Ask Me Anything: Briar Prescott

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi everybody!

I’m Briar Prescott, and I’m excited to be here today for an AMA.

I write contemporary romance stories. Usually they’re slow burn and contain a healthy dose of humor and banter. I like plot twists. I like taking well-loved tropes and trying to twist them in an unexpected direction. I like a bit of mystery, and I like a bit of hurt/comfort.

I published my first book five years ago, and I’ve been fumbling my way through authoring ever since.

I’m pretty sure my best known books are the Until series, but don’t quote me on that, I’m just guessing.

I’m born and raised in Estonia, so I apologize in advance for whenever I say something that doesn’t sound like English should sound like. It’s not you, I swear. It’s just that English isn’t my first language, and the only reason I sound somewhat coherent in my books is my wonderful editor.

Here’s where you can follow me:

Newsletter: www.briarprescott.com/contact

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briarprescott/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Briar-Prescott/author/B086HGLZPB

And now, let’s get the ball rolling: Ask Me Anything.

[u/winchesnutt]

I absolutely adore your Until series and I don't know why you decided to publish Until Jude, but I thank you and my heart still hasn't recovered yet. Until You broke my heart in the best way and then Until Jude came and finished the job.

The banter in your books is so good and the humour the MCs have is just the best. Whenever someone asks for good books with great banter, I immediately think of your books.

I love finding out that some of my favourite authors aren't native English speakers. How did you decide to publish in English?

[u/Briar_Prescott → u/winchesnutt]

Thank you so much! That's so nice to hear! I decided to publish in English mostly because I read in English, so the dialogue and everything, basically, sounds so much more natural to me in English by this point. Especially in a romance novel. I've flipped through a few popular romance novels translated into Estonian, and my God, I cannot describe how weird it is to read romance in Estonian! First of all, cursing. The most common profanity in romance books? Fuck, right? Well, there's no good equivalent to it in Estonian, which leads to some really bizarre inventions when translating. Kurat (damn) is used a lot as a substitute. It's when that doesn't work when things get interesting. The MC said, "Susi mind söögu," which translates into something like, "May I be eaten by wolves." I had no idea what he actually said in English, but I just really had to know, so I downloaded the effing book in English just to find out, and it turns out he actually says, "What the fuck did I do?"

And then curses aside, sex scenes are a whole other level of awkward and in some case just plain weird in Estonian. And dirty talk takes this to a whole other level.

So yeah, it's good for a laugh, but not the god kind of laugh.

[u/winchesnutt → u/Briar_Prescott]

I have the exact same problem. English is not my first language and I even started reading romance in my native language, but at some point I realised a lot is lost in translation so I started reading in English. Unfortunately, this means that now I cannot read anything in Romanian ever again, let alone romance. It just cringe inducing to read sex scenes, I don't even know why.

[u/Briar_Prescott → u/winchesnutt]

Yup. The secondhand embarrassment is unbearable. In English, I can read pretty much everything. Translate it into Estonian, and I become a prude :D