Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
Dialect - to use or not to use?
The question is as exactly as above. Do I use it or not? The story I'm writing takes place in two different regions. Do I use dialect for speech, or do I use slang linked to particular regions instead?
Many thanks,
Doglover
Comments
And some words for specific things in one region are called something else in another part of the country. Alley, ginnel, cut-through, snicket, they all describe a similar feature, but in different parts of the country.
In this case, she may have used mam as a child, which would be in the dialogue, and now say mother as an adult in the narration. If it is all at the same time then I would use mam for both.
However, I did read a different version of the same story on Black Country Radio, which seemed to go down well.
I think the trick is to study the style of speech as much as the actual words. Different areas have different styles of speech, different ways of expressing things, distinctive sentence construction. If you can master that it will help you create the atmosphere of your chosen location