One of the best things about being a Harlequin author is the way our stories are translated and sold all round the world.  Every now and then a packet drops through my door, and I find a copy of one of my books in French or Arabic or Finnish or Indonesian … or any one of the twenty three languages they’ve been translated into so far.  Getting an edition in a new language is always exciting, and I can waste several minutes looking through the book carefully, as if I could actually read Greek or Hungarian. 

On Saturday, something even better arrived in the mail: my first mangas.

I know from my royalty statements that I’ve had other stories made into graphic novels, but this was the first time I’d seen them and there’s nothing like holding an edition in your hot little hand.  So here are the Japanese manga editions of Fiancé Wanted Fast! and A Bride for Barra Creek (and if you’re wondering how on earth I know, the titles are written in English too, although you can’t see it very well here).

I spent a happy morning when I should have been working, looking through them to see if I could recognise anything about the stories.  There were some scenes that made sense, but others that had me completely baffled. 

I don’t remember anything about kick-ass women with guns in A Bride for Barra Creek, for instance.

And if there was a scene in Fiancé Wanted Fast! with a naked Gib and a cat, I certainly don’t remember it!  Now I’m thinking the translators have improved my story no end, and I’m wishing I’d thought of it myself.

The drawings are incredibly stylised and there are clearly all sorts of conventions that I can’t read (not to mention the Japanese, obviously)  It’s such a different format that I imagine it’s almost impossible to translate exactly, and perhaps the translators are allowed free rein to change the story as necessary.  However they’ve done it, it’s very clever!  I was deeply impressed.  And what a successful displacement activity, too!

What else?  I’m very excited that I’ll be giving a workshop at the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Sydney this August (just as well when I’d already booked my ticket!)  Closer to home, I’ll be at the Festival of Writing in York in April.  If you’re a new writer looking to break into print, check out the Festival of Writing website  - there is a great line up of workshops, as well as agent and ‘book doctor’ appointments.