Dialog/Speech Style

[Legacy]

So I was reading HP:7 this past week and reading the dialog of certain characters like Hagrid and Fleur made me wonder...

Do you guys/gals write how a certain character's speech/accent sounds within the dialog? In other words, do you spell out the accents through speech?

For example in HP, Fleur sounds like "'Arry Potter eez so magnifeek!"

Do you guys take this approach? Do you even think about making different characters speak differently?

 

[moosie]

well in my story, there's a girl with a West Virginian accent, considering it takes place in ohio... -_-`

 

[Zekurom]

Well, I certainly wouldn't mangle "magnifique" like that.

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

I don't do that, but I do say "with an accent" and leave it to the reader to determine the accent. I play around with grammar sometimes as well.

 

[LightningTopaz]

I have attempted a Southern drawl (usually if the gang is playing cowboys) an Irish lilt (one of Ash's puppet characters has this), and Meowth's trademark New Yorker accent, even if it's not Team Rocket's Meowth.

Examples:

Ash sets the view on the document to that he can see all of what he has written so far of the script. "Why don't we let Erin herself tell you?" With that, he discretely slips his left hand into a hidden hole under the Riolu doll's tail, then climbs under one of the desk's arms so that he is hidden from Taran's view, and makes Erin "walk" onto his "stage"

"Hail and well met, Erin." Taran calls to Erin. "Tell me about your latest adventure."

"And to ye te seme, lad." Ash replies in Erin's distinctive lilt. "Far tis story, I pley te court wizard to a king who rules a far awey land. While one particular ledy, ledy Shani, feels I am not fit te serve a king, she has far darker ambitions--te slay awl te dragons in te land."

"Now THAT was uncalled for!" Brock growls over Dawn screeching, then addresses Misty again. "It's going to be my pleasure to get rid of you and your friends, Lindy Dean..."

"Why, I oughta knock yer teeth down yer throat!" Gary threatens.

"Please, Mr. Darkmoon--this ol' place has been in the family for years...give me more time!" Misty pleads.

"Time? Who do I look like, Dialga?" Brock retorts.

"I'd say ya are an ol' Slowpoke!" Gary comments over Brock's laughing.

"Flattery won't save you this time..." Brock begins over a tense stinger. "Each of you knows that Ol' Dean traded me the deed to the Star P Ranch in return for the Starfall Mine...."

"Now what didja put in Daddy's drink to get him to turn the ranch and the mine to ya?" Gary demands.

Brock is about to answer with his next line when suddenly, "Two Perfect Girls" comes blaring from a pocket in his costume.

"You're right, I haven't seen Juno or Lani anywhere...." Midori notes.

"Maybe if ya told'em it's showtime and I'm havin' ta stall da show, they'd come out?" Brock coyly suggests, to some laughter.

"I think I will..." With that, Midori calls offstage. "Juno! Lani! Showtime!"

 

[Drakon]

I try to avoid phonetic accents because they are hard to render correctly and read. But I make an exception for Team Rocket's Meowth because I am familiar with a NY/Brooklyn accent and it is not too hard to read.

 

[Arc Blader]

I'd say it really depends. If it's easy enough to transcribe and read, I'd think it would be fine. If you don't know how to transcribe it, or don't think it would look good on paper, you could just mention that the speaker had an accent, as Kyuu mentioned.

 

[an illegible mess.]

I usually say what their accent is. I don't really express it through the dialogue because I don't know what some accents may sound like and I don't want to (accidentally) offend someone in any way.

 

[CrystaI]

I do that.

My writing style is a combination of normal essay + dialogue, therefore I always include accent and/or informal spoken speech during the dialogue speech, but of course it depends highly on who is the spoke person.

And BTW, I also mentioned in my signature that all my fic are written in Japanese, so the accent is actually easier to express than in English (accent in Japanese).

 

[Kayi Rowling]

I can't yet manage to understand most "accents" in written form for English, so I just tend to say they have an accent :sweatlol: *lazy?*

 

[Glitchipedia]

I vary. For my RP character Colin Sonan, I just say "he has a thick British accent" and leave it at that. For my other RP character Joanie Aimes, however, I do suggest her accent a bit with some phonetic quirks, but not too many.

"See, I'mma explain," she interrupts. "Glitcho wants to leave most of it to the reader's imagination. So he'll be hackin' off some Gs here and there, usin' some of them informal contractions like 'gonna', 'wanna', 'hafta', all that jazz, but he ain't gonna take it too far. Get what I'm sayin'?"

So yeah, I'm inconsistent, but I get the job done.

 

[Shinneth]

I've been giving it a shot for characters with really heavy established accents, and so far I haven't had a reader complain about it. I can give a couple of excerpts as an example.

How I write Meowth (Travels of the Trifecta!, chapter 18)

Spoiler

As the two stepped into the Pokémon Center, a certain agitated Meowth burst out of one of the bushes that encircled the trashed battlefield. “How’re d’ose two related?! They ain’t even close enough ta’ be adopted bros…!”

