I thought this was a good topic to bring up in this forum. I'm writing a British character and have fallen across some suggestions from other writers on how to write a British speaking character. The best advice I've heard is to pepper into the character's dialogue British terms, but not make it overly obvious that you are doing this. In the same thread a member, I'm assuming a troll, stated matter-of-factly that all you have to do is have the character say things like Bob's your uncle, mate and you're good which I may be wrong, but I doubt all British speaking people say Bob's your uncle, mate. The same member got a reply from a British speaking person telling him/her that not all British people use that catchphrase. I've been looking up British slang terms and British words. I'm probably just going to pepper the words into the dialogue like I originally mentioned and try to stay clear of stereotypical catchphrases like Bob's your uncle, mate. I imagine British speaking people and people from places besides the United States have their own stereotypes of us. Are there any books or online resources on writing British speaking characters? I want to know what you've all found and maybe this thread can lead other writers with the same question as me on the right path. I'd like to read what other people have stated on the subject. It doesn't hurt to ask. I can definitely research Google (which I plan to do), but I'd also like to hear various opinions, too. P.S Are there also any good books or online resources on how to create a fictional language or how to write an already known language even if you don't know that language?
I've been a beta reader for a lot of US authors with British characters. I think getting a British beta reader (from whichever region your character is from) is the best way to make sure the words are authentic. I would definitely stay away from too much slang or British colloquialisms. It does come off very cringey and intrusive a lot of the time, as does spelling words phonetically to show an accent. I was born and raised in London and I'm writing a Scottish POV character at the moment. He says 'aye' instead of 'yes' and 'wee' instead of 'little' and that's about it - otherwise, he speaks much the same as the English POV character. It's enough to remind the reader that he's Scottish without making him into a Groundsman Willy stereotype. And I will be seeking out a Scottish beta reader when I'm done.
Like American English, British dialogue varies wildly. For example, Queen's English is more 'prim and proper' than Cockney or Scouse (Merseyside region). Rather than specific resources on British discussion, why not listen to British media? Doctor Who and Sherlock strike me as prominent examples that I know the BBC to be selling abroad. I don't know if they still are, or if they were sold outside the UK, but the late Terry Wogan's stories Janet and John were put onto CDs, maybe you can find them as well?
I'm remembering an Agatha Christie novel where she depicted an American character and tried to use what she presumably saw as Americanisms, but used them just a little bit wrong. (I specifically remember a character that used "I guess..." in a way that made no sense.) It might be safer to just stick with the substantial subset of the language that is used in the same way. Of course, that doesn't protect you from accidentally using Americanisms that you don't realize are Americanisms. It does seem (though I could easily be very wrong) moderately safe to use the words that are fairly clearly different. Elevator/lift, vacation/holiday, yard/garden, soccer/football, trunk/boot, truck/lorry, fries/chips/chips/crisps, etc. Edited to add, from At Bertram's Hotel: "Only place in London you can still get muffins. Real muffins. Do you know when I went to America last year they had something called muffins on the breakfast menu. Not real muffins at all. Kind of teacake with raisins in them. I mean, why call them muffins?"
I read a Dick Francis novel set in Canada that used "eh" in the weirdest ways I could imagine. Got past his (British) editors, obviously, but any Canadian would give it a hard squint. So, yes, get a native-speaker to beta read, for sure.
Unrelated, but if anyone needs advice on RI Italian speak, I'm your guy. Seriously, we can barely understand each other!
British ways of speaking vary a lot by geography, time period and class. I'd suggest starting with an idea of who the speaker is, and a good way to figure that out would be to watch British media and pick a character whose speaking style you wish to emulate. Americanisms are going to be the hardest thing to avoid. I once read a book by an American author in which the main (American) character visited England. The author did a great job of making the speech authentic, but then in a pub several of the locals complained about a football match ending in a tie. That broke the illusion immediately for me - they would have called it a draw. Of course, whether that matters depends on whether you expect Brits to make up much of your readership - are you trying to get Americans to see the character as British, or do you also want British people to accept the character as authentic?
