This post by Jennifer Flaten
Recently, Grammar Girl posted one of her Quick and Dirty Tips on using accents and dialects in writing. It got me thinking a) if I ever really start writing dialogue I need to keep these tips in mind b) as a reader I’ve encountered both good and bad examples of these tips.
In the best books, I can hear the dialogue in the character’s voice in my head. It is seamless, like a movie as I am reading I am “hearing” it in my head. Posh British accents, low and lovely southern drawls all conveyed with just a few words to describe the speaker.
English: The main reading romm of Graz University Library (19th century) on 2 Sep 2003. Picture taken and uploaded by Dr. Marcus Gossler. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This probably explains why I am so often disappointed by a movie adaptation of my favorite book. If the author describes the speaker/narrator/main character so that I “hear” Antonio Banderas’ voice in my head as I read the story I am going be sorely disappointed if the movie has Bruce Willis in that role. In my case, it is not only a case of “not how I pictured it in my head”, but “not how I thought he would sound”.
In the worst, the accent or dialect is distracting. Take for instance Loch by Steve Alten. It takes place on a Loch in Scotland. Yep, you guessed it; one of the main characters “spoke” in a Scottish accent through the entire book.
It was rendered phonetically throughout the entire book (a big no-no according to Grammar Girl). It truly distracted me from the story and I tried to figure out what the character was saying. This is also a case of the story not being good enough for the reader to put up with a quirky dialogue.
Of course, I understand you can’t make every reader happy, but in this case do you agree with Grammar Girl. If you use dialects/accents, how do you use them?
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