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Writing an Accent for a character?

MKnightium

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This is something I've been wondering about for a while, but are there any good ways to successfully write an accent for a character in fiction? Like, for example, a good Viking/Scandinavian accent? I've been wondering if there are ways to do this right, because I'm feeling skeptical in things again.

...though, for once, this isn't the writing anxiety talking.
 

Cosmering

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I would personally say don't overdo it? Incorporate slang words from the language into the dialect but don't, say, write like J.K. Rowling wrote Fleur—that tends to be a little over the top and as a Scot, I'm used to watching people attempt to write my accent and cringing!

So yeah, I would describe the accent around the voice, use some slang dialect, but not go too over the top with pronounciation and sounds? That's just my two cents, though!
 

Earthling

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I really don't like when authors write accents phonetically. It makes the character seem cartoonish and it's quite 'othering' - everyone thinks their accent is the standard, so why do some get 'proper' English and others are misspelled?

I prefer the approach of using word choice and sentence construction to convey accent. Or just "Blah blah," he said, in a strong Scandanavian accent.
 

SAWeiner

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I really don't like when authors write accents phonetically. It makes the character seem cartoonish and it's quite 'othering' - everyone thinks their accent is the standard, so why do some get 'proper' English and others are misspelled?

I prefer the approach of using word choice and sentence construction to convey accent. Or just "Blah blah," he said, in a strong Scandanavian accent.

I agree that one has to be careful not to overdo this. I've read authors who went phonetic and it was nearly impossible to decipher what the character was trying to say. A word here and a word there to indicate accent is best, IMO.
 

TheListener

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I really don't like when authors write accents phonetically. It makes the character seem cartoonish and it's quite 'othering' - everyone thinks their accent is the standard, so why do some get 'proper' English and others are misspelled?

I prefer the approach of using word choice and sentence construction to convey accent. Or just "Blah blah," he said, in a strong Scandanavian accent.

I agree with Earthling.

If you want to make the person seem more like the country they are from or the language they speak, then use some slang words that only they would use such a bloke, chuffed, happy as Larry for a Brit. You can find those words if you Google slang words used in _____ then insert the country or area of the country.

Trying to emulate someone's speech using phonetic spelling can get so confusing, and you will never get it right anyway. It is much easier to say something like 'What you really mean is that you are not interested,' she said in a heavy German accent. Or maybe--He laughed so hard, it made the rest of us smile. I wondered if all Danish men laughed like that. Just fit the person with the country's accent, let it be known, then let the reader take it form there.

Good luck
 

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Chris P

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I agree that less is more with accents. If a character is from a certain country or region, it very rarely adds to my enjoyment or understanding of the story to have the accent spelled out. The bigger danger is having the characters be cartoonish as mentioned above, or doing the accent wrong or using outdated slang.
 

Bufty

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As above. Avoid phonetics like the plague unless you are going all-out for comedy- even then it can be too much.

In dialogue, focus on word choice and sentence construction.

If I know where the character is from, say, Scotland or Germany for example, I'll interpret his dialogue my own way as I read it. It may not necessarily be the same way as someone else 'hears' or interprets it, but that doesn't matter.

Aim for clarity and flow.
 
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MKnightium

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So I'm seeing an overwhelming disdain towards phonetics...huh.

So, focus on sentence structure over stuff like "Y're jus' scared" and such.

Any suggestions to work this into fantasy?
 

pharm

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Same concept. Write vocabulary and sentence structure appropriate to the dialect, and the accent will follow in your reader’s heads. Just like with real-world accents, you can describe what it sounds like initially when the character shows up and starts talking. There’s no need to try to emulate it in the phonetics of the text itself. You’ll lose readers almost immediately.
 

nickj47

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Nowadays, written accents can be considered offensive. Less so cultural slang and jargon, when used appropriately. Best to indicate any accents in the description and leave it at that.
 

KBooks

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So I'm seeing an overwhelming disdain towards phonetics...huh.

So, focus on sentence structure over stuff like "Y're jus' scared" and such.

Any suggestions to work this into fantasy?

Altering spelling and replacing letters with apostrophes forces the reader (if we're assuming reading visually) to have to stop and decode rather than read by known sight words. On a screen reader, altering spelling and replacing letters with apostrophes will cause text-to-speech to trip over any word it can't find in the dictionary.
 

lizmonster

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In my current WIP, I've got two groups of people who speak the same language, but sometimes trip up on each other's accents.

I have no phonetic cues in my dialog, just a few spots where characters observe they've missed a word or phrase. And I only do this when the groups first meet; later on, I don't mention the issue at all.

Won't work for all stories, but works for mine.
 

Chris P

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Altering spelling and replacing letters with apostrophes forces the reader (if we're assuming reading visually) to have to stop and decode rather than read by known sight words. On a screen reader, altering spelling and replacing letters with apostrophes will cause text-to-speech to trip over any word it can't find in the dictionary.

Bolding mine as this is exactly what I have to with dialects. I recently gave up on a book partly because the author couldn't have an adult speak without it being a deeply countrified Southern accent written phonetically.