His comrades, lowly Team Rocket grunts Jessie and James were quick to pop out at the same time and clamp the Scratch Cat Pokémon’s mouth shut with their hands.

“Pipe down before I relate to the idea of zipping your mouth shut!” Jessie threatened. “Now try and adopt some stealth!”

“As if you smotherin’ me’s good fer my health,” Meowth muttered as he freed himself from his teammates’ grasp.

James was never as much into asserting authority as Jessie; as such, his eyes were often wandering elsewhere for opportunities to aid their mission. He was quick to spot one right in front of them. “Speaking of our health, I do believe I see an opportunity for some income.”

“Income, you say?” Jessie was immediately interested, ceasing her feud with Meowth immediately to look around for what James had in mind.

“D’en let’s seize tha’ day!” Meowth proclaimed. As he looked around, he immediately had his doubts. “Hang on, what’re ya implyin’?”

Now that no one was out to spot them, James stepped out of the bush and pointed directly at the disaster area before them. “Do you remember what the rude twerp’s brother said? This mess here is our ticket to one hefty paycheck!”

“Of course your idea is manual labor,” Jessie muttered; her spirits dampened. “And since we’re beggars, we can’t be choosers.”

“If it’s inspiration you need, remember just one thing!” James sung out. “We’re here in Sinnoh to give Team Rocket a name. And no matter how many times we’re blasted off, we will never be defeated when it comes to our work ethic!”

Meowth smirked, agreeing with his comrade. “D’at’s what da’ boss likes most of all! So get wit’ da’ program, Jess; we gotta do what we gotta do!”

How I write Fantina (Travels of the Trifecta!, chapter 17)

Spoiler

“Huh?” Barry looked up, only to fall over on his behind in shock as he pointed his shaking finger at the woman. “Aha! So the coward finally shows herself!!” He quickly picked himself up from the pavement. “Prepare to go down, Fantina!”

“Eh?” Fantina was momentarily confused, but gasped when she gave her prospective challenger a closer look. “Wait a minute… you are Barry, the boy from Twinleaf Town, n'êtes-vous pas…?”

Conway raised an eyebrow at the Gym Leader. “You remember this guy?” Though it wasn’t beyond Conway’s imagination, given his acquaintance’s brash demeanor…

“Of course she remembers me!” Barry proudly affirmed. “I left the biggest impression on her than any other challenger; isn’t that obvious?”

Fantina wisely chose not to make a remark to Barry’s obvious overstatement. Instead, she looked to the other person in her presence. “One familiar face,” she acknowledged. “But I do not believe I ‘ave seen you around before.”

“You certainly have not,” Conway said with a humble bow. “Con-… er, Colin from Celestic Town; Pokémon trainer and hopefully future challenger of yours,” he said with a quick save. Prior to meeting Barry, he had no problem referring to himself under his pseudonym only (as well as his chosen fake hometown). But since the two had spent a while together and Barry had quickly busted Conway’s ruse, it was easy for him to make a slip like this, and he knew he had to be more careful about this in the future. “Enchanté, Mademoiselle.”

It wasn’t every day that Fantina got prospective challengers that could speak her native tongue. She glowed with joy and shook Conway’s hand; this was a rare treat for her, after all. “Oh, what a well-mannered young man we ‘ave here! Welcome, welcome!”

“Hey wait a minute!” Barry objected, marching over to Conway while looking rather indignant. “You didn’t come from there and that’s not your na- OW!!”

Naturally, Conway wasn’t going to let Barry finish that sentence. He could have sworn he went over this with his companion already, but evidently instructions were something Barry couldn’t remember to follow completely until he’d been run through them at least fifteen times. So all in all, Conway didn’t feel too bad when, in the most subtle way he could manage, he waited for Barry to get close enough so he could stomp on his foot with all his strength. It wasn’t much, but definitely enough for Barry to feel it; it helped that Conway did this without warning. Fantina didn’t notice the slightly elder boy flattening his cohort’s foot, and recalling the kind of person Barry was from previous meetings allowed her to believe the blond just stubbed his toe on something instead.

“Ah, I see someone still ‘as not learned the value of patience and paying attention.” Fantina chided. “Barry, you will not be defeating me anytime soon if you do not shape yourself right.”

Barry’s rage was only focused on Conway now. “You-! You dirty little…!”

“Barry, non,” Fantina cut him off, scolding him like a preschool teacher would one of her students. “T’is behavior is not acceptable; you know t’is. The way you are behaving is not like a Pokémon Trainer, but rather a… ah….” She hesitated, suddenly unable to think of the right word. “What you of Sinnoh would call, a…”

Before Barry could cut her off in return, Conway gave a humble suggestion in the smuggest tone he could muster. “Un garçon inculte peu?”

“Ah, précisément!” Fantina agreed with delight. “What a worldly young challenger I ‘ave before me today! Would you be so kind to treat moi to une bataille?”

Basically, I go by ear for speech quirks and implement them accordingly, but hopefully not overdoing it to the point that you can't understand what they're saying.

'Cause when it comes to the really thick-accented characters, writing them with no unique twist at all comes off as pretty underwhelming.