing. I go back to look at it to see if I can save it, it is too much. I struggle to write a story of 6,000 words without getting into an editing hell that takes hours of effort.
So you are doing great, write short stories, then develop. 2,000 words is ideal here, it is many people's preference. I would suggest writing often, even a micro story is helpful. Or, try to put down 200 words a day for your story - this helps, too.
Last, there are lots of great resources. I use Grammarly and take its advice, sometimes I ignore it, but it is very good. There are translation tools and thesauruses. I write in an old version of Word 2013, and it has a text-to-speech tool, which is very helpful. The robot speaks slowly and this helps to find mistakes.
I would be very happy to read over your story if you wish and offer advice where I can.
The very best of luck! Keep going.
Thank you so much for all the advice and encouragement! I'm happy I decided to ask for advice here because I have received plenty. Also, lovely people proposed to read the story to help with concrete advice, which was so helpful. After a few revisions (which I feel are still not enough), I decided that the story is complete (2.5k words). Wow you trying to write a novel, I shiver only at the idea! I love writing, but when they offered the book deal in Italian, my native language, I was humbled as I am not a professional writer and felt a lot of pressure on me, even if in Italian I'm better with my writing, as you rightly say... there are differences in translating into English. More adjectives and other things. Well, I take one more day to read it again and let's see if I'm ready to submit it. So far the response have been good but I'm quite terrible with the punctuation and spaces ![smile](https://static.fxxy.net/emoticons/emote_smile.gif)
The story is definitely something I loved to write; I'd never write something I don't feel mine; it would be a complete disaster, so thanks for reminding me of that, too! When/ if my story is approved, I will try to start another, always on the shorter side if I can (I love details. They are my ruin!!).