Every once in a while, I will find myself writing a new character that I know I want to belong very much to a particular time and place. Right clothes. Right interests. Right beliefs. The list can go on and on. There’s a lot to take into account and I want to get things right.
One of the items on this list is the way they speak. This might mean thinking about the type of language they use. If they’re well-educated they may have a wider vocabulary and use more complex sentence structures. They may have spent many years working in a particular industry and be prone to using a lot of jargon related to that.
But one thing I often linger over is to what extent I want them to speak in their natural dialect, where this applies. Mostly this is best avoided. It can make it harder for readers to understand what’s being said and even persuade them to give up on the book altogether. Worse still, they might slap up a bad review.
There are, though, times where I want to add some more colour to a character and so I avoid this advice. I aim to get round the drawbacks by watering down the dialect, either by using only a very few such words or by using only those that are pretty easy to understand. I think I must have made a decent job of this so far because complaints have been few and far between.
However, I was perusing old books on ebay recently and came across a book of stories and plays from the eighteenth-century. It can take a bit more effort than usual reading books from these times, but the kicker here was that the stories in this book had been written in a strong Lancashire dialect. (Lancashire is an area in North-West England). Here’s an example page to amuse you.
What a hoot! I could barely understand the half of it and even then what I could work out took much effort. Hilarious. Still, at least it made me feel more confident about the limited use I make of this sort of thing. By comparison, my use of dialect presents the reader with no problem at all.
Indeed! 🤩 This is a topic that came up recently in a writers event I joined online. Author Douglas Skelton was discussing his historic fiction series, ‘A Company of Rogues’, and one of the questions that came up related to the power of dialect. “How do you get your character to stand out dialectically without overwhelming readers?”… Skelton would use dialogue to differentiate between Glaswegian protagonists and those from auld reekie (Edinburgenzians?), as well as those from further down south... I think dialect is important - adds a bit of flare - but would definitely steer clear of Chaucer’s English haha. Or steer full into it, guns a-blazin’? I don’t know - go wild! Not sure what percentage of readership would attempt to translate, but I’d be down for trying. (Perhaps moreso after a beer or two.) 🍻
That's interesting. It's not something I've seen/heard authors discussing all that often. I have a crime series set in 1980s London in which I use a watered down version of the local lingo, for essentially the same reasons as you mention, it gives some added colour to the whole piece. About half of my readers are in the USA but even though a few struggle with some of the words and phrases most love it and are happy to look up any they can't work out for themselves. It's getting the balance right that is key. I've made a note of the 'A Company of Rogues’, thanks, as that sounds interesting.
Wowser! I would not tackle that one hahaha. I get what you're saying though. I do think that a well-placed word or phrase here and there in dialogue can help to enhance the setting and backdrop of a story. It can establish eras, regimes, and a host of other things. But I agree, it should be used more sparsely so as not to become a distraction and irritation - it should never disrupt the flow of the read. And that book above - no freakin' idea what that story is about! !ALIVE !PIZZA !PIMP
Hi Sam, I was tempted to buy the book just so I could take off the shelf when we've got people round and I need something to give a bit of life to the conversation. But I've got too many books already so had to exercise restraint. Horrible thing to have to do. I had an interesting experience related to appropriate language use a couple of years back. I had published a book set in 1959 in England and referred to a 'train' station instead of a 'railway' station, which is what I should have written. Even as a native I got it wrong and how people noticed! I didn't make that mistake again.
It's crazy the seemingly little things that pull readers out of an immersive state. I love the research and fact-checking aspect of my stories, but things can slip through the net.
Probably a sensible decision not to buy the book - although I imagine that you could have heaps of fun trying to read it after a few glasses of vino! 😂
On a side note, you're British? You should use the #teamuk tag. They will pop by your blog and curate you.
Ah, thanks for the #teamuk suggestion, I shall try to remember to add that from now on.
You must be killin' it out here!
@samsmith1971 just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @benwesterham.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/1 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
@benwesterham! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ samsmith1971. (1/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want, plus you can win Hive Power (2x 50 HP) and Alive Power (2x 500 AP) delegations (4 weeks), and Ecency Points (4x 50 EP), in our chat every day.
Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @benwesterham.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@samsmith1971(1/15) tipped @benwesterham