tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 19 06:29:21 2001
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Re: When writing Klingon fiction...
- From: "Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: When writing Klingon fiction...
- Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 09:28:30 -0400
>Are there any written versions of the story/stories of Kahless and/or
any
>other Klingon folk heroes (preferably in original Klingon)?
When writing Klingon fiction, I try to approach the task the same way I
do writing in English, with a series of questions: Do I have a good
story to tell? Is the action (plot) compelling and interesting? Do the
characters live for me, are they developed enough? Do I have an engaging
opening to the story (the hook), and is the climax satisfying?
I've written several stories in Klingon, but I'm really only happy with
two of them. Curiously, both of these were composed in Klingon, whereas
the others -- the one's I'm not so happy with -- were composed in
English and then translated.
<<qeyleS HoSDo' je>> / "Kahless and the energy being" was a fun write
and still a fun read. Looking back at it though makes me realize how
different the flow is from one language to the other. Klingon sentences
are starker, more abrupt. A literal translation of the story doesn't
have the same feel, but a looser translation nicely fits the kind of
story-telling you might hear around a campfire.
The story I wrote for STRANGE NEW WORLDS III, <<jubHa'>>, doesn't
translate into English worth a damn, but I think works remarkably well
in Klingon. This is true from the title on out. Even so, I'm probably
going to attempt to do just that next weekend. I'll be dropping in at
Balticon for a day, and if their schedule allows they want me to do a
reading in Klingon. We'll see how it goes.
Lawrence