On the drive home from a hike the other day, I spoke to my
husband, Kyle, while staring out the passenger’s window in a way that may have
given him the impression that I was talking to myself.
“I don’t know if I could write in an English Accent.” I
think I may have had this thought because I’ve been reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, and whenever I read her novels, my inner narrative exists as a terrible
Scottish accent for a few weeks.
Kyle responded halfheartedly, “Oh, yeah?” He was most
likely holding back the urge to roll his eyes.
“Which is weird,” I continued, “since I read so many books
by English authors.”
I’m fairly sure Kyle zoned out at this point, but the words
kept pouring out of me. I started rambling on about the adage “write what you
know,” and how “I can definitely describe our regional patois,” and then
thought to myself, since I had finally shut up, “I should write a blog post about
this!”
My novel takes place locally, in the town of Marquette,
Michigan. Below is an excerpt on the regional dialect from said novel, enjoy.
“Wha’
da fuck were you doin’ slammin’ your breaks like dat?” The large man roared in
the backwoods patois of the Upper Peninsula. The Ojibwa people who had lived in
the lush evergreen forests before the white men had no ‘th’ sound in their
vocabulary. Later white settlers, who tended to be of Scandinavian decent, came
to the area. These cultures, when combined, had created a distinct dialect. Most
locals elongated their vowels and even city dwellers like Thomas could be found
doing so when they grew tired. But the brute of a man who stood before Thomas
had an accent as thick as the swarms of mosquitoes in late June. It was closer
to something a person would expect to hear in Fargo, North Dakota rather than
the north Midwest.”
The idea with the previous excerpt was to provide a quick glimpse
into the sounds of the Upper Peninsula, even if they’d never before heard it,
thus the “Fargo” reference. I also wanted to provide insight that was duly
explanatory but short enough that it wouldn’t take away from the flow of the
scene. I think I found a balance between those two criteria.
As a bonus, since I referred to Brit Lit, I’m
leaving a few links to my favorite British authors and my favorite of their
works:
-
A Sally Lockhart Mystery, Ruby in the Smoke – Philip Pullman (all teenage girls should read this!)
Do
I really have to write Tolkien and J.K. Rowling?
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