Dialect  If one or more of your characters have a dialect or accent that you feel is important to note in your novel, I would suggest that unless you…

Dialect in Writing

I’m of the mindset that dialects and accents show the eccentricities of the characters and can potentially, make it easier for people to relate to a character with a similar accent to their own. However, without a frame of reference and a consistent style things tend to get complicated. While today’s variety of accents and dialects are different from years ago, many pieces of writing still follow a neutral accent to allow for readability. The benefit of understanding what a character is saying therefore allows for the reader to get creative and imagine an accent for their characters. Stories use character descriptions which aim to provide an image of the character, so even without an accent in the words the character is influenced by the reader’s own internal biases. The same story could be read by a crowd of people and each person, would have a different perspective of how the characters look and sound like.

Today’s Tip is Courtesy of wordsfromanneli