Looking for a proofreader who is expert in accented dialog

[ocalhoun 30]

So, my next fic (Yes, it's fantastic) will include three characters with uniquely accented dialog.

 

I've already found a proofreader I want to have look over the one with a british accent, but that leaves two more.

 

I have one character with a lisp and one who speaks in semi-ebonics. I desperately need help in making sure their dialog is up to snuff.

 

You don't need to proofread the entire fic, only their dialog, and they are both only secondary characters, so there won't be an awful lot of it. You'll be looking at 2000 words max out of the 52kword story.

It's PG rated, so don't worry that the story might offend your sensibilities... and it's already in revision 12, so you're not going to be wading through a sea of unrelated errors.

 

If you can help, please shoot me a PM, or reply here. Thanks!

[Anneal 2,197]

I'll give you a note before I get to the point: A fanfiction doesn't always need an accent to make his or her story better. Sometimes it's better to not use it at all so other foreign readers wouldn't be offended.

 

With that put aside, I have some experience with Russian, German, and Czechslovakian accents. Maybe some Bronx and southern American. 

 

Then again, I can't literally write a Czechslovakian accent. They sound the same, but the way they say it is different. 

 

((I probably learned to do the Russian accent so well because I'm always making Russian personalities.))

Edited September 5, 2013 by Cartophile

[ocalhoun 30]

Sometimes it's better to not use it at all

Well, I have good reasons for doing it, not just something there to make a character more colorful.

 

The one with a lisp has the lisp because that's one of the reasons she gets picked on at school.

The one who speaks in semi-ebonics is deliberately oriented to drawing a parallel to racial issues in our world, since this fic is primarily about racial discrimination.

[Dashabel 381]

Just curious, but why do you need a writer for a British (English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh?) accent? How different can it be? I'm English, and I write fanfictions, most of which the characters are American, but I can't exactly turn their dialog American sounding? It's different for a rich accent, like French or Southern, (like AJ's) but plain American/British? I don't understand...

[Anneal 2,197]

Well, I have good reasons for doing it, not just something there to make a character more colorful.

 

The one with a lisp has the lisp because that's one of the reasons she gets picked on at school.

The one who speaks in semi-ebonics is deliberately oriented to drawing a parallel to racial issues in our world, since this fic is primarily about racial discrimination.

A lisp? That's not that hard; simply change all the letters of "s" and "z" into a "th", unless they're silent. 

 

If you want to know how to use accented dialogue well, sometimes it may help to learn and study the language first. 

 

 

I'm English, and I write fanfictions, most of which the characters are American, but I can't exactly turn their dialog American sounding? It's different for a rich accent, like French or Southern, (like AJ's) but plain American/British? I don't understand...

((On the other hand, I'm Chinese, but none of my OCs are Asians or have any reference to them. In fact, all of my characters are British, Czechslovakian, German, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Irish, French, and/or Yugoslavian. And the majority of them don't even have an accent at all; I find it easier to simply not use one because it's so difficult to use correctly.))

[NavelColt 22,880]

I've moved this to Creative Resources, as it's asking for assistance in a creative medium. That said, I wish to point out to you the pinned thread found in Creative Resources, which lists proofreaders :3 You may as well simply use that thread.

[ocalhoun 30]

Just curious, but why do you need a writer for a British (English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh?) accent? How different can it be? I'm English, and I write fanfictions, most of which the characters are American, but I can't exactly turn their dialog American sounding? It's different for a rich accent, like French or Southern, (like AJ's) but plain American/British? I don't understand...

It's not so much that I'm writing the dialog in an accent... for that character, I'm writing his dialog in British spelling and word choice. (Colour vs color, and fun-fair vs. carnival) I thought that would be a fun way to show him having the accent without ever having to explicity state it.

[NoveliaFantasy 0]

I am a writer as well, so I know where you are coming from. In addition, I am good with reading in accents, especially lisps being as i had one when i was younger. I would be glad to help you