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Normally I never write prose. After much world building I now feel the need to. Ever since I resolved to at least pen down a draft, things get curiouser and curiouser. For when I sit down to write a short scene, I start doing so in English, which is my third language. I don't know why that happens. Perhaps I read too many English works lately, or I subconsciously associate fantasy with English, or I don't want to write I in the ornate poetic style I've cultivated in both Greek and German. I doubt that I will ever publish prose. Should I force myself to refrain from writing in this foreign language, that will certainly make me commit a hundred silly mistakes, or is there any reason to go with the flow and perhaps change it later?
Edit:
The way my poetry "happens" and which I now apply to my first prose draft is the following: I receive a stimulus, often music. Then I sense I have to write a poem and that feeling is accompanied by a special feeling of discomfort, which only goes away if I write the poem. At some point a sentence forms in my mind and I start writing the poem with only a vague sense of how it will look like.
Now pretty much the same happens with my draft, only that the sentence which forms in my mind, the seed if you will, is in English.
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To write in any language other than your first is extremely difficult. Language is more than words and grammar. It contains a multitude of idioms, phrases, expressions, proverbs, cultural references etc. which make no logical sense and can only be used in certain contexts.
Your question and first line: "Is writing in a foreign language a brilliant way to shoot oneself in the foot?" . . . "Normally I never write prose. After much world building I now feel the need to. Ever since I resolved to at least pen down a draft, things get curiouser and curiouser.
To "shoot oneself in the foot" is an idiom. It may make no sense to a Chinaman.
"Pen down" is slightly awkward. We "write", we "write down", we "pen". "Pen down" - not so much.
"Curiouser and curiouser" a cliché from Alice through the looking glass - Our Chinaman is now scratching his head vigorously.
It should also be noted: I write comedy. An out of context or incorrect idiom is a source of humour and a contribution to characterisation.
One of my favourites: An African immigrant (in the UK) complaining about other immigrants. "I don't know how they can expect to get along in this country if they cannot be bothered to learn the Queen's Mother's language!"
Of course in confused the expressions "The Queen's English" and "Mother tongue" - to invent a new, nonsensical expression.
I would say, it depends.
I assume you live in Greece or Germany, so writing in English might open up a new world for your readers. Your unique perspective might be your winning quality.
On the other hand, what language works best for you? That might take some experimentation before you get it.
It might even differ between stories...
I've written both in English and Swedish and I've come to the conclusion that I love my Swedish too much to let go of it... even though my current work possibly would work much better in English... at least from a "getting lots of readers" and a business point of view... but hey! business schmishness... I am an aaaartist after all... (no lack of irony here ... and still, I can always translate it if no Swede cares for it!)
Writing in a foreign language opens up "alternatives" to you. Each language has its own "mind set," and its own way of expressing things. So if you write the same thing in three different languages, you will (ideally) get three different points of view. This would not be "shooting yourself in the foot" but a way of getting different variations of the same story.
Of course, you will want to get the grammar correct in each language, but that is a relatively easy task (compared to the creative writing part). In a real pinch, you could hire a native speaker to correct your grammar.
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