Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
I find that I personally respond much better if the narrator "hears" the dialect and describes it for me, in his/her first encounter with the speaker or area (even if it's spelled out phonetically, for the "hearer" initially) and then the author allows me to hear it in my head, from her writing, from that point forward. I get grossly overtired of dialogue in dialect carried out through a book. It's a difficult thing for a writer to do well, and it's pitifully easy for them to do badly. It seems like almost every time I stumble across it (typically in a novel I've already started, unfortunately), it's in the latter category, not the first. When my teeth start grinding, each time character X appears...well, that thar ain't good, as they say.
I'm not opposed to the occasional expletive or "och!" or whatever, but really, we're smart readers. We don't need it hammered into our heads, over and over and over.
Hitch
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As a reader, I have thought this many times! After the introduction of a character, an occasional word of local dialect is enough of a reminder. The same goes for slang and expletives. A little goes a long way.