I wrote the first draft of 'Madame Bovary' without studying the previous translations, although I gathered them and took the occasional peek.
From Lydia Davis
My stories are sometimes closer to poems or meditations, but often there is at least a little narrative in them.
I do see an interest in writing for Twitter. While publishers still do love the novel and people do still like to sink into one, the very quick form is appealing because of the pace of life.
Often, the idea that there can be a wide range of translations of one text doesn't occur to people - or that a translation could be bad, very bad, and unfaithful to the original.
I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!
I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.
I never dream in French, but certain French words seem better or more fun than English words - like 'pois chiches' for chick peas!
I don't pare down much. I write the beginning of a story in a notebook and it comes out very close to what it will be in the end. There is not much deliberateness about it.
I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I often wish I were.
I started writing the one-sentence stories when I was translating 'Swann's Way.' There were two reasons. I had almost no time to do my own writing, but didn't want to stop. And it was a reaction to Proust's very long sentences.
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