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Beyond the Accent: Writing Speech Patterns Authentically

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Today’s post is by author Elle Jauffret.

When developing memorable characters, few elements bring them to life as vividly as the way they speak. Speech patterns—whether accents or impediments—quickly establish background, personality, and history without exposition. However, as writers, we carry a significant responsibility: to represent diverse voices authentically rather than falling into the trap of stereotype or caricature.

The power and pitfalls of accented speech

In storytelling, accents serve as immediate shorthand. They can place a character geographically, hint at their cultural background, or suggest their social standing—all without explicit exposition. As our society becomes increasingly diverse and globally connected, representing this linguistic variety authentically becomes both more important and more challenging.

Research confirms the power of accents in shaping perception. Studies have demonstrated that listeners often make immediate judgments about a speaker’s intelligence, socioeconomic status, and trustworthiness based solely on their accent. A 2010 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that participants “orientated themselves nearly exclusively on the spoken accent while categorizing people,” with accent perception affecting key cognitive processes including memory and social categorization. Other research shows that non-native accents can reduce “cognitive fluency”—the ease with which the brain processes stimuli—which can inadvertently affect credibility judgments.

However, accented speech in fiction has often devolved into shorthand stereotyping. Consider how many villains speak with vaguely Eastern European accents, or how Southern (American) accents frequently signal a character is either unsophisticated or prejudiced. These portrayals perpetuate harmful assumptions about intelligence, trustworthiness, and capability based solely on how someone speaks.

Speech impediments: beyond the stutter

Similarly, speech impediments in fiction have a checkered history. Too often, they’re either played for laughs or used as simplistic character traits rather than as one aspect of a fully-realized person. From the comedic lisp to the nervous stutter, these patterns have become tropes that rarely reflect the complex reality of living with a speech difference. Individuals with speech disorders face additional layers of judgment based on how they speak, with unfair assumptions made about their intelligence or capabilities. These aren’t characteristics one simply overcomes through determination—they’re intrinsic aspects of communication that deserve thoughtful representation.

Poor representation looks like:Phonetic spellings that clutter the page and make reading difficult: “Ze doctair vill see you now, ja?”Inconsistent accent application that appears and disappears when convenientUsing accents only for “exotic” or minor characters while protagonists speak in “standard” EnglishSpeech impediments that exist solely for comic relief or to indicate villainyStereotypical phrases repeated by characters from certain backgrounds (“Mamma mia!” for Italians)Good representation looks like:Stephen King’s Annie Wilkes from Misery uses distinctive speech patterns that reveal character rather than geography. Her peculiar euphemisms (“cockadoodie,” “dirty birdy”) and old-fashioned phrasing reveal her mental state and isolation without resorting to dialect spelling.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s characters in Americanah navigate multiple linguistic worlds. Their code-switching between Nigerian English, American English, and British English reveals complex identities rather than serving as mere exotic flavor.Toni Morrison’s delicate handling of vernacular speech honors the linguistic traditions of African American communities without reducing characters to their dialect or making the text inaccessible.Craft tips for responsible representation1. Follow Stephen King’s rule of restraint

Stephen King, master of character-revealing dialogue, advises using the lightest possible touch with dialect. In On Writing, King suggests indicating accent or impediment once or twice, then letting readers carry that voice in their heads. This approach respects readers’ intelligence while avoiding the distraction of constant phonetic spelling.

2. Focus on cadence and word choice

Instead of phonetic spelling, capture speech patterns through syntax, unique vocabulary, and sentence structure. A character might reverse word order, use distinctive phrases, or favor certain expressions without requiring readers to decipher unusual spelling.

3. Study real speech patterns

If writing a character with a specific accent or impediment, research extensively. Listen to authentic speakers, consult linguistic resources, or interview people with similar backgrounds. Authenticity comes from understanding rather than assumption. Research published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review highlights that non-native accents can create communication barriers that affect both speaker and listener—knowledge that can inform more nuanced character development.

4. Ensure fully developed characters

Characters with distinctive speech should never be reduced to just that trait. They deserve the same depth, complexity, and agency as any other character. Their speech pattern should be one element of their characterization, not their defining feature.

5. Respect the reader

Heavily phonetic dialogue quickly becomes exhausting to read. Trust your audience to “hear” the accent without constant reminders, focusing instead on occasional distinctive words or phrases.

Final thoughts

Before implementing any accent or speech impediment, ask yourself: Why am I including this? What does it add to the story and character? If the answer involves shorthand characterization, creating humor at someone’s expense, or adding “exotic flavor,” reconsider your approach. But if the speech pattern genuinely reflects the character’s lived experience and contributes meaningfully to their development, proceed with careful research and nuanced execution.

