I need an Author Tip!! How do you spell a scream?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

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.

Indeed it does. It seems, as I said in my first reply about this, that Scots and generic "Suthern" or "Texan" are the worst offenders.

I dinna ken, laddie, why them thar axe-ents gotta be so durn yew-bick-itus.

Hitch

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I dinna ken, laddie, why them thar axe-ents gotta be so durn yew-bick-itus.

Hitch

I think you've a spelling error. I believe the correct version is "yoo-bik-idus". I'm purty sure there's no 't' in that word.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I think you've a spelling error. I believe the correct version is "yoo-bik-idus". I'm purty sure there's no 't' in that word.

Ah speck you iz raht thar. I'ze got them ishyoos wit' tees and dees.

Hitch

[stuartjmz]

I just came across this piece today, it seems very relevant to the theme of this thread. How To Convey Accents

[gmw]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

I just came across this piece today, it seems very relevant to the theme of this thread. How To Convey Accents

A good article. I do like people that offer advice that is clear and demonstrative without being unnecessarily proscriptive.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by gmw

A good article. I do like people that offer advice that is clear and demonstrative without being unnecessarily proscriptive.

EXACTLY like that. Very good article. I really can't abide dialect. Not when phonetically imposed upon me.

It's as though the sight of it screams "OMG THIS BOOK IS CRAPPY!" Now...the book might be serviceable, but as that writer said, and as I mentioned the last time I whined about it, it's almost always the forbear of stereotypes and tropes that are beyond old and tired. Between "dinna' ken, lassie" and all that tripe, (the Scot being, of course, a ginger, and cheap), or simply, the WORK of having to plow through it (yeah, I'm lookin' at you, Trainspotting, which I've never managed to work through...) , it will simply make me not pick up that book, when I want entertainment.

IMHO, as a voracious reader, the best authors drop it into the story, just enough for me to recognize it, unobtrusively, and then leave it alone. I don't mind the occasional item (Poirot-esque) with epithets in a language, or whatever, but I just can't read hundreds or thousands of phonetically-spelt lines. Can't do it. To coin a phrase, I'm too old for that sheeeeyet.

Hitch