OK, I know I was warned, but what can I do? I had this question for a very long time. I have decided where to write (platform like computer or notepad), I am in the middle of deciding my way of writing, but the most important decision is still to make, "Language".
I am struggling to choose between my "Mother Tongue" and "Other Language"!
To be more specific, I am a Hindi speaker, North Indian, and my entire education till 10+2 was in Hindi. I studied English as foreign language, and then went for computer engineering (Not literature). I had all my interest in writing and I have been writing since 2004, in both English and Hindi.
I have never really focused on my language as I went with the flow. But now, as I have started taking this seriously, and want to make money with writing. It's really important for me to be clear about what language I should choose.
Another thing worth mentioning here (though it is not a roadblock) is, that I prefer a computer to draft my compositions and I am skillful in typing in English.
Considering the facts above, which language do you suggest I choose for my writing? I have been scratching my mind for a very long time over it. Then thought discussing it with experts will be better before taking any final decision. Please take some of your precious time to help me out with this. I really appreciate your patience and suggestions. Thanks a ton.
Answer
This is a complex question requiring a complex answer.
What market do you aim for and what is the language of that market?
If you write in English, you are obviously writing for speakers of English (because writing in English and having the book translated to your mother tongue makes no sense). But is your subject matter of interest to them? Or would you find more enthusiastic readers in Hindi?
Many books are of course translated to foreign languages and read by people of different cultures, and many topics are of universal appeal, but it seems to me that, with few exceptions, only British and US authors consistently sell well worldwide, while most non-US/UK fiction is popular only in its culture of origin.
And it is not the language that keeps readers from picking up books but the cultural background of your writing. Having your story take place in a US city does not change this cultural background. Different cultures have different traditions of characterization, plot rhythm, use of metaphors, topics etc.
On the other hand, if you write in a genre that is unpopular in your home culture, you might find an audience by publishing in another language. But that language might not be English! For example, if you write magical realism, you might find a larger audience if you publish in Spanish.
So define your target audience and find out what language it speaks. If this is not English, there is no reason to write in English. Translations to Spanish are equally possible from Hindi.
Which language are you most comfortable to write in?
Only in rare cases is this not the mother tongue, for example if a writer has emmigrated and been living in a foreign country for so long that he has achieved a near native mastery of that language. Nabokov is the prime example for this, but most writers who still live in the context of their mother tongue simply cannot write in a foreign language as well as in their own.
I have studied English at university, and I've been reading SF exclusively in English for thirty years now, and many ideas and phrases come to me in English first. Nevertheless my grammar is often wrong and I simply lack the words to express myself well in English. I tried to write a novel in Engish once, and a native speaker found so many weird word choices, syntactic peculiarities, and plain mistakes, that I gave up on that idea immediately. Now I write in my mother tongue. It is a bit of an effort, because, as I said, much of my writing-related thinking is in English, but the resulting texts are correct and read well. I have been commended on my mastery of language, so obviously writing in my mother tongue is the right choice for me.
Find out which language is least of an obstacle for you. If you are unsure, write a (different) short story in both English and Hindi and give it to native (!) speakers to read and judge. Choose the language that you get better feedback for.
Who will edit your text?
If you plan to write the text from first draft to published text all by yourself, you'll need a mastery of language that your question shows you are lacking in English. Either you'll have to invest a lot of time to learn better English, or you'll have to pay an editor to polish your writing. But if you pay an editor, why not write in Hindi and pay a translator?
Don't just focus on the first step in the publishing process, but consider every step from writing, to editing, to publishing, to marketing, to distribution. How does your manuscript get from your computer to the reader, who is involved in this process, and what do their services cost?
The key word for me in my answer is the word "obstacle". Language is a tool, and as a writer I must not evaluate this tool by what others can achieve with it, but by how well this tool serves my own purpose. Only when I write in my own mother tongue can I express myself with ease, or rather with tolerable difficulty. And although I aim at the English market, I take the detour over my mother tongue, first publish in it, and then have my text translated and published in English.
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