Rashid Arshed
asked
Scott Sigler:
I am writing a fiction based on real life story. The interview is in African American slang which looks real and powerful. Should I use Black slang throughout the fiction, or should I use idiomatic standard English? Thanks.
Scott Sigler
First of all, here's a link to an article from a source I respect that has put in considerable though and research to your topic:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educ...
Second, what you're considering carries more risks than benefit. I suggest spelling out words normally in most cases. Otherwise, you make the dialogue too hard to read. I'll give an example from that link I posted, because while we are an overly sensitive culture, no one is going to get butt-hurt because my explanation uses a Cockney accent.
"Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins! Just you wait!"
If you overdo that, in any dialect, you're making it hard for the reader to move through the story. Your job is to tell a tale, and whatever slows the reader down, makes them re-read sentences, etc., means you are not doing well at your job.
So my advice is use slang a little bit to convey tone and character, but don't chop up every standard word where where you think hyphens, apostrophes, double-consonants, etc., go.
Here's another great article that give a broader view:
http://www.justaboutwrite.com/A_Archi...
I've used dialect for my Yooper characters in my novel ANCESTOR. While I could have phonetically spelled out this fascinating accent, making ever word read like rural people from Michigan's Upper Peninsula sound, it would have made it very difficult to read. I used the word "eh?" at the end of sentences, because that's one of the hallmarks of that sentence. "I don't write in dialect, eh?" It's simple and effectively communicates a uniform way of speaking for all characters in that group. Occasionally I would drop a G and replace it with an apostrophe. "I'm gettin' the hell out of here, eh?" And, finally, sometimes I would use "dat" instead of "that." But I used those things sparingly, because even those simple changes quickly became cumbersome.
I hope this helps, but read those two links, they cover things in more detail.
Remember, your most-important task is to make the text readable. Symbols in ink on paper are not the same thing as the spoken word. Don't try to make them match up exactly.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educ...
Second, what you're considering carries more risks than benefit. I suggest spelling out words normally in most cases. Otherwise, you make the dialogue too hard to read. I'll give an example from that link I posted, because while we are an overly sensitive culture, no one is going to get butt-hurt because my explanation uses a Cockney accent.
"Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins! Just you wait!"
If you overdo that, in any dialect, you're making it hard for the reader to move through the story. Your job is to tell a tale, and whatever slows the reader down, makes them re-read sentences, etc., means you are not doing well at your job.
So my advice is use slang a little bit to convey tone and character, but don't chop up every standard word where where you think hyphens, apostrophes, double-consonants, etc., go.
Here's another great article that give a broader view:
http://www.justaboutwrite.com/A_Archi...
I've used dialect for my Yooper characters in my novel ANCESTOR. While I could have phonetically spelled out this fascinating accent, making ever word read like rural people from Michigan's Upper Peninsula sound, it would have made it very difficult to read. I used the word "eh?" at the end of sentences, because that's one of the hallmarks of that sentence. "I don't write in dialect, eh?" It's simple and effectively communicates a uniform way of speaking for all characters in that group. Occasionally I would drop a G and replace it with an apostrophe. "I'm gettin' the hell out of here, eh?" And, finally, sometimes I would use "dat" instead of "that." But I used those things sparingly, because even those simple changes quickly became cumbersome.
I hope this helps, but read those two links, they cover things in more detail.
Remember, your most-important task is to make the text readable. Symbols in ink on paper are not the same thing as the spoken word. Don't try to make them match up exactly.
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