3.3.14 Favourite authors

This was again a freeform question meant to provide some insight into the fanfiction translator-author engagement.

About 49 (64,4%) participants declared they had no favourite authors, the most frequent reason being that what’s important is the story and the themes (including a particular pairing), regardless of the author.

The rest of the respondents (27) list reasons that may look factually similar, but they are often formulated in a way that suggests a deep admiration on the part of the translator and hope they would be able to live up to the challenge of translating the selected stories. At least one response points out that not only do translators have their favourite authors, but authors can have their “favourite” translators, too.

Selection of the answers is provided:

“Bez-chan, Xeres Malfoy, AnneM, AkashaTheKitty, Gravidy and many others, because of their twists, style and passion.”

“Vanityfair, duj, FerPotter, Galfoy, Bad Mum - their style suits me, their name guarantees a good and well-written story.”

“No, I only have favourite authors when it comes to reading :) [When it comes to translating,] I like to choose authors based on their writing skills (I don't like stories that are too primitive, it makes me want to enhance the text, which is wrong) and their popularity abroad.”

“What kind of a question is that? For the same reasons one likes any other literature author … I like their style, plot, ability to express an idea, the way they see the world, I find their stories enriching …”

“Yes, Loten. Her interpretation of the characters was unconventional, but still realistic (if we can call characters from the Harry Potter world realistic). She was good at building up tension and making her readers cry and laugh. Another favourite author of mine is Jess Pallas, who explained in her stories the reason the wizards were afraid of werewolves. She could portray the characters in such a fascinating way that I literally couldn't breathe at times while reading. There was nothing black and white about her characters. They were all flawed, which is why I loved them.”

“Yes. There were two authors in particular that I followed and whose stories I was a big fan of. Their style and values, as represented in their writing, really resonated with me and were quite exceptional within the fandom. For a while, I even enjoyed a bit of a translation "exclusivity" for Czech - when anyone else asked them for permission to translate one of their stories into Czech, they would give me priority and ask me if I wanted to translate it first :)”

“Unfortunately not”

“I have so far only translated one novel by Kayla Silverstorm. What attracts me to her work are her themes, well established plots, realistic characters and a story that doesn’t come across as cheap, plus her writing style. It's a beautiful challenge for me to seek such words in Czech, which will allow me to channel both the meaning and the emotion.”

“Absolutely and for various reasons, which include the particular type of story, the writing style (English style) and the author's originality. Sometimes their reaction to the request for translation permission.”

“Writing style, language complexity”

“Yes, there's always a certain characteristic of the particular author that suits me. The first condition is quality diction. Then, when it comes to long stories, I need complex characters and a complex plot (I can't stand shallow, stereotypical motivations). With short stories and translations, I appreciate an intriguing plot, humour or I simply need the story to move me.”

“I had favourite authors. Why? Because they wrote what I wanted to read. And when I felt just reading and enjoying the story without much effort, I had to translate the story myself. When you translate from a language you haven't mastered yet, you might be able to get the basic plot right, but you'll miss the overall atmosphere of the story. To avoid these issues, I tried my best to create a good translation - at that time, google translate was my best friend.”

“Yes, within the Shakespeare fandom I like to translate slash authors, who could identify slash in the canon texts and knew how to use it.”

“Yes. One of them had a perfect grasp of English and an unbelievable vocabulary range - that was challenging. The other is exceptionally intelligent and uses extremely complex characters and plots.”