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/lit/ - Literature

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2733378 No.2733378 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/

What do you think of writing in dialects? I'm writing this story at the moment and just want to know what you think of the style I'm going for.

http://pastebin.com/24jHNSTC

>> No.2733420

bump

>> No.2733430

>>2733378
Keep it to a minimum. Trying to decipher some heavy Irish accent is the most hardcore bullshit ever. If you must, just keep it to the barest minimum. Like droppin' the g or somethin' or at most, donnae or ken. or whatever the fuck it is.

>> No.2733441

>>2733430
Thanks for the advice. I think there's a good deal of sense in that.

>> No.2733469

Read Forrest Gump to see how to write in a dialect just right.

>> No.2733475

>>2733469
I had no idea Forrest Gump was also a book. Thanks for the recommendation, looking it up now.

>> No.2733477
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2733477

It's great if it is done well. Usually it's not. If you haven't read Trainspotting I highly recommend you check that book out. When I first started on it, it felt fucking draining but you get used to it surprisingly fast. Going from Finnegans Wake to Trainspotting feels like going from a marathon to a 1600.

It's really easy to fuck it up or sound like you're trying too hard, not to mention people might just lose interest and drop the book instead of learning the dialect. One example of a common fuckup might be if you're trying to emulate a southern accent... it comes across as condescending a lot of the time.

>> No.2733492

It's really hard to do, but it works great if you pull it off.

Mark Twain did some of the best Southern dialect I've ever read.

>> No.2733503

>>2733477
>>2733492
>It's great if it is done well. Usually it's not.
>It's really hard to do, but it works great if you pull it off.
Hmm this seems to be some kind of consensus. This leaves me wondering if I am doing it well or badly.

Thanks for the recommendations by the way.

>> No.2733525

>>2733503
Honestly the text in OP looked ok to me. If it was an interesting story I wouldn't mind reading it.

Just be consistent in your slang, it's already hard enough to learn it well enough that you re-obtain decent reading speed.