This is a timely thread for me as I'm writing something in
regional
(British) dialect right now. Mine is more a yokelish accent
that I've adapted for my own purposes than a real one.
Geopgraphical authenticity is not an issue as the town is
entirely fictional and its location never specified (and
irrelevant). What I've done is written the whole novel that
way, via the first person narrator. That way I guess I avoid
the stuff about being disdainful to common characters. But
that wasn't an issue for me anyway. As usual, the main
character popped into my head and when I started writing he
insisted on talking this way. I've loved writing it.
I've gotta say, as a reader, "voice" fiction is better if the
whole novel is that way. If you don't fall in love with the
voice in the first sentence, you've got the whole book to let
it seduce you (or not). Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280 stands above
all his others for me because I just love the easy way Nick
Corey speaks (writes). Martin Amis created a masterpiece with
a narrator who played with his own accent when he wrote
Money. Trainspotting is so good because the thick language
really makes me see the characters, somehow. These are three
that work for me. There are dozens of others that failed
because the non-standard English just didn't work.
Charlie Williams.
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