KittySpace - Tips and Tricks: Dialect and Language

LISTEN - Listen to how people talk. To how they say what they say. Listen to whether or not they 'um' and 'oh' between their sentences or if they use full words or phrases. Common tics are not using contractions, dropping articles (I'm looking at you, Russian grammar), and referring to oneself in the third person, but you can go beyond that. Listen to how you talk. I'll guarantee you it's different from what you type. Listen to the people around you talk. Find clips of newscasters and listen to their language, then compare it to the way people on the street talk. Hold up a park bench sometime and just listen.

MAP - Make yourself a dialect sheet. It doesn't have to be fancy, just something to remind you that these people use certain phrases a lot. Don't try to substitute for everything so that it's incomprehensible. If you've already written a draft, go through and see what phrases you're using the most.

Noun phrase as subject/Omitted subject:
"Further efforts'll only benefit the faro dealers."
"Forces them to take a position, one side or the other."
"Looks like your mother fucked a monkey."

Omitted Copula:
"Fresh stain on the floor when I moved in."
"$127.49, both columns seperate verified."
"Question I wake to in the morning and pass out with at night."

Vivid visual metaphors:
"Al Swearingen's a cue and Farnum merely is a billiard ball. "
"Gabriel's trumpet will produce you from the ass of a pig."
"This contusion at your belly'll show the colors of the rainbow before it's through with ya."
"Horsemen come to camp by torchlight last night." "Tell Al as we didn't wake to the apocalypse, I suppose all we need fear is their Winchesters."

KNOW - Know your target audience. Be familiar with what they expect. Bend those expectations, but don't break them. People who read pulp stories like short prose. Those who favor a more romantic style might grow accustomed to a more fanciful turn of phrase. Become familiar with the genre you're trying to write in

READ - Re-read your prose aloud, or have someone read it for you. See if the dialogue makes sense when spoken, as opposed to something that looks nice on paper but no one actually talks like that. Keeping in mind, of course, that different people talk in different ways.

ASK - It goes for everything about writing, but never be afraid to ask. Where a person learned a phrase, ask where they're from if they have an accent, ask questions. Listen to the answers, take notes. Make sure that you're making use of all the resources available to you.

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