Musing: Big Bangs - Realism in AU Big Bang
(This was originally posted to au_bigbang_vent, but it can go here too.)
In my AU Big Bang fic, a character (Dean, for those who know SPN) is mute from a very young age. I thought I'd have it be psychological, but further into the fic I'm just not sure. Possibly a combination of that and damage to his throat, given that I've described him as injured in other ways.
Anyway, the point is, I'm having difficulty writing conversations between him and the other characters. He's using sign language, but from what research I did quite a while ago into ASL, it wouldn't necessarily 'sound' like spoken discourse if translated literally. So far in the fic I've been having him 'speak' basically normally, with the difference between his sign language and the other characters' speech shown like this:
'Everything is going to be alright,' he signed, determinedly, and then jumped up.
"Where are you going, honey?"
'Tea.'
Her smile was weary, this time. "That might help a little."
I don't want to ignore that it just isn't that convenient, but I don't want to make it too difficult to follow as a story -- and the amount of research to have him say only things that can be expressed in sign language in those terms is impossible, given my other commitments. The way I'm thinking of it is that I'm 'translating' his sign language for the reader to make it clear what he's saying.
I'm also starting to be horribly afraid that I'm just going to mess up and offend someone.
Any thoughts? My only thought so far has been to continue the way I'm doing it, and to put a note explaining that and apologising for the lack of realism.
In my AU Big Bang fic, a character (Dean, for those who know SPN) is mute from a very young age. I thought I'd have it be psychological, but further into the fic I'm just not sure. Possibly a combination of that and damage to his throat, given that I've described him as injured in other ways.
Anyway, the point is, I'm having difficulty writing conversations between him and the other characters. He's using sign language, but from what research I did quite a while ago into ASL, it wouldn't necessarily 'sound' like spoken discourse if translated literally. So far in the fic I've been having him 'speak' basically normally, with the difference between his sign language and the other characters' speech shown like this:
'Everything is going to be alright,' he signed, determinedly, and then jumped up.
"Where are you going, honey?"
'Tea.'
Her smile was weary, this time. "That might help a little."
I don't want to ignore that it just isn't that convenient, but I don't want to make it too difficult to follow as a story -- and the amount of research to have him say only things that can be expressed in sign language in those terms is impossible, given my other commitments. The way I'm thinking of it is that I'm 'translating' his sign language for the reader to make it clear what he's saying.
I'm also starting to be horribly afraid that I'm just going to mess up and offend someone.
Any thoughts? My only thought so far has been to continue the way I'm doing it, and to put a note explaining that and apologising for the lack of realism.