Hi, everyone! I stumbled upon this forum from a Twitter link a while ago. I'm querying MURDER IS TEMPORARY (formerly known as CONVENTION OF IMMORTALS), a speculative murder mystery with immortals. This book has been in the works for years and I made the mistake of writing the first 3 drafts in my native language, before realizing the local book market is depressingly tiny. Did you know a book's tone, mood, and voice can change completely depending on the language? I didn't and I experienced it first hand when, from some fun satirical story, it turned into a dark, deceptive mystery. :) Anyway, I'm on draft 9 now and I'm one of those writers who queried way too early (my word count was a mess back in November when I sent the first batch).
Outside of writing, I've studied architecture (my stories all have weird descriptions of buildings). I love dinosaurs, birdwatching, going to geek conventions (not during the pandemic), and tricking everyone else that I have a green thumb when I secretly just have a bunch of plants that won't die, even if I try to kill them.
Thank you! Mine was 125k and in desperate need of copy/line editing.
The translation process was super weird. In paralel, I wrote the first draft of the second book in the series in English simply to find and practice my voice. That one sounded way better from the get-go and proved crucial in figuring out how to rewrite, rewrite, and again rewrite the first volume until it seemed natural. Some characters sounded way better in English, others lost their voice because English doesn't have certain grammar structures, but overall it became a coherent thing after more drafts of revision than I wish upon my enemies.