But, as with any writing technique, look for how others are doing it. I used to devour fantasy, and I can't think of any examples where the author used dialects to a large degree. Aside of nicknames or exclamations, or the occasional song, poem or proverb, all of the dialog is in plain English. I'm sure examples exist (but even in Lord of the Rings the dialect was only used at certain times).
 

pharm

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Redwall mole speech (which is supposedly Brian Jacques’ attempt at reproducing West Country accent) is often completely incomprehensible. Even as a kid who was an enormous fan of that series, I skipped nearly every passage of mole dialogue.

If you listen to Jacques narrate the audiobooks, it turns out he’s just as bad at reproducing it spoken as he is on the page phonetically.
 

shortstorymachinist

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Redwall mole speech (which is supposedly Brian Jacques’ attempt at reproducing West Country accent) is often completely incomprehensible. Even as a kid who was an enormous fan of that series, I skipped nearly every passage of mole dialogue.

If you listen to Jacques narrate the audiobooks, it turns out he’s just as bad at reproducing it spoken as he is on the page phonetically.

And I wouldn't change a THING. But I also wouldn't reproduce it either :greenie
 

TheListener

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So I'm seeing an overwhelming disdain towards phonetics...huh.

So, focus on sentence structure over stuff like "Y're jus' scared" and such.

Any suggestions to work this into fantasy?

Depends on what you are writing, what type of fantasy, ages, etc. Post a few of your questionable sentences in SYW or here. seeing that this is your thread. Feedback is always helpful. Try reading through this. May help some. https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/06/28/word-choices-contractions-and-dialect/
 

mafiaking1936

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I have a character who travels from one area to another where people's accents are different, and I tackled this by initially spelling some words phonetically. The reader might be confused, but so is that character, so it works I think. Then after some time, I have the character explicitly get used to the dialect, and even have the character say or think something using the phonetic spelling. Thereafter it can be inferred that the accent is understood and I use normal spelling, even though the accent is still there.
 

benbenberi

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I have a character who travels from one area to another where people's accents are different, and I tackled this by initially spelling some words phonetically.

Spelling an accent "phonetically" is almost always a bad idea -- because you have absolutely no idea what your "phonetic" spelling will sound like to any reader, and chances are that most readers will not interpret your "phonetic" spelling in anything like the way you intend it. (Unless you are using the actual phonetic alphabet, which is also not advised unless you're writing only for linguists.)

The problem is that your readers bring very different accents of their own into the reading experience. Their own speech is normal/baseline English to them -- yours may be weird and heavily accented to them. The sounds they "hear" when they read may be completely unlike the ones in your head when you write. Plus, the spelling conventions of English only barely map to anyone's pronunciation in the first place. So it's possible that whatever "phonetic" spelling you invent for an accent may indeed replicate perfectly *for you* the sounds of the accent you hear, but for your readers? Gibberish. (Or worse yet, the type of accent you're trying to convey is their normal. Awkward...)

Spelling an accent just doesn't work.
 
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Roxxsmom

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I agree with others who say it's better not to go overboard with trying to create an accent on paper. First of all, it's hard to say which pronunciation of a word is most phonetically "neutral" anyway, and it's hard to agree upon spellings of given sounds. Think of all the words in English whose spellings don't follow "standard" rules of pronunciation in any English dialect or accent. There are international rules of pronunciation, but you'd need to use all those symbols (as in a dictionary). People with different North American English accents spell English words the same, so we have different views on how certain letter combinations should be pronounced. Which accent is truly "neutral" English, even within a given country?

Secondly, it can be annoying to see spellings distorted over and over. A few writers have a knack for it (usually when shooting for humor), but if it's done badly it can put readers off or even be insulting to people with particular accents.

Thirdly, in your specific case, if your characters are Vikings, I assume they would really be speaking in their own language and are in an archaic setting, which means they wouldn't have an accent as far as they're concerned. Then you're really translating what they're saying into modern English anyway. Bernard Cornwall has his characters speaking modern English in his historical novels (I I recall one with Saxon raiders and so on).

You can still choose to represent certain turns of phrase differently between different groups of people, of course, or to describe how their accent sounds to someone who has a different one. And when writing in historical settings, or in fantasy settings that are pre-industrial, many authors choose to omit words and turns of phrase that are anachronistic (like someone wouldn't "escalate" a situation, nor "slam on the brakes" nor "go off the rails" etc.)
 
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DMakinson

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I think only emphasise an accent if it is a distinguishing characteristic for your particular character. If s/he's a Viking and everyone else are also Vikings, her/his accent is irrelevant.

If you do need to highlight the accent, don't for heaven's sake try to write it phonetically. One trick is to infer it through other characters. "Sue hesitated, perplexed by Ragnar's thick Norse accent." Or "I can't understand a word you're saying, you great slab of Danish bacon. Will you ever learn to speak proper like what I do?"

Another technique is to use different phrasing or sentence structure. Yoda the example that springs to mind is.
 
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