One of the major characters in my book, “Time Exposure” is Alexander Gardner, a famous, and real, Civil War photographer. Gardner hailed from Paisley, Scotland and arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1856 with a thick Scottish accent. How was I to handle dialogue? I wanted to make sure that the reader knew Gardner was from Scotland. So, I added a bit of dialect. Check this out:
“I must speak to ye, Joseph.” Gardener took a deep breath. “I’ve had a special offer I must consider. Mind ye now, it doesna preclude my maintaining an association with Brady. But, I want ye to be part of me decision.”
I also sprinkled in lots of dinnas, shouldnas, couldnas, ayes, me for my, etc. Ugh. The reader couldn’t possibly forget that Gardner was from Scotland. Or care. He’d already given up on the book.
Thanks to my critique group my eyes were open to this dialect dilemma. I began to notice it in other novels. Too much of an accent: “How vould you vant me to wote?”
Or overuse of slang: “He needs to mellow out, he’s bonkers and that’s too dicey for this girl.”
Or clichéd idiomatic expressions : “Once in a blue moon, we see eye to eye, but you’re usually on the fence, which only adds insult to injury.”
Eeek. The use of “casual” spelling such as lemme, or gimme, can be used . . . sparingly. Dropping “g” for a word ending in “ing” gets tiresome too if used every other sentence. We have to give the reader credit and assume that by dropping a slang word, accent or expression in, they’ll get the point and as they continue to read that character’s dialogue, they’ll naturally hear the dialect.
Some of the worst examples of overusing dialect can be seen when characters have southern or New York accents. Like the use of “Ah” for “I” or “y’all for, well, you know. Then there’s the exaggerated Brooklynese – “toidy-toid and toid street” or “poils for the goils.” (These may actually need translation!) I grew up in Brooklyn and, frankly, you do hear this. It’s one thing, however, to add it to a movie, where you can hear the character say it. It’s another to read it in a book ad nauseum.
So how do you get the character’s geographical location, or educational background across? The best way is through the rhythm of the dialogue and the words you choose. One “aye” from my Scotsman and the reader hears his accent through the rest of the dialogue. To portray a well-educated German you might avoid contractions and use the full words to make the speech more formal sounding: “I should not bother with that if I were you. Do you not think so?”
In the end, you need to do your homework. Learn the true dialect, accent, slang expressions of the region your characters come from, both geographically and historically. Depending upon the time period, speech was often more formal than we’re used to today.
Practice on yourself. Once you know how the dialect really sounds have your character try it out in dialogue in a scene. Read it aloud. Very important, to really hear the effect, you must read it out loud. You’ll find you will most likely want to eliminate all but a smidgen of the dialect. What will be left is the essence of your character.
Then fuhgeddaboudit!
I’m “on the fence” with this one. I do believe that some characters require truly distinctive voices. They need to stand out and in such cases a character’s dialect or vernacular gives the reader information about who the character is. Other times it is unnecessary or done poorly. And I agree reading aloud is illuminating.
I have recently finished a short novel wherein one of the narrators (there are two alternating narrators) uses his own form of jive. And I do drop the Gs (goin) in his sections. In this novel it seemed important to give the character his language–for two reasons: first, it sets him apart from the other narrator, and second, he has developed this language as a defense against the population of a small town that despises him due to his family name. His “bent metal” words serve as a wall to protect him from the townsfolk who can not see HIM but instead saw him as a Handy, as one of THEM. I needed to allow him to set himself apart from his birth family and the people of the town, allow him to proclaim the otherness he felt being was projected on him. Since we ALL use language to define who we are, I figured it most honest to let him have that. As a test, I did read him aloud, first using his vernacular, and then omitting the extreme deviations from “normal” speak; the second did not as accurately portray the young man he was. I also read it aloud to and shared the book with other readers (published writers), and while some readers found it laborious deciphering his first person narration, many thought it made him come alive as a character.
Would Huckleberry Finn be as authentic character without his dialect?
There are many examples of writers who use some sort of slang to pull the reader into their characters’ world, their heads. Aside from Twain, David Mitchell is a fine example with CLOUD ATLAS. Think of Alex’s nadsat from Burgess’s CLOCKWORK ORANGE–would that be the same book without it? Ali Smith often uses her regional accent to good effect. David Foster Wallace was no stranger to using slang to portray a character. Not to forget early Irvine Welsh (TRAINSPOTTING, etc), which is surely a challenge to read–at first, but once a reader catches hold of the rhythm of their dialect, the language becomes (to some) fun to read.
It may be a matter of audience. If a writer is seeking a bestseller, she may want to tune the language so that it will better resonate with her target readers.
Of course, as you’ve said, slang should be used sparingly, and thoughtfully. In the end, I think it should be about how best to tell an authentic story and breathe life into a character.
Thank you so much for your thought-provoking piece; use of slang is tricky and I loved reading your take on it.
Thanks, Marc. You make interesting points. It may come down to personal opinion, in the end. Still, I would use regional accents, slang and dialect sparingly. It really does slow the story down.
This is an artilce that makes you think “never thought of that!”
I’m surprised in hearing the different takes on dialect use in a story. It is with respect for all opinions that I address my own.
If a character in my story speaks with a southern drawl or a New York accent I will and do make it clear to the reader how that person speaks.
I don’t believe that there is any rules other than your own when you write and describe your character the way you want them to be seen by your readers. Let’s get out of the classroom and speak in the voice that is realistic and not forced to be anything but that because otherwise you do yourself and your readers a disservice. Dare to be different.
I make it clear to my readers where my characters are from by using any form of dialect that supports the idea of where or how they grew up.
Peace
Thanks, Michael. Appreciate your comments.
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