As writers, our words shape perceptions. When we represent diverse speech patterns authentically and respectfully, we not only create richer stories but also contribute to a more inclusive literary landscape that values all voices—regardless of how they sound.

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New agent at Unter Agency

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Links of Interest: April 23, 2025

The latest in traditional publishing, bookselling & distribution, legal issues, culture & politics, and AI.

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More Than Setting: Centering Nature in Your Fiction

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Today’s post is by book coach Erin Radniecki.

Snowy mountain peaks, whitewater rivers, and misty evergreen forests are all lovely backdrops for compelling fiction. But if you want to write a book for readers who care deeply about nature—or if you’re trying to convince readers to care—you’ve got to go beyond scenery.

Why? Because that beautiful scenery is passive, it doesn’t ask anything of the audience. Just like real-life scenery, it is consumed and often forgotten. It doesn’t confront your reader, ask them to take a stand, or challenge their opinions or biases. If you want to truly center nature in your fiction, you’ll need to engage it on a deeper level.

First off, let’s agree that there is nothing wrong with nature functioning as a pretty setting in fiction. Filling your writing with lovely descriptions of natural places that are just that, descriptions of beautiful places, is fine. However, if you want the natural world to have a starring role, and importantly, if your readers expect it to have a starring role, then lovely descriptions alone won’t cut it.

But if we need to go deeper than appearances, what do we focus on instead? I believe there are five elements of a story that can be infused with greater meaning by including nature: main character, obstacle, choices, transformation, and point.

Let’s look closer at each of these elements and investigate how applying a nature lens to one or more would bring the natural world to the forefront of your story.

1. Main character

The protagonist of a story defines what is important in the novel. Their likes, dislikes, vices, and desires determine what will populate the pages. The big question to address for our purpose is what does nature mean to your protagonist at the beginning of the story?

If we think of story as the encapsulation of a character’s journey from Before to After, what is their Before state in relation to the natural world? Do they love it, hate it, tolerate it, or are they ambivalent? Are they performative in their love for it, conspicuously wearing the right brands, while privately acting in antithetical ways?

In Eileen Garvin’s The Music of Bees, protagonist Alice Holtzman is a hobby beekeeper who loves nothing more than spending time with her hives. This passion is central to the character, and informs her actions throughout the book.

2. Obstacle 

Every novel involves a protagonist wrestling with a hurdle or stumbling block, be it a visible, real-world challenge or an invisible, internal struggle. In nature-centered fiction you often see two approaches, either with nature as the obstacle itself, or nature being threatened by the obstacle in some way.

We see the former in books where survival is the central goal. The protagonist might face the cold of an Alaskan winter, being stranded in an inhospitable place, or the limits of their physical strength against natural elements. In these stories characteristics like humility, awe, brashness, and folly play a role in determining the fate of the characters.

The obstacle can also be a threat to some part of nature that the protagonist holds dear. In The Music of Bees, Alice’s dream of farming honeybees is put in jeopardy when a new pesticide threatens to blanket her community. This obstacle is a direct threat to the creatures and habitat she reveres, not to mention her financial plans for the future.

3. Choices

The protagonist’s choices, made in response to the obstacle, are what propel them along their journey from Before to After. The choices they make answer the question, what are they willing to do to realize their goal?

If appreciation for the natural world is already a characteristic your protagonist holds, they could be confronted with choices that align with or diverge from that value. If they are nature-averse, their choices might lead them to a place where their beliefs are challenged.

Here are two guideposts to use as you decide what choices your main character would make. First, having a clear picture of your protagonist’s internal identity will help you select choices that are authentic to the character. Second, understanding the transformation the character will go through—what their After will look like—can aid in directing the choices they make.

In The Music of Bees, Alice must decide what actions she’s willing to take to protect not just the future she longs for, but all bees in her rural, agricultural community. What is she willing to risk, and how will she reconcile her choices if she doesn’t act?

4. Transformation

In the majority of Western fiction, the protagonist goes through some type of transformation, where, over the course of the story, they move from their Before state to their After state.

If a character’s Before is informed by who they are as a person, then their After is the transformation that results from stress testing that individual over the course of the novel.

When centering nature, that transformation could simply mean developing a greater appreciation for the natural world, or it could have a greater impact, such as changing a behavior that was harming nature in their community, or affecting relationships for good or ill.

