A new start!

[erastes]

And by that I mean that (as most of you will already know, so no need for further comment!) I've closed my underlucius fandom journal and will now be here on a permanent basis.

It's scary.

Am writing a short story and my first completely (or so I thought) unlikeable, unredeemable character. However, I'm not as clever as I thought I was as when I read it out to my mother she said "oh - poor man, I feel really sorry for him." *headdesk*

However: Have a quandry. It's a character study. He's thinking the entire story and he sounds more intelligent than you'd give him credit for. Hmm. need to try and address that, but what I was wondering... Do untutored people sound like that in their own heads? Do you think in dialect? *ponders*

Comments

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

Everybody thinks in dialect, whether it's SRP (standard received pronunciation) or something more colorful. Unless they're made aware of it, it sounds normal to them--just like if you were to pop over to Los Angeles, you'd think you were surrounded by people with accents, when in (our) reality, you'd be the one with the accent.

It's a little different, though, in writing. Because people generally read and write in a standardized version of their language. So if a character thinks and speaks in a dialect different than standard written whathaveyou, it's going to pop out at the reader, with varying results. Some people like it, others find it irritating.

You might consider decorating your character's speech with flourishes that indicate regional dialect, but not cluttering that character's speech with so much regional color that it distracts the reader from the story while s/he tries to figure out what's actually being said.

I'm wondering about this unlikeable, unredeemable character. Is it the MC? And if so, why are you making him unredeemable? Perhaps his coming off as more than meets the eye is his way of telling you there's more to the story.

Good luck with your piece!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, I didn't want to do it in dialect, because that irritates the hell out of me when I see it written down, Hagrid for example, or Dickon in secret garden! argh!

Well, he's not unredeemable, that was probably the wrong word, but he's an executioner and I wanted to make him thoroughly unlikeable - but am failing!

Thanks again, very helpful.

xxx