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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/46858
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

So far, all of the fiction I've written in my life has been short stories given as writing tasks in school. However, I've always enjoyed reading/watching/experiencing fiction and for the last few years I've slowly gotten more and more attracted to the idea of writing my own work(s) of fiction. After some hesitation, I feel like it is finally time for me to start writing for real since I've managed to think of an outline to a story that seems like it would be really fun to write.

But before I start writing there is a decision to be made: what language should I write the story in? I'm not a native English speaker, but I feel like writing in English would give me better opportunities at getting feedback on my work than writing in Swedish, which is my native language. On the other hand, if I write in Swedish there is a smaller risk that I make subtle syntax-based errors in my prose since I have a much stronger intuitive grasp of subtleties in Swedish than in English.

Does anyone have experience writing in a different language than their native one? Is it feasible, or does the quality of the prose suffer too much for it to be worth the trouble? Should I try something along the lines of writing my story in Swedish and then if I have trouble finding test readers/writing groups for feedback I could translate it to English?

Original score: 7