I've lived a lot of places in this big-ass country called the United States, and I've picked up a lot of stuff from here and there along the way. The question is, how much of what I've picked up and use in my writing is actually sympathetic to a majority of the readers. (As in 'yeah, I totally get that' versus 'that threw me right out of the story'.)
For instance, a beta reader for me wondered what BFE meant. She'd never heard it. And I had always assumed everyone knew what it meant. Derp. (I'm currently running a short survey on FB - so far, the majority know what it stands for, but a couple don't.)
Or my use of all y'all in my blog posts. I mean, I'm pretty sure most of you know it's the southern way of saying 'all of you'. (And no, I'm not southern - I just lived there long enough to have that become part of my vernacular.) Then again, readers abroad might find that confusing.
Add in that I'm a bit of a chameleon in that I pick up colorful words and phrases from whatever I've come in contact with - movies, TV, culture, books, etc. - and my writing voice might end up as a glop of stuff a broad spectrum of people might not entirely understand.
Oh god, and there are the words I make up. I try not to use those in my writing, but you never know when one might slip past. Unless it's sunuvabitch, which I totally think should be one word and is now part of my electronic dictionary so I stop getting the red-squiggly line of death.
It's a confusing thing. Or a cornfuggled thing. Or a confuzzled thing. Or whatever.
How do you feel about running across a word you aren't familiar with in your reading material? Do you head for the dictionary? If it's not there, do you head for the internet? Or do you just get frustrated and throw the book against the wall?
I don't mind colloquialisms and odd words as long as the author writes the passage with enough context. Acronyms are something else. They really annoy me unless the author spells it out at least once.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to run to the internet every time I come across an odd entry. It takes away from the flow of the story.
That's the goal, isn't it, Maria? Writing with enough context. And making sure you don't jerk the reader out of the story - whether it's to hunt down the meaning of something or just because it gave them pause. Thanks.
DeleteI've got no idea what BFE is, sorry. I get a little frustrated with Americanisms, as some of them don't translate over here. I had to ask Lynn Viehl once what "TP'd" meant and what s'mores were. I like to think of myself as an eclectic reader so I've a whole world of vocab behind me, from Georgette Heyer's elegant worlds through to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but I still get stuck sometimes. I don't mind hitting the dictionary as it's something I've always done & nowadays Google helps with colloquialisms and things like LOL, PITA, SOL etc. Learning the vocabulary of the world you're reading about is part of the fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally sorry if any of my Americanisms tripped you up, Fran. I guess I don't think about how my writing would come across in other countries. Thank goodness for Google.
DeleteAnd BFE stands for Bum Fuck Egypt which is a crass way of saying 'the middle of nowhere'.
I just keep on reading, and hope I can pick up the meaning out of the context. Once in a while I'll drag out a dictionary, but often the word isn't there. I rarely google it.
ReplyDeleteUm, what's a BFE? Best friend eventually? ;-)
Well, I hope when you read Dying Embers, you don't have to drag out the dictionary too much, Deb.
DeleteLOL, I like your suggestion better than the reality.
I assume BFE is the acronym of that mythical city in a north African country? Though I had to look it up because I just use the whole name. ;)
ReplyDeleteI use sumbitch, sonavabitch, and other "vernacular" spellings in dialogue. And no, weird words don't throw me, unless I can't figure out the meaning from the content surrounding it. Then I just stop and look it up before returning to the story. :D
Ah, yes, the mythical city, Silver. ;o)
DeleteDialogue is the perfect place for vernacular. I try to keep it there - unless I'm in tight first person POV where the whole book is pretty much how the MC would think and talk.