I write how I remember English barons talked - 'thou wanker,' they call dogs to feed, or 'to my royal lady' when they make love on Napoleona. 'Your majesty prince Charles' springs to my mind for a different kind of royal reason. Don't use sidewalk for the horses in your telling. Or if you write Scottish speech like Robin Hood did merry Men in kilts, 'och aye,' and you turn the page and 'Go UK,' they shoot arrows together. I picture Winston Chirchill is bare-chested at the front, leads men over the hillside towards the enemy. Dead Mexicans lying everywhere in green hats, onion rings on their bicycles. I read that one at school. Like someone said Agatha Christie was the man, God Bless You All
This is a little off-topic, but during the summer I read a Kindle self-published romantic comedy written by a woman. The chapters alternated between the female lead and the male antagonist POV. The male antagonist met with his buddies in a pub on Saturday mornings to talk about their conquests, but they all spoke like women. They only addressed each other as Bro.
Important things to note: If your British character is anywhere other than Britain, the beer is shit. They will complain about this regularly. No-one else understands tea. Not even the Indians, and they invented the stuff. We are all slightly annoyed that we don't own the world any more, but are far too polite to say so. According to Kate Fox in that 'Watching The English' book, we always have the spikes of the fork pointing downwards while we eat, regardless of practicality. This is batshit crazy and I don't know where she got it from. We understand you have this thing called 'biscuits and gravy', but we're pretty certain you don't know what either 'biscuits' or 'gravy' are. We pronounce the 'r' in 'arse'. This island is small and crowded. We have a different concept of space to Americans. The idea that you can drive for two hours and barely approach civilisation is mind-blowing. Seriously, no-one understands tea.
I read a horror story where a group of teenagers were driving across Kent, were low on fuel, and didn't come across a petrol station or any signs of civilisation for three hours. In Kent, England. Ruined the entire book for me.
I have some friends who run a B&B, and were always puzzled when their British guests politely declined the tea and asked for coffee instead. My friends, when they offer tea, offer hot water to brew it at the table with, in a coffee-style carafe--as many restaurants do. I have never quite worked up the heart to tell them that the water should be at a rolling boil when it hits the tea. (Right?)
Willy is definitely a stereotype. I honestly wonder how Scottish speaking people feel about his character. There are movies I watch now that I hear the characters accent or the characters written in such a way that tells me that the writer didn't do their research. Now, this is a little off subject but does Jason Statham speak with a Cockney accent? I thought I read somewhere that his accent was a Cockney accent. I read that Cockney is considered a middle-class British accent. I've watched some of the BBC news. Are they as bias as some American news stations. I was wondering? I've seen shows like Monty Python and the Flying Circus as well as some of their other movies. I watched a Monty Python skit the other day about not being seen. They pointed out very clearly that one should not be seen. Now for something completely different. I've seen and heard bits and pieces of Houses of Cards (1990). It looks like an amazing show and I've seen the first season of the American remake on Netflix, but I still should watch the original British version. I love the concept and the idea of the fourth wall breaks giving us insight to Francis Urquhart/Frank Underwood's character. I know The Office started out as a British sitcom. Americans like to remake popular Japanese and British shows and movies. Whether the American remakes are as good as their originals is up for debate. I notice apartments are referred to as flats in England. I remember Jenny Agutter using the term flat in the movie An American Werewolf in London. In the movie, she also mentions that the prices at the grocery store in London are outrageous. I imagine all writers make their mistakes whether they are writing American characters, British characters, and other diverse characters. I imagine it was harder before the Internet to know how to write characters that you were accustomed to encountering. Thank you. I may need your help at some point. My parents are from Upstate New York so I don't know if the accent is the same for Rhode Island folks. My family's Italian, Irish, and German. My grandmother, my father's mom, could be seen as a stereotypical Italian woman. I miss her, immensely. My grandparents had a thick New York accent and my dad and mom had a New York accent, but I didn't notice it much because I was around them more. I only noticed their accents when my dad would emphasize the word b***ard and my mother would leave out the 'h' in human. It's okay. I don't think I really have their accent but I say buth instead of both. I've been teased about it before. I cracked up at @matwoolf and your response, @Spencer1990. It reminded me of the same exchange between the person who said use phrases like Bob's your uncle, mate and you should be good, and the British speaking person who replied, "Not all of us use that phrase!" LOL! The whole beer argument you mentioned reminds me how people complain about football and sports over here in the states. This guy was really passionate the other day about some sports team and I thought he was going to have a conniption fit. This may be considered stereotypical but is it true that British people say sorry even when it's not really necessary? It's just considered manners to say sorry. At least, you guys say your sorry, Americans just bump into each other and blame the other person. That would ruin the book for me, especially if I knew the geography of Kent, England while reading the book. The author couldn't be bothered to look at Google Maps, I guess.
