Oh, and just in case you thought I'd shut up and gone away...

[space_weavil]

I have a wee question that I was wanting to throw open for general opinions. I might put it out to the writing communities as well but they tend to just patronise when asked anything. But basically I was wondering how people on here who are writers tackle accents in writing, whether fanfic or otherwise

Comments

[isil_elensar]

When I read, I don't generally hear the accents. I can see the scene in my head, I can hear the sounds as described, but all dialogue is carried on in American English... LOL! Not the southern drawl, or the west/midwest accent, but a fairly plain, accentless American English. I'm reading 'Sense & Sensibility' and I know they're not American, but that's what I hear. Same thing when I read LotR after watching the movies... everyone in the movies had English accents, except Gimli, but when I read the books, I heard them all talking in American...

Sorry to blabber on about that. I hope I explained it enough to make sense. :-)

[space_weavil]

No, that makes perfect sense. It's not the way I read - if I read something like Tom Clancy, I tend to hear a kind of 'Hollywood' nondescript US accent, if that makes sense. If I read something by Ian Rankin, I always hear a Scots drawl. When I read Mark Gatiss, I hear his quirky upper class English. But I think with me it's because my original writing experience were scripts and screenplays, so I was used to thinking in terms of the voice as an integral part of the character and what I was trying to achieve. I suppose when I write prose now and do dialogue, I still kind of think that way.

I'm just interested, I suppose, in how my charcters' dialogue comes across to others, and if it's anything like my idea of the character, if that makes sense?

[isil_elensar]

I'm just interested, I suppose, in how my charcters' dialogue comes across to others, and if it's anything like my idea of the character, if that makes sense?

It makes sense. :-) I've read many of your stories, and while I know there's accents for the characters, I only hear them in ye olde American accent. I can hear male voice and female voice, and each character has a different tone, but all in American accents. Even when marks are added to indicate something like Scottish brogue, or Cockney accent, or what-have-you, I still manage to hear it in American.

Maybe it's a locational thing...

[space_weavil]

It makes sense. :-) I've read many of your stories, and while I know there's accents for the characters, I only hear them in ye olde American accent. I can hear male voice and female voice, and each character has a different tone, but all in American accents. Even when marks are added to indicate something like Scottish brogue, or Cockney accent, or what-have-you, I still manage to hear it in American.

Maybe it's a locational thing...It's quite possibly a flaw in the writing as well, as I'm not all that strong on character at the best of times. I can create them really well in my imagination, but somehow I end up with bland robots a lot of the time when I try to put them on the page

[29crowjane]

This is a question I have had to address in the past; mostly I try to not get self-conscious about it. When you say you "hear the voices" of the characters in your head as you write I think you're on the right track. If you're writing for a diverse audience you might want to write in semi-standard English as much as possible but incorporate the rhythms and slang of the characters, and idiom that readers can pick up on. Some writers do seem to try too hard to replicate precise vocal inflections or accents, using highly irregular spellings, etc. You want the reader to hear the voice of the character as you do, but if they're straining to understand the individual words you've gone too far

[space_weavil]

With the hearing voices thing (and yeah, I am aware of how that sounds, heh), as I said to Isil, I think that might be because my original writing experience used to be for the theatre, and later screenplay. I used to write and direct some small projects in our little theatre, so when I wrote, I had a vague idea of who I might get to play the part and how they might speak, and it all went in to creating the character. It's just a habit I've never gotten out of

[29crowjane]

I have noticed that Americans trying to duplicate Cockney accents in prose (and some actors as well) try too hard and the result sounds hilariously studied, not authentic. When I hear Natalie Portman say in interviews that she says she "studied with a dialogue coach" I believe her--from what I've seen of V for Vendetta, you can see her concentration and attempt at precision coming through. Hence it doesn't seem fully lived-in or natural. (I still hope she does a good job with the character

[space_weavil]

I was talking to a relative about this accent thing last night and actually hunted out the Jack the Ripper book. When you read it aloud, it does sound vaguely Cockney I suppose, but trying to read it is impossible. The scene is meant to be a dream, wherein the protagonist makes psychic contact with the renewed spirit of Jack the Ripper (yeah, it's intellectual stuff), and takes a black cab through the darkened streets of Whitechapel. It's supposed to be really creepy and atmospheric, but his cabbie saying things like 'he pyed already, guv' just kind of removes the effect.