tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 03 13:55:31 2002
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Re: Translating into Klingon
- From: "Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Translating into Klingon
- Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 13:55:09 -0500
> In that case, does anyone have any tips for
> *writing* stories in Klingon? :)
When I'm not wearing my KLI Director hat, I'm a professional writer. I
apply the same criteria to my English stories as I do to the ones I write
in Klingon. If I'm successful, then I can answer "yes" to the following
questions:
1) Does the story entertain the reader?
2) Does the story hold the reader's attention from the first sentence on?
3) Does the protagonist change or otherwise grow as a result of the story's
events?
4) Do the characters interact in a reasonable way (or at least plausibly
so, given who/what they are)?
5) Are the characters believeable within the context and parameters of the
story?
6) When it's all over, will the reader care at all about what happened?
Arguably, you should be able to apply these questions to *any* work of
fiction.
There are tricks and exercises that can help a writer achieve all of these
things. Despite the many books on the subject, I fall into the group of
writers who believe you CANNOT teach someone to be a writer. Like mastery
of Klingon, it takes a great deal of effort and practice. There are
techniques that can help you along your way, but nothing will replace hard
work.
Lawrence