To be honest, I don't know. He's a middle-class (Average Joe) British guy and I've read that the Cockney accent is considered middle-class. I could be wrong, though.
I believe that Cockney is lower/working class, and it's also extremely regional--I think that it's confined to London. My grandmother had a Cockney accent and my mother picked up an odd subset of it, combined with her heavy American Southern accent. Mom was always puzzled that people knew who she was on the phone even before she identified herself. Edited to add: I don't know if it's possible to avoid regionalism with British accents. There's a sort of midwestern American accent that some Americans may see as "no accent"--it's the accent of national news broadcasters. I don't know if the UK has any equivalent. Edited to offer a Wikipedia link on the American topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American
Within the country the only one the English clearly hear as an accent are the "Geordie" people aka those from the North. And the Scouse accent from liverpool. Nobody actually says bob your uncle. Spike and Giles from Buffy are exaggerated but you may need to be to get it across on the page. Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses are recommended classic Brittish comedy to get an idea of the dialect.
If you want a slightly (all right, rather) dated but roll-on-the-floor funny guide to British regionalisms, try Yacky Dar, Moy Bewty! by Sam Llewellyn. I learned ever so much from that book . . . https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=Yacky+dar
Ignorance like that would be horrifying. EDIT: You might get away with that in the Peak District or maybe Yorkshire, but still, three hours??? I once made it from Glasgow to Shropshire in four, and no, you may not ask how fast I was going on the motorway. Do the math (maths?) yourself. Now, if those teenagers were driving around in circles, lost . . .
Heh. I'd know to do some research to find a three-hour drive with no civilization even in the US. (Actually, is there such a thing, in the continental US? I guess there probably is. I'm trying to remember the highest number I've ever seen on one of those "Next gas X miles" signs.)
But surely the English would be able to tell the difference between Cockney and Prince Charles, within three syllables, even if they might call the difference something other than "accent".
I believe there may be long stretches of road without signs of life the more West, SouthWest, or South you go. I remember pulling up Google Maps and finding deserted stretches of road that go on for several miles. I'm from the states and I've heard Maryland is pretty desolate of a place and no one there knows what street they live on. You know, by Bob's house. Where is Bob's house?! I remember someone from another country told me that Americans are stereotyped as rednecks in other countries. I imagine there are other American stereotypes. I'm suddenly curious to learn them. I think I've heard a common stereotype of Americans is that we are considered loud and obnoxious, which believe me is not far from the truth with half the people I meet in my day to day life. I mean is it necessary to yell from your car while passing others on the street? Or when drunk college kids are out partying and they puke on the sidewalk and harass you as you are walking home is kind of annoying. People on the bus are immensely obnoxious and annoying. I feel like people like to start fights with others in the states (it could happen elsewhere too, I don't know) because they've got nothing better to do, but I'm beginning to digress from the topic and sound like a grumpy old introvert.
Funny I just kinda hint at a general accent and sparingly use colloquialisms. Also make them like uber polite. (Yeah I am wierd, but they have to be a tad more polite than us Yanks. ) While on the subject of polite peoples, I feel I have just described an alien species portrayed in my own WIP. Minus the accent of course. Though I don't think that they are as pretentious about their tea, and don't drink their beer warm.
