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 Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:35 am
I've been "testing" a certain character through a roleplay in preparation for a story I'll be writing in the future. The hardest aspect of her character is trying to keep American/other Earthly culture (for the most part) out of her world.
Her world is aware of Earth, and is able to visit here between two links, both in English-speaking countries. The people have picked up English partly because they are interested in our culture and partly out of anticipation that we'll discover their world exists.
Emphasizing the idea that her culture is different is her way of speaking. She can understand English, but without practicing for a few years her speech has become rusty and fairly awkward. If she wrote something in English or spoke in her native language, she'd be much more articulate. Her accent and the rules of pronunciation in her native language stick out like a sore thumb when she speaks in English, which are habits she tries to break (and does so, with varying degrees of success.) I tend to italicize syllables that we wouldn't stress yet she would, but the emphasis becomes gradually less common further into the story as she gets a hang of English pronunciation. Her vocabulary tends to get better eventually as well.
Her father, however, has visited here on a number of occasions and has a better grip on the spoken language. He has lapses in pronunciation, but not as often as his daughter. The last syllables of his sentences tend to be emphasized, and his vocabulary is better from the start.
Do you have a different writing style depending on your characters?
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:15 pm
I am of the strong opinion that dialects are the hardest thing to write and the easiest thing to ******** up. If the characters don't speak English at all, I would just write it all as normal and make a point of commenting that it's not English that they're speaking. I also think that unless I know very well a different dialect, I wouldn't try to fake it.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:16 pm
Oh! Dialects.
Useful, but yes, very hard. It is important to remember that you will NEVER, and I do mean, NEVER, pull it off the first time through.
When revising, make yourself a chart of the regular changes to grammar and sound. Look at it lots.
Find the nitpickiest editor ever.
I bet you could do it! You should so go for it.
Also- it may be that while your character's speech is peachy keep sound-wise, maybe certain CONCEPTS are different in her culture and this causes interesting quirks in her speech. A water as opposed to some water, for instance.
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Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:04 pm
Ah Dialect-- that thing i keep screwing up. Yeah it's a pain, but it really pays off in the end
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P a r a d i s e Garden Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:07 pm
I've done several bits of dialect/language work in different stories. Everything from Cockney English to Romano gypsy and trying to dial down Germanic speech patterns.
It can be hard, but I find it's worth it. I tend to write out rules for individual characters if there is a significant difference. But when it comes to changing writing styles, oh my yes! While some characters have similarities, it's the little things that change them.
Changing writing styles may seem like a daunting task, but really, if you know the characters well, their own personalities should make themselves known in the writing.
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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:43 pm
Oh! A character note sheet is always useful. I think Hemlock is talking about something similar.
Basically, you write down each character's name, and then some things to remember as you work. Say "Character Jane calls everyone darling, dahhhhling if she's drunk". So helpful!
And great for keeping track of the differently cultured.
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DesertRoseFallen Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:58 am
Dialect is always hard to get in, especially when you are at the age when you can't travel and hear different accents.
But I guess saint_savin's way, character note sheets seem to be a good idea to get that across.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:09 pm
Dialects are the single most obnoxious thing to write. They can add so very, very much to a story if done correctly, but they can also make people's eyes bleed if done poorly. Elmore Leonard Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won't be able to stop. Something to keep in mind is that your MC should never, ever make a point of pointing out that he or she has a dialect. Don't even show it on the page--that would be the same of acknowledging it. Certain words and phrases will tell the reader what a character's nationality is. A character who uses the phrase "bloody hell" or something akin to it can be assumed to be English or Australian or some other place where the dialect is similar. Your MC should notice other character's dialects, but only if they're drastically different from his or her own. The MC of one of my pieces was accompanied by two people, one a kinsman, one not. Since the story is told strictly from her point of view, she doesn't take notice that the kinsman has the same dialect as her--it's natural for her. The non-kinsman, however, has a gruff, uncouth way of speaking (at least in her mind), so when I'm writing out his dialogue, instead of him saying, "I'm going to get out of here," it would come out "I'm gonna get outta here." You get the sense that he's slightly less educated than she is. It's the little things that make the world go round.
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:24 pm
See, I'm glad you brought this up cause I'm writing a story in another culture (sort of) and I never thought of that.
Uhg, now I feel so amature.
I guess its been a great thing for me to join a writing guild.
I'm not too far behind though, cause my grandparents have such a heavy accent I can hardly understand them... so I have that down!
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