Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [international]

This tag should be used for questions about international guidelines and practices in regards to the craft of writing, such as questions about international publishing or international marketing of books.

This tag should be used for questions about international guidelines and practices in regards to the craft of writing, such as questions about international publishing or international marketing of books. You should specify whether you for example are seeking tips, want to learn something about or seeking advice on international .

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Is there a hemisphere-neutral way of specifying a season?

I want to refer to the timeframe of Summer 2019 in the Northern hemisphere. However, the writing is intended for a global audience, and when it is Summer in the Northern hemisphere it will be Winter in the southern hemisphere. Is there terminology I…
Jimmy
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9 answers

Do publishers really need to translate between UK and US English?

Is there really a need for a book to be translated from UK to US English? I'm nearing completion on my own great work, and just want to know if it is truly worth doing a British and an American version, or just release the current version in its UK…
Starkers
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6 answers

How to deal with a story that 95% of it takes place in a different language country and the protagonist speaks in it?

The protagonist is from a certain country, and in some point of the story he moves to another one that speaks another language. The protagonist learns their language and talks with them in it. Movies (usually North American ones) set in another…
Yuuza
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6 answers

How do I write real-world stories separate from my country of origin?

I live in India. And the stories I write don't want to. The thing is, as you all might already know, my country has an extremely- excessively, perhaps- rich cultural and historical heritage. It's imbued in each and every part of our daily life in…
Udbhav Seth
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10
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4 answers

Is 'temping' a culture-specific term?

I have a character working in a short-term temporary position in an organisation and refer to her doing the work using the usual UK word, 'temping'. Will this be understood by readers in the US and other English-speaking cultures? If not, is there…
Tony Linde
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UK vs. US editions of fiction

I am reading a novel the copy of which was bought and published in the US, but the novel was written and copyrighted by a British author and first published in the UK.* Apart from the apparent changes in orthography (candour->candor), a couple of…
anemone
8
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3 answers

How to find the right literary agent in the USA?

I want to publish an English language book in the USA as a foreigner. Someone told me that the USA is mainly interested in American subjects, so anything else is quite hard to sell. Besides the fact of what America does towards non-American books…
user38951
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3 answers

Who translates made-up words from popular fiction into other languages?

When an author produces a popular fictional work (take Harry Potter) that's translated into many languages not native to the author, who decides how fictional words from that work are translated? In the above example, I'm thinking specifically of…
Will
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Are significant edits made to books first published in the USA, for the UK market?

An answer on sci-fi, "What passages were removed or changed from the North American version of His Dark Materials?" lists the changes that were made to The Amber Spyglass for its initial publication in America. A further example is the change from…
James K
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4 answers

Plain translation or cultural adaptation?

I've written my first novel in Spanish, my native language. The main character is Spanish and starts in Madrid, then goes to Zürich and ends up in the Alps. I've tried to get it published with no success so far. Independently of the self-publishing…
ggambetta
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How can you submit your writings internationally?

I live in Argentina, and I've always wondered if (given the case of having something worthy) I'd be able to submit it to publishers in, for example, the USA. Of course the writing would be in English. Is it possible? How can it be done?
juan
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3 answers

Usage of an old photo with expired copyright

I would like to use an old photo/postcard (example 1, example 2) for a non-commercial poster. The poster is for a school assignment. The photo would illustrate a map and text about the history of the Flying Bluenose. The copyright of the original…
Thomas
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Do self publishers need to support punctuation differences for different markets?

I am an Australian, first time author, intending to self publish. I have prepared the manuscript using the Australian English dictionary in MS Word. Many words are spelled differently in different countries. (Theatre/theater, colour/color etc) Also,…
Patrick Roberts
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2 answers

Referring to people in a book

I'm writing a book (travelogue) about Japan, comparing it to Sweden, where I'm from. During my travels I communicated mostly in Japanese but occasionally in English and Swedish. The book is in English with some words or expressions in Japanese that…
Jay
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Can I publish a "revised edition" of my book with a different publisher?

I published my book in 2013 with one publisher in India. As I was unhappy with the publisher—he had made changes to the book while editing which I was not happy with—the book did not do very well. I have now revised the book and want to publish,…
Shankar Kashyap
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