A question on style and reviewing standards.

[puddingcat]

Right. I'm English, and I'm in two fandoms (this one, natch, and HP) based on very English books. However, most fandom authors tend to be American

Comments

:cough:

[burntcopper]

It so does. Speaking as an English writer/reader who mainly writes in American fandoms (Buffy, Angel et al), you can seriously tell the difference between the two forms. I regularly get laughed at by a mate (also English) who betas my fic for me, normally pointing out that Gunn is going Estuary again. (hmph. It's not my fault that my vocabulary is more like Wes'.)

And. Er. Me and a mate got so pissed off with Americanisms in fic, and the sheer wrongness of things like geography, the sudden appearance of Waffle Houses in south-east England and so on, that he pushed me into making Oi! Yanks! No!, a guide to Britishness in general.

Re: :cough:

[daegaer]

Wah! I owe you a guide to the horrors of Hiberno-English! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, amn't I after forgetting it! And here I'm only just after thinking no one outside this island understands it. Well, how and ever, I do be fierce busy in work, but sure, I'll get around to it, promise.

Re: :cough:

[gehayi]

That sounded disconcertingly like my Scottish grandfather talking.

Re: :cough:

[daegaer]

Heh. Is he from way up in the Highlands? Because they talk more like Irish people, accent wise at least.

[minkhollow]

I've been fascinated by British English for quite some time anyway. I'd welcome the Brit-picking as a learning experience as much as making the story work better.

[bluepard]

If the original is English, having the fanfic be English is helpful in keeping the feel of the original work--just like creators of fan comics can get away with a lot of bad characterization if they can draw the characters in the style of the original cartoonist. It has the appearance of the thing, so it is the thing and the whole of the thing.

If it's good though, I don't care. Execution is most of writing, but some of the fun of reading fanfiction is the same fun of looking at fanart--seeing characters you recognize in different styles.

Might I add, most my English friends complain about Americans getting English accents all wrong. If I'm writing English characters I'd get a genuine Brit to beta, but otherwise I'd stick to myself and however the original inspires me.

[daegaer]

I'm not American, and I don't speak British English (I speak Hiberno-English). I would be delighted if English readers pointed out to me where I use terms that aren't correct. Hiberno-English is a lot closer to British English than is American English, but there are differences (we tend to form some grammatical constructions along the lines of Irish, for example). So please, feel free to tell me that British English doesn't have a Continual Present, or whatever! (And on that note, thanks again to louiselux who pointed out I recently had Hastur say something incomprehensible - even Dukes of Hell shouldn't start speaking idiomatic Hiberno-English :-)

So correct me! I'll go back and edit, cheerfully.

I think you're not being parochial - it does make a difference. If I read about the HP or GO characters going to the mall/worrying about midterms/not having to buy gas for the Bentley it breaks the flow of the story for me. The characters are English, and shouldn't speak as if they aren't. (And as a nit pick of my own, the characters are in the

[louiselux]

even Dukes of Hell shouldn't start speaking idiomatic Hiberno-English :-)

Well, they could try, but I'd get 'em in the end!

[daegaer]

"Fer feck's sake," Hastur said, grimacing into his Guinness, "I'm only just after comin' in ter d'office an d'boss is after tellin' me I have ta get myself back up dere. Amn't I de lucky fellow? Lucky me arse, I'll never get up in time - always de same - it's nothin' only busses till ya need one of de feckers. I'll have ta tink of somthin quick like a cute hoor. Dat right, Ligur?"

Ligur paused.

"Wot?"

[louiselux]

*mops brow*

"For fuck's sake," Hastur said, grimacing into his can of Tennants Super, "I've only just got down here and now the boss's told me I've got get back up there again. Aren't I the lucky one? Yeah, right. Lucky my arse, I'll never get up there in time - it's always the bloody same - like the buses! Never there when you want one, then the sodding things all turn up at once. I'll have to think up something quick like [beep- no know English translation for 'cute hoor'- beep]. Eh, Ligur?"

*mops brow*

But, ahh, Hastur's quite sweet in Hiberno-English!

[gehayi]

- Would you be offended at having this sort of thing pointed out, either in beta or in feedback?

I'd appreciate it, actually. Aziraphale and Crowley are quintessentially British in their behavior and style of speech, and though I've read a great many British novels in my time, I'd prefer to know from a native Brit-speaker if I had the style and expressions correct. After all, I want PTerry's and GNeil's characters to sound like themselves.

- Do you think it makes a difference, or am I being parochial and snobbish about the whole thing?

It makes a difference. Speech, and style of speech, go a long way toward expressing personality and toward making characters believable.

(I will never, for example, believe that Hermione Granger would EVER say, "Dude! You look, like, totally awesome!" Not even if she was threatened with Avada Kedavra. And if I see that kind of expression, it ruins suspension of disbelief for me.)

So yes. Yes, it matters.

-Is there a difference between colloquialisms in speech, and in linking paragraphs?

[biascut]

The most worrying thing is that I'm just as English as Hermione, and I probably would say something like that. Perhaps not "awesome", but definitely "totally," "like," and the occasional "dude" has slipped out.

I need to spend less time online.