So does my USian one, actually.

I covet your dictionary. My neighbor's wife, not so much, which indicates that the Ten Commandments were not written with me in mind.

If Laurence Fishburne moved in next door, that would sway the conversation.

Er. For on-topic-cakes, everyone who likes spy fic really ought to read Dana's new story, yes yes.

Even then, if what they're saying is important, as well as the lanaguae they're saying it in, I'd feel I wanted to translate in the body of the text, or have it all actually in English and remark, "he said, still stubbornly in German."

Wrod. In one of my fics, I slip in occasional reminders that one of the main characters' first languages is not the language he's speaking. Fractured grammar is annoying and distracting, so what I've done on a couple of occasions is show him being befuddled by an idiomatic expression or have to come up for a substitute for a technical term (e.g. "thick" rather than "viscous" to describe a substance found at a crime scene.)

should the third person be his voice?

Not necessarily, but if Harry Potter's wearing a jumper, Clark walks around a hood. It's the setting voice, and the Smallville setting is Americana.

Not necessarily, but if Harry Potter's wearing a jumper, Clark walks around a hood. It's the setting voice, and the Smallville setting is Americana.

Point-- and, in that case, I did in fact change it (edit: yes, I really did. I've just checked). The harder one was the same word, later in the same fic, only this time the car was Victoria's. I still haven't decided about that one.

Who's speaking? If it's the same narrative voice as the first time, it should be consistent. If Victoria's talking, then it's a bonnet.

Who's speaking? If it's the same narrative voice as the first time, it should be consistent. If Victoria's talking, then it's a bonnet.

Yes. This. One of the things I like about switching viewpoints from scene to scene is that it gives me a chance to write for extended lengths of time in different voices.

It's the narrative voice. Consistency is important-- but I suspect (I'm just re-reading) that the narrative voice slipped to become a little more British the moment Victoria entered the scene, because it started telling things from almost-her-POV. Hum. It may not just be that word I need to change...

Cereal:

Yes. This. One of the things I like about switching viewpoints from scene to scene is that it gives me a chance to write for extended lengths of time in different voices.

That's how I ended up writing diary entries. I was trying to make this fic be more of a piece, with one voice. Although-- as I've just noticed-- the voice is sort of changing through it. Dammit.

I was once ripped out of an otherwise interesting YA fantasy novel (it may have been one of Diane Duane's; I'm not sure) because an American character was trying to make up her mind whether she fancied a particular boy, or only liked him, since Americans never use fancy in that sense.

OTOH, I use American spellings in my English-set novel because that seems to be standard practice when writing for American publication. And I use "gotten," because given that we're still using it here, I'm guessing its disappearance from British English is relatively recent, and therefore that my characters would use it in 1810.

The lack of gotten on your side of the pond does throw me, as using just "got" here seems to only be something I hear in low company.

If that makes sense. (I had a Brit beta miss a gotten once... I think it's still in there... keep meaning to remove the thing.)

I get slightly thrown, actually, by some UK writers when they do Giles, Ethan, or Wes, because while they sound like *real* English people, they don't sound like their show selves.