5. Point

The message that your reader takes away from your story has the potential to carry over into their daily lives. After we’ve read a book, there is a period of time where we’re digesting what we read. During that process our brain is making unconscious connections between what we read and our daily encounters, and we end up applying these new perspectives in our lives.

All of that means the point of a nature-centered story is an opportunity to plant seeds of change with readers, so aim to craft a meaningful takeaway message that will stick with your reader.

What is too much?

You may wonder if it is necessary to view all five of these story elements through pine-colored glasses in order to highlight nature in your novel. Absolutely not!

While I would argue nature should be featured in at least two of the five elements, you can choose how heavy handed you want to be.

For example, your main character might be a bird watcher, but the obstacle that they face may have nothing to do with birding. The choices they make could reflect their appreciation for birds and the habitat they occupy, but ultimately the character’s transformation may not directly involve those things.

Looking at The Music of Bees as our example, the author wove connections to nature through the main character, obstacle and choices, but the transformation and point are broad, universal themes relating to grief and second chances.

If you’ve been attempting to center nature in your work in progress, I hope these suggestions provide you with some inspiration. Now, you tell me: which of these story elements are you most likely to infuse with nature in your work?

The Second Edition of The Business of Being a Writer Officially Releases Today

It’s here! The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition, is now available from all retailers, in paperback and ebook editions (Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble).

Why a revision was needed

The first edition released in 2018, and it was written mostly in 2016. While a good chunk of the first edition remains relevant and valid for writers, especially the guidance on book publishing, the sections that address digital media and publishing, magazine publishing, and social media are sorely out of date.

My editor asked me to revise the book, so I said yes.

What’s different about the second edition?

The second edition dramatically revises and re-envisions how to best help writers understand the business they’re entering and how to approach their careers with the same creative spirit as their writing. It offers refreshed examples and updated industry information as well as deeper changes that reflect how my thinking has evolved. Nearly all the sections and even most paragraphs have been updated in some way.

The book opens differently. I now start with the biggest mindset issues that writers face (part 1). What seems like a small concern or anxiety at first may be the tip of the much larger iceberg that threatens to upend the entire ship. Writers must learn to recognize these issues for what they are and learn how to cope with them because they rarely disappear, even after a writer is well established.Platform building constitutes a section of its own. While I don’t believe platform building comes before the work of writing, it has become a first-­order business concern, and it’s unfortunately a topic dominated by confusion and bad advice. While a strong platform may help a writer land publishing deals or paid writing gigs, that’s not where its most important value lies. When built with intent and your unique voice, a strong platform supports whatever business model you might create for yourself: it allows you to build the career you want rather than rely on specific people or businesses to grant entry or permission. I deconstruct the components of platform in part 2, with guidance on the technical aspects of websites and email newsletters and an explanation of how they serve as a foundation for growth.More book publishing and book marketing information. The number-­one question I’ve received over my decades in publishing has always been “How do I get my work published?” or, for book authors, “How do I market, promote, and sell my book?” I’ve included more guidance on book marketing and promotion, as well as self-­publishing and hybrid publishing.Less industry information on magazine and online media. Because of the ongoing business upheaval surrounding newspapers, magazines, journals, and digital media, I’ve pulled back on in-depth discussion of these industries in the second edition. There is still considerable coverage in part 4 about how to publish short work in all types of print and digital outlets, with how-­to information on freelancing and learning to pitch—­skills that benefit writers no matter what or where they publish.Newly added part 6 on business basics. I familiarize writers with taxes, business formation, contract language, and common legal issues. I recommend that no one skip this part because they think they don’t need it; if you’re interested in this book, you probably do need it now.Exercises. Last but not least, this edition adds exercises in all chapters that help you put ideas into action, so you can examine for yourself how the business works.

Publishing will undergo more dramatic evolution in the years ahead, but I’ve tried my best to avoid presenting information that will become irrelevant before the book even reaches your hands.

Do you address artificial intelligence in the second edition?

I added a sidebar in Part 6, under legal issues, giving a high-level overview of the current legal situation pertaining to AI. Best practices around AI use in writing and publishing are still evolving, and I didn’t want to say anything that would be out of date in a short timeframe.

Can’t afford the book?Check your local library—the first edition received a starred review from Library Journal, so it is carried by many library systems in both print and ebook form. If your library doesn’t yet have the second edition, ask them to order it; they probably will.Check my YouTube channel for interviews and discussions focused on issues presented in the book.You can always access the book’s supplementary resources at no cost to you.Next week, I’m offering a free class in partnership with Scrivener on what I wish all writers knew about the business of writing. Register.Already have the book?

I’d love it if you’d leave a rating or review at Goodreads or Amazon.

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