This month we got a chance to talk to MermaidAriel13 about their retelling work 'A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers'!

Read more to know about their writing journey as an ESL user and learn more useful tips from them. And below is the premise of their "A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers"

William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, with a magical twist. A most unlikely pair is matched by the Queen of the Faeries. Can their love stop the strife that holds fair Verona in its grasp and keep the shadow of Death at bay?

* * *

0. 

Tell us something about the language(s) you're fluent in.

Tell us something about the language(s) you're fluent in. I speak 7 languages, of which 4 fluently – Dutch, Spanish, French, English, German, Italian, and Mandarin. I'm currently "learning" Japanese by watching anime. 

 I grew up bilingual at home - my native tongue is Flemish, the Dutch dialect from Belgium, and Spanish. Apart from those, I got French at the age of 10 in school, a mandatory language to learn in Belgium since we are literally cut in half with Flandres in the North and Walloon in the South. 

 There's also a tiny little part that speaks German in the East, another mandatory language that most schools teach at age 13/14. This is perhaps the language I struggle with the most, even after years of speaking it. The grammar is quite difficult sometimes. 

One of my favorite holiday destinations is Italy, so I wanted to be able to speak that language as well. I practice at home sometimes with my mother, who worked in Sicily for a few years, and with my uncle, who is Italian, to keep it up. When I got my job at the international airport, I got to work for a Chinese airline, and we struggled a lot with the language barrier. I took night classes weekly for about two years to get a firm basis. Regrettably, since leaving that job, I haven't spoken it as much as I would like, but I try to practice independently. 

And then, of course, English – self-taught when I was 8. I got the video for Pocahontas without subtitles, so I rewatched it on repeat for days on end with a children's dictionary and wrote down what I didn't understand (without knowing the proper grammar, mind you.). Once I got into that, I started reading English books. I never had to study for it at school but always had high marks because I started early. At this point, English has become like a third native tongue for me, and I've mastered several accents. I also teach English to senior citizens as a volunteer in our community center.  

1.

How did you discover Wattpad, and what has your journey here been like so far? 

I found Wattpad 3 years ago when looking for fanfictions of some of my favorite movies and series and got intrigued by the platform. It seemed like a good place for a debuting author to grow. I was halfway through my novel and needed feedback, so the discovery came at just the opportune moment. Apart from that, I also wanted to try my hand at my own fanfictions, and the platform again felt like the best way to start that up. From there, I continued to explore and try my hand at what Wattpad offered, like prompts for contests such as Retell The Classics. 

2.

'A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers' is a Romeo and Juliet retelling. How was your experience taking a classic story and reworking it into something new? 

I believe the challenge of retelling a story that is so well-established is creating and introducing the twist. Do you put it in the beginning and change everything, or do you approach more like a 'what if...?' scenario by having a character do something different, for example? I've had some experience with retelling, though, so it does come easy to me. My first was a school assignment where we had to combine fairy or folk tales that shared a common foe – I chose Three Little Pigs and Red Riding Hood. And it's not that different from what I do in the fanfictions that I currently write; I stick to known elements and add my own story to it. I enjoy doing that, and it's a great outlet for my very vivid imagination.

3.

 'A Pair of Star Crossed Lovers' was written for a contest, how was it like to write a story with a time limit and word count limit? Did you face any difficulties? 

 I actually had less time because I was leaving on a trip of almost 3 weeks with limited Wi-Fi access, so I only had 9 days to come up with something. I tend to work better under pressure, though. When the contest was announced, it happened to coincide with when I rediscovered the French musical of Romeo & Juliet, and my mind just took it from there. The story was written in 5 days, 1 chapter per day. I struggled with two things. One was keeping to the word count because I tend to write lengthy stories, so I constantly checked the count and cut what wasn't necessary or rephrased where I could, which is not easy to do in Shakespeare English. And that brings me to my second point – retaining the bard's authentic language wasn't that difficult in dialogue since I had my collection of his work to fall back on, but I had to keep that same vibe in the narrative. That was very tricky. I looked at other English authors, albeit from a different age, to see how I could swing it, and I think I managed it well enough.

4.

As an ESL writer, what aspect of English that you found most interesting and most tough? 

I love how English is a bit of a mixed bag of old and new. It has such great influences of the past, yet continues to grow even now in this modern age. 

 Specifically, in writing, the only thing that can be challenging is following the correct grammar rules and trying to be diverse in, for example, adverbs and adjectives (so using synonyms and such), but that's the same for any language. But overall, I enjoy writing in English. It comes very naturally to me, and like I said before, it's practically become a native tongue for me. About 90% of my library is English books, so I have lots of great examples to fall back on if I struggle with something. 

5.

How do you approach the editing process? Do you enjoy editing or simply dread it?

It's a love-hate relationship when it comes to editing. I was in the Wattys Bootcamp BootcampMentors with and learned a lot there. My mentor neverfakeit taught me so much about cutting, rephrasing, editing, etc., and we managed to shrink a book with a word count of 280K to 240K in just two months. I've since edited all my works on Wattpad, and it's odd to do that on your own work. On the one hand, it's fun and interesting because, if the story is still ongoing, you get a fresh take on what you've already written, which can give you a boost on how to continue. On the other hand, it can be very cringy. I finished my edits with the first story I posted on Wattpad three years ago and often thought, 'what the hell was I thinking when I wrote this?!'  

6.

Any top writing tips you'd like to share with other ESL writers starting out?

In terms of tools to help an ESL writer;

- For editing, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Scrivener, etc.

- For translation, www.interglot.com (English, Dutch, French, Spanish, German, Finnish) and www.translate.com (over 70 languages)

- For synonyms/antonyms and looking up definitions, www.thesaurus.com

The most important to remember is - don't be afraid to make mistakes and let yourself be heard. Writing in your own native tongue can be hard, let alone one that you're still learning. I've been speaking, reading, and writing English since I was 8, and I still make mistakes sometimes. If someone points out a grammar/spelling error or suggests rephrasing something, this is often done to help, so don't dismiss it, believing they're a nitpicker. Take it into consideration and see where you can implement it. We grow from our mistakes, and there's no such thing as perfection (even if we claim it, sometimes).

* * *

That is all, folks!

Thank you for chatting with us, Lorraine! We wish you all the best on your writing endeavor. 

Until then, happy reading!