Giving a character an accent?

I don't have any experience writing accents besides Twainsian Southern. James A. Michener wrote novels about a lot of different people, and their manner of speech was always noted. If you have time, go read a few of his books.

Otherwise, all I can say is consult the almighty Google.

I have quite a few folk with accents in my work. Rather than mess with the sounds of the 'spoken word' (loike yah mite see sometoimes) I found it nicer to mess with syntax and grammar, and to use colloquialisms. So for those characters who spoke English as a second language (and had poorish grip on the language) I used twists of syntax which reflected how their own language may have been formulated. For lads from Dublin I used local dialect and curses etc. For a New York lad I used New Yorkisms ( and, as he's Jewish, some yiddish where appropriate-- I was careful with this though, asked a lot of questions of my Jewish friends etc)

Be careful doing this - try and check with someone who is of the nationality of your speaker as you may be surprised what is and isn't accurate. FOr example, I have a Portuguese character in one of my books who I referred to as having a 'sibilant accent.. Spanish perhaps!' (this was fine apparently) but who I had sprinkle Portuguese words through their English dialogue ( the way the Irish would with Irish curse words, or pet names, for example. Or the way my Italian boss used to do with Italian words.) When my Portuguese betas read it over they all nixed this idea of using just one word of Portuguese in a sentence. It's simply not done apparently! The sentence is all Portuguese or all English but never the two combined. Was a lesson well learned for me, I can tell you.

When you say 'funny', you mean for comedy value?

Hmmm.... is it nice to take the piss out of someone else's accent? Cos you will certainly upset the people who have that accent. And maybe it's not so good to teach kids that it's a fun thing to do?

And yes, I'm speaking as someone who has an accent that people think is stupid so they assume I'm stupid and take the piss out of it and me.

mirandashell said:

When you say 'funny', you mean for comedy value?

Hmmm.... is it nice to take the piss out of someone else's accent? Cos you will certainly upset the people who have that accent. And maybe it's not so good to teach kids that it's a good thing to do?

And yes, I'm speaking as someone who has an accent that people think is stupid so they assume I'm stupid and take the piss out of it and me.

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QFT

Run with it. Your only problem is not doing the proper research and having the right ear and heart for it. For example, Mark Twain included six different accents in Huckleberry Finn and he was immortalized for it. Use the accent to record culture. The humor should arise from fellowship, not alienation.

Waldo said:

Run with it. Your only problem is not doing the proper research and having the right ear and heart for it. For example, Mark Twain included six different accents in Huckleberry Finn and he was immortalized for it. Use the accent to record culture. The humor should arise from fellowship, not alienation.

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Hmm...I thought Huck Finn was terrible because of the accents. It was a decent story, but I just couldn't stand how slowly I had to read it to make sure I understood it all.

And I'm from Missouri. Guess it goes to show how much accents can change. I don't know anyone now who speaks like that.

And, yeah, including an accent because you think it's funny is not the right move. You don't want to teach readers, especially kids, to laugh at accents.

What road were you expecting it to go?

I wouldn't give up on the idea... it's fun and literature (especially kids lit) can always do with more diversity. Just be sensitive about it - make your character a real person and not just a walking stereotype - and you'll be grand. You might even enjoy it ( I do!)

I took it as Gigif meant funny as in fun or adds flare. Like how gambit became one of my fav chars from the cartoons because of his accent among other things. Or how Roland and his companions in The Dark Tower series were distinguished even more by there different "accents"

...blah, blah, blah go for it

My rule of thumb: dialect works well for MG and YA fiction where more subtle choices of sentence structure and regional language wouldn't be as noticeable to the reader.

But dialect usually fares poorly in adult fiction, where it's preferred that you indicate an accent with careful word choice, vocal rhythm, grammar, regional slang (spelled correctly, not phonetically) and other subtleties.

As you can see from this thread opinions on dialect are very divided.

Hmm.... so I point out that a 'funny' accent is one that people poke fun at and the OP decides to drop the diversity. Which is not what I meant to happen at all.

C'est la vie.

EMaree said:

My rule of thumb: dialect works well for MG and YA fiction where more subtle choices of sentence structure and regional language wouldn't be as noticeable to the reader.

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Actually, in my experience, most MG and YA editors would prefer you didn't try and reproduce accents phonetically. They'd much prefer 'subtle choices of sentence structure and regional language' and all the other things you imply wouldn't be as noticeable to the younger reader

"Splendors and Glooms" by Laurie Amy Schlitz has a co-MC who has a cockney accent. It's not annoying or anything.

I hated Huck Finn because of overuse and I had trouble with Of Mice and Men as well.

As for trying it myself, I have a French character in my book. None of my readers complained about understanding it. I even asked them directly if it was irksome, but they told me it was fine. He uses words like "Zey" instead of "they", "eez" instead of "is", etc. I did it for comedic effect mostly, as I thought it added to his particular character.

However, he was a secondary character and pops up throughout the book. I didn't want to overwhelm the reader with dialect. I wouldn't have written him with an accent if I were writing for an older audience. It seems to fit fine with children. I'm also writing my current WIP with a Scot. Even more sparingly, still.

Gary Clarke said:

Actually, in my experience, most MG and YA editors would prefer you didn't try and reproduce accents phonetically. They'd much prefer 'subtle choices of sentence structure and regional language' and all the other things you imply wouldn't be as noticeable to the younger reader

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Ah, fair play then, thank you for the correction. My experience was only as a reader where many popular books (The Wee Free Men, How to Train Your Dragon and The Knife of Never Letting Go for example) all heavily utilise dialect.

DanielaTorre said:

I'm also writing my current WIP with a Scot. Even more sparingly, still.

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Code Name Verity has my favourite use of a Scottish accent. It's virtually unnoticable until a certain moment in the story.

(The Wee Free Men and The Pure Dead series, where the accent is much more visible, are close favourites.)

EMaree said:

Ah, fair play then, thank you for the correction. My experience was only as a reader where many popular books (The Wee Free Men, How to Train Your Dragon and The Knife of Never Letting Go for example) all heavily utilise dialect.

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No worries. Funny you should mention Patrick Ness... he and I were giving a talk together once and he told me he actually wrote the entire thing in dialect. What you read in the finished product is what is left after hefty re-writes (as advised by his editors : ) )

What dialectical quirks the reader gets in the final product is often due to the author's stubbornness and or persuasiveness during edit. Speaking from similar experiences, it can be an uphill battle to even get those twists of syntax and grammar preserved as one had initially imagined them

EMaree said:

Code Name Verity has my favourite use of a Scottish accent. It's virtually unnoticable until a certain moment in the story.

(The Wee Free Men and The Pure Dead series, where the accent is much more visible, are close favourites.)

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Wow. Thanks for the recommendations EMaree! This will help a lot. Came here to give advice, and ended up getting advice.

Remember any time our reader requires to stop and think about how the dialogue is spoken and what words are being said is going to detract from flow and his following the meaning of what is said.

Sentence structure and word choice beat dialect phonetics or odd spellings hands down every time.

Bufty said:

Remember any time our reader requires to stop and think about how the dialogue is spoken and what words are being said is going to detract from flow and his following the meaning of what is said.

Sentence structure and word choice beat dialect phonetics or odd spellings hands down every time.

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And then again there's Ridley Walker, one of my favourite books of all time.
And Animal's People, ditto.

Just do what you're going to do. But do it well. (and understand the consequences when it comes to submissions)