Hi, In preparation for my 3rd draft in January, I need help understanding how much AAVE to insert into dialog between two pairs of characters in my story, if any. I don't wish to offend anyone by including it: partially or in whole. Neither do I wish to ignore this rich English dialect. My primary reference are TV programs with black actors. However, I'm not certain many of the writers are creating authentic voices for these characters. I may be wrong. I'll introduce the three fictional characters below. I'm curious if education, prestige in a white-dominated career field, faith, age, and region of growing up affects the degree/frequency of code switching. My MC is a 40-year-old black female theoretical physicist PhD. She leads a cutting edge project for the DOE based primarily upon her scientific papers (SF genre). Her personality type is INTJ; a big-picture person, whose priorities at work is the actual job, solving problems, and moving a project along. Chit-chat is secondary and she is perceived as being a blunt and uncaring. (She cares). She was raised by two black parents who were teachers in an Atlanta suburb. Her parents are multi-generational Georgians. She attended church all of her life; in Georgia growing up, and California while completing her doctorate and post doctorate work at Stanford and Berkeley respectively. The MC is separated from her husband (who has a mistress, future wife 2.0). They share custody of their children (15-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son). The MC and daughter have an emotional and storm relationship for 2/3 of the story. Having observed my wife and our five teens, I have a realistic impression of the emotions, behaviors, that boil up during a teen's stressful developmental years. The MC has a 70-year-old aunt who stays with them, to help with the children when she is away at work. Her deceased mother's older sister is also from Georgia. The MC's aunt loves on the family and also provides encouragement at the right moments. Should I "season" their conversations with this rich dialect? Or leave it out altogether? Should I code switch with any of the characters? Mom and daughter, mom and aunt? If you think I should include the dialect, will you recommend specific resources such as guidelines, examples, books in whole, etc.? I hope to connect with Sci-Fi interested POC for more direct messaging if possible. I'm on a quest to learn (INTP) and need a broader education. Thanks.
AAVE and southern dialect are 2 different things. I think you'd want to determine which one you want first. In terms of AAVE and alternate references, I'd suggest reading some Urban Fiction (also known as Street Lit). There are a lot of novella that are quick reads. Read some of those to get how AAVE is naturally used. Otherwise, i wouldnt use it if you are uncomfortable with it or confused at how to use it. it can come off as strange. There are 2 examples of children's books where the author is white and attempting to use AAVE (ironically, it won an award, but A LOT of black people were offended by it and thought it was stereotyped to the max, not to mention is sounded so unnatural) and a black writer who used it and no one batted an eye ('ll link the conversation surrounding those two books when i find it in my notes) EDIT: Found my notes. Example of writer trying to write in dialect for a black character: You’s only going up the hill, she says, smilin. But her voice quivers, n a sorrowin tear clings... Mama shoos em away n kneels down I jus never laid eyes on mine. (from Unbound) Example of a black character's dialect written by a black author “Carpenter my daddy’s name. My mother, she a Randall.” “Told you when I was born,” Cora said. “Will you come with me now?” Caesar said. (Underground Railroad)one sounds more natural, the other sounds like a caricature, but both are set during the same time period with black characters. When you get into southern dialect, race doesnt matter much; the region does. Zora Neale Hurston's ("Nobody ain't gointer be chunkin' money atme and Ah not do 'em nothin',"- from "Gilded Six Bits") southern dialect sounds/looks almost identical to Eudora Welty's ("Reach in my purse and git me a cigarette without no powder in it if you kin, Mrs. Fletcher, honey" - from "Petrified Man") but Hurston (who is black) is from Alabama and Welty (white) is from Mississippi. there are a lot of resources for AAVE too, as well as dialect. https://oraal.uoregon.edu/facts https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english (a lot of universities have resources on it)
Just my two cent's worth, but questions like this come up here with a frequency that surprises and disturbs me. Seems to me you've answered your own question here. You obviously can't do both. Almost anything you write in this vein is going to offend someone. My advice: write the story the way you want. It's your world and they're your characters. Let them speak the way you hear them.
I didn't read the entire OP, but here's my initial thought: The first character you describe is well educated and upper-middle class, so would most likely talk the way J T Woody for instance (just above there) writes. There's a huge difference between upper-middle class college-educated and ghetto. The first type might occasionally use some slang or a few phrases that sound slightly 'black', but someone who's ghetto takes great pride in making it well known through the way they act and talk. And being ghetto doesn't necessarily mean they came from a literal ghetto, it's an attitude and a culture that's spread far and wide. But you find very little of it in a college or among the well-educated. I would also recommend being very careful if you haven't known many black people. Personally I wouldn't care to try writing black dialect unless it's upper-middle class, even though I live not far from East St. Louis and there are a lot of ghetto people around here. Even if you're accurate with it, people will take offense because you're white, and most of those people won't be ghetto (I would venture to say not many ghetto people would read it, though some would). It's the activists who will take offense. That my friend is a politically supercharged minefield that's almost impossible to navigate. I think you'd need to have a near-perfect ear for dialect or to have grown up in a black community yourself to really pull it off. I'd just write it the same way you write white dialect. You might be able to get away with a little for the grandmother character, who wouldn't be college educated, but I'd restrict it to things like what JT posted above. Maybe something like "Honey, I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life!" Just the way they use words, which is a little different from the way most white people do at times. Don't use creative spelling to try to imitate a dialect, that always comes across badly.
