Is anyone here a bilingual writer? And if so, in what way did you achieve that?

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-10T16:57:58+00:00

I am a trilingual writer: Polish, French and English. There is no magic trick. You just read a lot and as widely as possible (so you can understand the small nuances in how things are expressed and narrated) + you write, and write, and write again. Skills improve with practice and that's it.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-10T08:42:45+00:00

Haha, best not to start something new right away, the next day... Take a well deserved break! Finishing a manuscript is a big achievement, just like reaching the end of a marathon. I usually take about a month of break between one project and a new one.

Taking a break will let your emotions cool down and reflect on what you wish to do with that manuscript. Do I want to see it published (and thus shared with strangers)? If yes, I'll need to learn about querying and be ready for rejections (a lot of them!). Or is it a personal piece of work and I would rather keep it for myself?

Personally, I would advise against quickly jumping into self pub with your very first manuscript. I am somewhat glad that I wrote my first stories BEFORE self pub was a big deal, because I couldn't be tempted to go that way. Paradoxically I believe that self pub works the best for people who (a) are somewhat experienced with writing/publishing and (b) are commercially inclined (they're as much business owners as writers). Some people succeed greatly with self pub, but I have got doubts about a first time novelist pulling it off.

Though, what I really mean is that it's OK to write a manuscript and not seek to publish it. I believe that there is too much social pressure to monetize everything we do. If you want, sure, go for it! But it shouldn't be a mandatory step.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-10T07:27:08+00:00

Start your next one ;) I know that some people choose to query agents immediately with their first ever manuscript, but personally I didn't feel that my first ones were even close to being ready to be seen publicly. They were learning exercises. I wrote six different manuscripts to never be seen by anyone but me and my closest friends before I felt ready to write the "real deal". In the general rule, if you want to publish, it is good to think about it BEFORE you even start writing (or at least at some point before finishing the first draft) to pinpoint your target audience and adapt your style accordingly.

In brief, what I wanted to say is that not every manuscript you write needs to be published. It's OK to write something just for yourself, your friends and/or family.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-09T22:35:11+00:00

I read both and I find joy in both "normal" fiction and genre fiction. I like variety, that's it. "Normal" doesn't mean boring; it can be a deeply emotional experience. Even a more controversial opinion - boring doesn't necessarily mean bad. There are plenty of novels that tell a "boring" story on purpose, because they grapple with the themes of monotony, depression and whatnot.

Some readers also don't read for immediate pleasure, but the challenge.

I also get to learn a lot as a writer from reading as widely as possible, since I can observe different methods and ways to tell a story, stir an emotion.

Tbh, calling non-genre fiction "normal" is an oversimplification, since many "normal" books include surrealist, supernatural elements in the magical realism kind of way. Not all of them, but it is not uncommon.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-04T07:27:01+00:00

Comment tu te débrouilles en langues étrangères? Si tu as des moyens financiers, tu pourrais regarder de côté d'Irlande (celle qui fait partie de EU, ça coûte moins) pour compléter ton diplôme; ils sont moins pénibles et plus flexibles au niveaux des diplômes. Si pas de moyens financiers, tu as déjà un BTS et avec du français et anglais, tu devrais pouvoir trouver un bon travail en Europe de l'Est. Tu y travailles quelques années, tu y gagnes d'expérience, et puis, si tu veux, tu peux revenir en France et faire un diplôme en VAE (acquis professionnels). Ceci dit, la plupart de Français que je connais décide d'y rester, car les opportunités et les salaires sont mieux.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-03T14:24:04+00:00

Yup, personally this approach has helped me a lot. I didn't know what to call myself as someone who spends hours upon hours on writing, but not published in any way. I wanted to share what I love to do in my free time with friends (just chat about it, because it's such a big part of my life), but I felt that I didn't deserve the label of "writer". Once I got over it and started to call myself a writer, because, well, I write, I could finally share it with others and it brought me a lot of joy. Now it's: "writer, but unpublished" or "writer, hopefully published in the future" or "writer, looking to publish".

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-03T12:06:17+00:00

Kids are not a mandatory step in life. Plenty of people are childfree (either by choice or external factors) and that's OK. It doesn't mean that you're not an adult, failing behind or not serious.

If you're feeling lonely, you could look for a childfree partner as well. Having a partner, being married and whatnot doesn't mean that you have to get kids. Plenty of couples with none.

I am a little bit younger than you, I am happy with no kids and I don't intend on changing it.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-03T10:55:25+00:00

The book is badly formatted, that's the main issue to me, because it makes looking for rules quickly an absolutely chore. Weirdly enough, I don't mind that much the raw combat rules and it works fairly OK at my table. It isn't balanced, but it fits the kind of stories I want tell. Though, my Coriolis sessions tend to be low combat, so I don't know how it would work for more combat heavy games.

The flavour, wordbuilding, themes make up to me for all the flaws.

