All the best things I know how to say are inspired by reading or hearing others use it first and liking it.
One of the pleasures of being read and edited is the way it expands your own language and mind. It makes you a better translator. More words and more tricks up your sleeve to deal with the problems left on the page for you by the original author. Of course, it goes without saying that when translating, the ultimate inspiration for the text you’re writing is the author’s original version. Sometimes you’re inspired by them.
In the first proper chapter of ‘Bloody Awful in Different Ways’, Andrev says:
Växtmagikern ska lära mig en sista sak men jag kan inte börja där. (Det har jag väl förvisso redan gjort men jag tänker att ansatsen kan ligga kvar för den duger som brofäste till en dramaturgisk båge.)
That use of ‘dramaturgisk’ is interesting (my Norstedts Swedish-English dictionary tells me it means ‘dramaturgic’) – I don’t think I’ve encountered the word in any translation I’ve worked on before (with the exception of a volume on critical theory in the performing arts) and it strikes me as unusual. Still, it felt right. A bit offbeat, yes, but right. My editor questioned it. But I stood my ground.
This is a cute sidebar from our author (it’s even bracketed!) rather than our protagonist (if you’ll tolerate this confusing distinction). It’s also revisited in the opening lines of Part 3 about the Thief, and that echo when using a difficult word like ‘dramaturgy’ is so satisfying in a way that a simpler alternative wouldn’t be. And so, inspired by Andrev’s own choice, I stuck with it.
The Plant Magician is going to teach me one final thing, but I shouldn’t start there. (I have most assuredly already done so, but I think the attempt should remain, given its aptness as a bridge to a dramaturgical arc.)