I think there are two good ways to handle dialect. One is going all-out, liek Irvine Welsh, and using phonetic spellings and colloquial word choices for everyone. The other choice is to write everyone using standard English spellings, and suggest dialect lightly, through word choice.
As Susan suggests, writing one group of characters in dialect while acting like everyone else speaks perfect English often is racist or classist. I think it should probably only be used if you're trying to show that the narrator is racist or classist, or if you're trying to show that the narrator's in a completely unfamiliar setting.
I agree that pidgins or creoles are a bit of a wildcard, and I'm not sure how they should be handled.
Normally my catlump curls up next to my head where he can be in my hair. In cooler weather, he likes to sleep on my hip or my chest. Hubby has, on more than one occasion when I can't sleep, picked up the protesting catlump and dropped him on my hip, whereupon catlump and I proceed to doze off. Koogie, said catlump, is a bony old skinnycat who barely clears ten pounds these day.
Hubs is beginning to be afraid if I get to bed first. Teddy will be asleep by my head, and Max by my feet. Often not leaving enough room for Hubs to sleep there.
Marie likes the top of the cat tower in the living room.
Anna isn't very snuggly in the summer. Although if I'm reading in bed she'll climb on my lap. I sleep on my side and sometimes I'l wake up with her perched on my side looking down at me.
In the winter she turns into a catlump.
ION, Naturalizer online is giving 50% off the sale prices. So tempting to do damage because they carry my wee size.
I KNOW!! They carry my Fred Flintstone size (rectangular) and it is one of the few stores that I can find shoes to fit me right. But, I just paid tuition and bought a plane ticket. I can't afford it right now. But, come my next paycheck?? Momma needs some new shoes.
If I was going to put my Dutch SiL on the page, I would try to capture the flavor of the way she speaks English. She will say something like "We were most happy to see the Mother on her visit." Which is a combination of translating from Dutch in her head and learning English from schoolbooks. Cleaning up the grammar on her sentences would not be accurate.
Happy happy birthday, Aimée!
I wonder if I can get a nice bendy sole that doesn't die. That would rock.
Yes, you can. I had very thin, bendy soles put on my latest pair of vintage pointy-toe buckle boots, because those sorts of boots ALWAYS have thin leather soles. They extend the life of the boots, and with the added bonus of traction!
Jilli, I just found a pair of wee pumpkin tights!
Raq, I'm sorry you're feeling oogy all over, but the above might be my favorite Buffista statement in recent memories. How cool is that--that you get to mention walking up to the frigging Acropolis, the way the rest of us would mention walking to a bus stop?
Wrod.
In writing, very few things annoy me as much as poorly written dialect. When it's done very well, it's fun even though it's hard to read. When it's done poorly, I just want to throw the book across the room. It's funny, though, as I feel competent to judge poor dialect writing even when I am not completely familiar with the dialect in question. I think I've mostly seen it with Scottish, when writers throw in some dinnas, etc., even though the overall flow of the speech is clearly American. Ack. I have a romance book at home with a lovely cover (much plaid) that I just can't finish because the dialect is too annoying.
