The girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three.

Buffy ,'Same Time, Same Place'


Spike's Bitches 25 to Life  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risque (and frisque), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


Susan W. - Aug 09, 2005 8:29:19 am PDT #5484 of 10001
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights

For the record, Susan, I wasn't talking about you.

Thanks, ita, I wasn't sure given the context.

I know I err on the side of caution in this area because I've been so annoyed and insulted as a reader by writers' botched attempts at Southern accents. Not to mention driven batshit by romance-novel Scot dinna-speak. And then there's my vivid recollection of trying to talk a writing class participant out of Gone With the Wind-style speak for his African-American characters by getting him to say he'd never write a character like me with misspelled words or sloppy diction, then pointing out exactly how many things I say "wrong," from changing little to liddle to retaining distinctly Southern vowels after all these years away--my "gets" still "git" and when I'm speaking quickly enough, my "I" slips into an "Ah." He still didn't get it, and it pissed me off. Racist bastard.

So I just use near-standard English all around to avoid those pitfalls.

Gotta run--PT in 45 minutes and I still haven't showered. Annabel's 5:00 a.m. wakefulness has me all off-schedule.


DavidS - Aug 09, 2005 8:30:28 am PDT #5485 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

And I'm so jealous of people whose babies will sleep on them.

That's the only way Emmett would sleep at that age. You'd be surprised at how quickly the pleasure of warm babylump on you gets balanced by the desire to roll over on your side.

Happy Birthday, La Princessa Empressa!


§ ita § - Aug 09, 2005 8:33:31 am PDT #5486 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

My personal take on dialects in writing is to avoid tricky spellings and try to show differences in word choice.

My problem is that there's this little bit about which I know too much, I suspect.

I mean, if they were Bajan, I wouldn't be so responsive to the difference between saying "work" and "wuk" in an otherwise identical sentence.

I wish I could pin down what Nalo and others of her success did right, because it was so effortless.

What would you (larger) you do about grammatical differences, such as word order? Do you translate or report?


P.M. Marc - Aug 09, 2005 8:34:35 am PDT #5487 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

That's the only way Emmett would sleep at that age. You'd be surprised at how quickly the pleasure of warm babylump on you gets balanced by the desire to roll over on your side.

My warm babylump often traps me on my side (post-boobie curling against mama and napping time), and I just as often would really like to move off it and into a more comfortable position.


WindSparrow - Aug 09, 2005 8:38:23 am PDT #5488 of 10001
Love is stronger than death and harder than sorrow. Those who practice it are fierce like the light of stars traveling eons to pierce the night.

it's "ita," not "Ita," Windsparrow.

Oops, sorry, ita.


Typo Boy - Aug 09, 2005 8:39:01 am PDT #5489 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

Also I think historical dialog is different than contemporary. Yorkshire dialect may still use "'thine" but I'll bet 21st Yorkshire dialect differs substantially from 18th century Yorkshire dialect.

And John Dickson Carr made a point in writing an introduction to one bit he set in the 18th century. I wish I could find copy so as to quote since he put it really well, but the basic idea was that an 18th century character may have been speaking an 18th century dialect - but what the listeners heard was contemporary to them. Using an authentic 18th century dialect in a modern novel makes the character sound quaint and archaic to the reader -which is not how the character would have sounded to someone listening at time. (Obviously - there are exceptions for characters who are supposed to be quaint and archaic in their own time.) So, depending on the story of course, writing in something close to contemporary language (with perhaps minor varietions for flavor) can actually be truer to the story than authentic dialog. I can think of stories where that would not be true - for example where you are trying to give a feel for how different the time you are writing about is from are own - if you are trying to make the people you are writing about feel "other" and alien and unlike us.


Cass - Aug 09, 2005 8:43:39 am PDT #5490 of 10001
Bob's learned to live with tragedy, but he knows that this tragedy is one that won't ever leave him or get better.

There was a suggestion yesterday that I feed the annoying Client from Hell to the critters yesterday. I put the call off until this morning, figured it couldn't be all that bad and decided against making Client Chow. I was so wrong.

Happy Birthday, Aimee!


Topic!Cindy - Aug 09, 2005 8:45:00 am PDT #5491 of 10001
What is even happening?

Painful cute!

Oh Plei, she's too precious, and entirely unsure about that pool experience I tell you what. What a beautiful baby.


Sparky1 - Aug 09, 2005 8:51:45 am PDT #5492 of 10001
Librarian Warlord

There was a suggestion yesterday that I feed the annoying Client from Hell to the critters yesterday.

I'm sure the critters eat every day, so it's not like you don't have another chance.

Stephanie, such wonderful pics!

Happy Birthday, Aimee!


Nora Deirdre - Aug 09, 2005 8:54:19 am PDT #5493 of 10001
I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast! (Bojack Horseman)

Oh Plei, she's too precious

FYI Cindy, that's Ellie, not Lily. Unless you knew that already and were just agreeing with the person who brought it up.

Have I mentioned I am dumb today?

How are you doing today, Cindy- have you been able to speak to your doctors about yesterday's events?