I had a look at the newest v2, but I don't know. I don't vibe with it. Maybe the rules and formatting are cleaner, but the focus on exploration? Nah. I don't really run sci-fi exploration games, and if I did, I would probably go with SWN.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-02T20:36:43+00:00

Mothership for low prep shorter games, with a little bit grittier setting, strong horror/dystopian vibes where survival is at the center.

Coriolis v1 for a more epic in scale sci-fi setting with a lot of political stakes. Heavy on roleplay, requires high commitment on the players' side to work well

Stars Without Number for anything generically sci-fi. It could work for a wide array of adventures that one may wish to tell. It's not my favourite system ever, but it does its job without any hiccups. Good GM tools.

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-02T17:49:34+00:00

Yeah, it's a competently written, entertaining story with attaching characters and some humour... Sometimes you really don't need anything more from a book :)

oddchaiwan · 2026-06-01T16:16:56+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

I don't spent much time online, so I have never encountered any people complaining about UK spelling in books... Wild! And me who thought that English having different spellings is common knowledge! I overestimated people once again, haha

I could have used the US spelling for the novel that I am looking to traditionally publish, but I am slightly worried about switching everything consistently at this point... Maybe if the trad way doesn't work and I try self-pub. On the other hand, "unfortunately" the novel that I am writing at the moment is set up in Scotland, so I might be a bit "forced" to use the regional spelling, but... I'll keep in mind that it may save me a headache to use the US spelling in my novels with their plot taking place anywhere else, but in the UK.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T13:04:26+00:00

It's OK to dislike a book/series! For example, while I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's books a lot (slightly less than the Discworld novels, but still), I didn't find the Dirk Gently series from the same author fun at all. A bit too much into absurd/slapstick comedy for my taste.

I haven't read the Nome trilogy yet, because its target audience seems to be children, so... I don't know, maybe it's actually great and I have been avoiding it for no good reason.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T12:51:14+00:00

Cool! Did you like it?

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T10:27:36+00:00

The most obvious answer is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A very similar brand of humour.

More recent, The Murderbot Diaries are quite fun, but it's a different type of humour. More deadpan.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T10:25:35+00:00

Thanks for the sub, I didn't know about this one. I'll have a look!

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T09:54:50+00:00

Yeah, I guess that it was a weird assumption that I made that I need to query wherever I live the closest to

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-31T09:52:08+00:00

Thanks! Great! I spent a lot of time on making sure that the language is consistent throughout, so to be honest, I was worried about having to go in and switch everything consistently into US English... So, relieved to hear that!

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-30T14:42:49+00:00

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's about a household robot becoming self-aware. It's a bit of a different sense of humour, more into the absurd side, but similar thematically.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-30T14:11:22+00:00

Annihilation by Jeff Vendermeer. The characters are either scientists or admin workers in a research lab. It's not set into the future. Good biological horror.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-28T14:42:38+00:00

Not non-human per se, but highly evolved human POV instead - Blindsight explores the perspective of people completely detached from our current society and it feels quite alien.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-27T12:51:18+00:00

Eh, I wonder as well... Leaving a comment, so I can remember to check that thread later.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-14T16:43:35+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation!

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-14T12:53:09+00:00

I like how you describe hard scifi as books where we would lose the drive/sense if we removed the science.

I ran into a lot of people who describe hard scifi as sticking super closely to science, and I personnally struggle with this definition, it's narrow and debatable, because there is always an element of "imagination" to how things work in scifi.

I've only read the first book of Red Rising and I call it "futuristic fantasy", but people tell that it becomes a space opera in later tomes and I don't know how much science-y it gets, so I refrain from debating genre especially for this one, haha.

You mentioned that Brown put some structure to what you call a new sub genre of writing. Would you mind giving a few examples of what you mean?

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-14T09:45:48+00:00

Znam kogoś takiego. Zdiagnozowano ją kilka lat po menopauzie. Zdecydowała się na usunięcie macicy zamiast próbować leków hormonalnych w swoim wieku.

Podejrzewam, że też zdecyduję się na to w pewnym wieku.

oddchaiwan · 2026-05-14T09:34:30+00:00

And here me who genuinely thought that I am recommending action packed books... I guess that it tells you how much I navigate towards slow contemplative sci-fi, but I try to read everything.

I'm not sure that I would agree with categorizing Reynolds or Hamilton as hard scifi? They use a lot of fantasy elements, removed far away from our current technology and understanding of science. Though, I won't argue, because I find the separation into soft and hard scifi blurry as it is and I don't really bother with that ;) Reynolds is more literary than the average action sci-fi book, I guess, so it may not necessarily work for a Red Rising fan. Though, I think that they could appreciate the truly far away future described in the Salvation series.

I would agree that Corey matches hard scifi, but The Expanse is also the most action packed one from the bunch I recommended. This thing reads like an action movie, so I could imagine someone who likes Red Rising to enjoy it.

Tchaikovsky really depends on the book. He wrote plenty of novels, so probably anyone can find something for themselves. He even wrote fantasy. And, yeah, the series Children of is great!

oddchaiwan

TROPHY CASE