McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Accents

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meg_evonne:
I agree with wordmaker.  The writers/editors who i've heard speak recommand staying away from phonetic dialect.  Of course there are exceptions to every rule. I mean faulkner and clemens.  
--- Quote from: comprex on May 25, 2011, 09:11:36 PM ---... Do it in plot with general attitude, to life, institutions, people.
...

Rule of thumb: make believe like your character doesn't want to be recognized for what he is.   He is trying -hard- and would very much avoid anything "iconic" because it is easy for him to know that it is a giveaway.   Only put in the stuff he does not, cannot know to avoid.

--- End quote ---

Read ian rankin.  Drips in calore laden dialect, and never a phoenetic short cut.  Ya he's. English, but its there. Everywhere.
I agree with comprex' entire statement, but especially with the above.  Good luck!

mithrandirthewhite:
I never had a problem with thick accents in writing.  In fact, some of the jokes made about the accents in writing didnt make sense to me because I understood what the Scottish guy was saying.

OZ:
I agree with most of the above. Too much phonetic spelling of words spoken with an accent and you will lose some of your readers. Simply telling the reader ( I know this goes against the old "show don't tell rule" ) that the person is speaking in a thick accent and then including a few words or phrases to remind them, is usually enough to get the idea across. For me personally, reading constantly misspelled words used to give the phonetic sense of the speakers accent is extremely annoying.

Snowleopard:
I think I read a book somewhere where a character with a heavy accent was written at first
as having the accent and then further on in the book - the author stopped writing the character's accent obviously
assuming that having established it - he didn't need to continue doing it.

davetheyogi:
I'm not an author or anything but I live in London, and not the fun part, and I think there maybe cause to add more phonetic spelling of your character's dialogue. If, for example, the story takes place in the UK you can assume that everyone understands each other and throw in the occasional 'nuffink' or 'bruv' for colour. However, if it takes place in most places in North America no one is likely to understand him anyway and confusing your readers, a little, maybe appropriate.
By the By... do you really think Tim Roth has a thick accent?

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