USA mannerisms

Do what your audience needs

If my MC is American and I'm write a book in France, I write it in French, with him speaking French.

It would be "mom", at least in dialogue or from the character's POV. As to spelling, if it's a UK book just about an American character, I would assume UK spelling.

The dialog absolutely needs to reflect what a character from that part of the world would say. In the narrative, I think it can be either but I would find it odd if an American narrator (if first person) used UKisms, and probably still would in 3rd person if all the major characters were American and the story took place in the US.

And I would strongly suggest that when the book is done you find an American beta reader to catch mannerisms you aren't aware of. A British friend of mine wrote a book and had his American child character asking to "stay off from school" instead of "stay home from school," and other dead giveaways. Incidentally, only non-Americans call the country "America." We are Americans, but we live in the US.

I have lived in the US for about ten years now but only recently started writing American characters. I still make a good dozen glaring errors of culture per novella which my lucky editor gets to weed out.

If you're British and writing an American character and you aren't familiar with Americanisms it shows. Vice versa, of course.

We have parking lots, not car parks. We say Mom or Mother, not Mum. We go to the hospital, not go to hospital. We have front and back yards, not gardens. There are hundreds of phrases that tell me immediately if I'm reading a British or American book.

I second the recommendation for an American beta reader. I'm going to have to find a British one (familiar with Regency language) for mine. And someone who is Welsh for a few scenes.

You should be able to set your spell-checker for American English vs. UK English. While it won't catch everything, it should highlight the spelling differences such as: neighbor vs. neighbour and tire vs. tyre.

In this character's dialogue and POV scenes, go with "mom".
Keep the spelling consistent throughout the book.

(Side note on mom/mum: Where my family is from in Canada, it seems to be a generational thing. My boyfriend and I say 'mom', whereas my dad and his parents say 'mum', as does my boyfriend's father.)

Lidiya said:

I'm rewriting my book and I've been thinking about where the MC's from. I originally planned him on being North American (from Ohio), but I'm from London so I think there might be a few mistakes in the way I portrayed him.

Do I write 'mom' instead of 'mum', even though I'm not American, but my character is? Do I use 'o' instead of 'ou' like in 'neighbor' and 'color'? Because even though I live in London, I still miss out the 'u' :/

Or maybe I should just make the MC British and leave it at that. But I hate making characters British

Do you have any advice and tips on writing American characters when you're not American yourself, or should I just change his nationality?

Thanks

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I'm not sure why you don't want to make him British, but if he is American, you should use American spellings. If he's a Brit living in the States, you can use U.K. spelling, I would think.

Also decide on what section of the US you want your character to be from and research the area. For someone from Ohio, chances are they'd say 'pop' for something like a Coke or Pepsi. Someone in the East (like me), chances are it's a 'soda'.

You might want to watch American shows set in US cities. For example, Castle which is set in New York City (and the main MC is a writer ).

I recall having to proof a sales catalog for a British children's educational publisher to make sure that it had the proper spelling, prices, and ISBN codes.

ETA: The British publisher was breaking into the US market and I was proofing the catalog for the US market.

When in doubt, hand it to an American to read.

Writing different English cultures is a bit different than a completely foreign one where you can simply translate. It's a whole ballpark I won't even touch, couldn't write a Brit or Australian for the life of me.

No problem with half a dozen other European cultures, probably a few others I could cheat through too, but on those two the use of English completely screws me over.

Chris P said:

Incidentally, only non-Americans call the country "America." We are Americans, but we live in the US.

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I call the country America. I think that's actually pretty common. (I'm American.)

dirtsider said:

Also decide on what section of the US you want your character to be from and research the area. For someone from Ohio, chances are they'd say 'pop' for something like a Coke or Pepsi. Someone in the East (like me), chances are it's a 'soda'.

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I agree with this. I'm an American and I'm from Ohio. Most people in northeast Ohio where I grew up call it pop, while southern Ohioans call it soda, and Southerners often call it Coke. That's probably the most glaring example.

I'm an American. But I live in the United States.

Definitely in dialogue you need to use 'mom'.

An American beta seems like a must. They would also pick up on things like putting things in the 'trunk' not in the 'boot' and opening the 'hood' to check engine problems not the 'bonnet'. There are many subtleties like this.

As for spelling - I agree with those who say if you are writing for a British audience then use standard British spelling. But 'mom' and 'mum' are more than spelling, they sound different.

biscuits and cookies are two different things. and tossing cookies means vomiting--s6

Oh, the differences are subtle and endless.

Group nouns are singular here in the US. In Britain, the "family are..." or "the government are..."; in the US it's "the family is..." or "the government is...." First time I saw that in a British newspaper I thought the grammar was wrong.

And just to make it more confusing, "the police are..." here in the US. Really, couldn't tell you the rule. I think the word "police" for a group noun is the exception. Generally, groups take the sinular here.

Also, "pissed off people" here in the US are mad, not drunk.

Definitely have at least one American as a beta.

American beta reader is a necessity. Fanny has a different meaning depending where you are, so does pants, and fags of course, Americans never 'take the piss' nor the Mickey. Car park vs parking lot, flat vs apartment...The US doesn't have zebra crossings, lollipop men, roundabouts (well, we have like 2, and we don't know how to use them), VAT, pasties, 6th form, etc. we also don't have a lot of grammatical constructions and phrases regularly used in British English.

MMcDonald64 said:

I'm not sure why you don't want to make him British, but if he is American, you should use American spellings. If he's a Brit living in the States, you can use U.K. spelling, I would think.

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I think the spelling is more determined by the market than by the setting or characters, and is a separate issue from the vocab. I don't think it really matters, though, as long as you're consistent. But in the historical romances I read, for example, the vast majority of which are set in Britain, American spellings are used. (Just searched through four books by four different authors to confirm.)

In the US, we never "go on holiday". We either "take a vacation" or "go on vacation". "Holiday" is used strictly for Christmas, Easter, New Year's, etc.

Kitty Pryde said:

[...] roundabouts (well, we have like 2, and we don't know how to use them)[...]

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Speak for yourself...

On topic: If a Brit writes an American I would expect US vocabulary, but not necessarily spelling. That's just translation convention. So "colour" would be fine, but "torch" for "flashlight" would not, at least not in the American character's dialog.

Also, where is your story taking place? If your story is taking place in Europe, or Great Britain, or even in Asia, then if your MC is American/USA bred and raised, be aware that we all "act" different from Europeans (even today, that's true, though not as much as it was forty years ago). We walk different, we sit different, we eat different. Our mannerisms are quite different from those of Europeans, and because of that, the natives can sorta sense that we're Americans, though the natives might not be able to explicitly express exactly why.

And so, if you have an MC that is American, and the setting is in Europe, then you might like to entertain inserting a bit here and there that might reflect the MC's Americanisms.

Just a thought.