@Xoic Thanks for your explanation. This is how I wrote the initial dialog within the home. I used familiar Carolina expressions I've gleaned from black neighbors, church, and work. Otherwise, I kept the conversations professional, friendly and arguing. I bought this Kindle book and read through it. This explained to me how to recognize 10 stereotypes and adjustments to writing to thwart making mistakes. For language section is only addresses code switching without examples. I read chapter one from Angie Thomas's novel "The Hate U Give" and some excerpts on Amazon. It provided lots of examples of language usage at the intersection of a black student at a predominantly white school as well as family conversations. On another note, I discovered this link here in the forums for writing with color. This will be helpful for describing characters of color. https://www.writingforums.org/resources/writing-with-color-words-for-skin-tone.368/ Thanks everyone.
I would never advocate for an artist to swim within their lane or color within the lines. But... ... I think this is going to be a very difficult thing to pull off if you don't have personal experience with it. It's certainly not a gap that can be closed with just a google search and a forum post. My advice... read a ton of fiction and nonfiction authored by those with the same demographic you are trying to represent. Again, I don't want to tell you or anyone else to stay in your lane. Art is about pushing boundaries. But if you want authenticity, you're going to have to work harder. - MC
The 'writing with color' tumblr blog is a staple reference of mine for these kinds of questions, and they have answered a bunch of questions related to this subject before: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/search/aave Golden rule: Don't do anything if you're not reasonably comfortable and confident in what you're doing, or else you're much more likely to make a mistake.
Some of the most literate people I've ever met have been some of the ghetto and redneck ex-cons I've worked with. Lots of time to read in prison, I guess. You're right about the activists, though. Quite frankly, if I was going to publish ANYTHING that might foreseeably attract political controversy, I would seriously consider a pseudonym. Anyway, to focus on the original question, I've spent the majority of my life in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Married into a family of proud rednecks, pretty much went native, many of the people who know me would be very surprised to learn that I'm not a native-born American, let alone not a native-born Southerner. I couldn't imagine trying to write dialogue in a Southern accent, let alone a Black Southern one. I just don't know it well enough without making it come across as condescending. But then, I suck at dialogue. There are people who can write in voices they've never heard in person before and do an excellent job of it. OP might be one of those people, or he might not, only he would know that.
You're definitely right. I was speaking in broad generalities. I've also known people who, if it was just the two of us, come across as upper-middle-class and well educated, but if another black person shows up who's ghetto, then they drop into ghetto form. I'm well aware that ghetto youths will beat up and insult those in school who are studious and call them Oreo Cookies or Uncle Toms. Its a weird situation, hard to wrap your head around all the complexities of it.
Read more. Surround yourself with Black people rather than try to transcribe what you think they may sound like.
I was getting a McRib combo today and realized, when I'm surrounded by black people I code shift a bit. I go just a little bit black. Huh!
That would be style shifting. Metro UK did a really great article on that: Talking black” is not a privilege that everyone has – black people can’t even “talk black”, and have to code-switch to the “norm” just to avoid harsh assumptions. Code-switching is a natural adjustment to sound like the accepted norm and it is something I do daily just to survive. It is something I was taught in school by teachers who told me that I would not be able to get far in life if I “spoke black”. ‘It taught me that sounding like an “urban Londoner” was less than. ‘So of course, if somebody [non-black] switches up their accent and uses phrases that they clearly don’t usually use to address me, I feel irritated because whether they know it or not, they are telling me that I am unable to comprehend English. Style switching is very different from code-switching' When people style switch, it’s often done without malicious intent. Instead it’s an attempt to connect and show empathy. Tony Thorne, a linguist at King’s College London tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Whatever the reason for style-shifting I would say that it should almost never be criticised. It would only be questionable if it was condescending as with a posh person adopting a “working class” accent when talking to tradespeople for example. ‘It can be overdone or done inappropriately. Some people might accuse style-shifters of appropriation but it all depends on the speaker’s intention. If it’s to claim the other’s identity to exploit it, it’s bad. if it’s in order to form a bond, it’s good.’ When you match someone’s style of speaking, it can foster connection and confer kudos. .’.’ But when we assign a certain way of talking to black people and then attempt to imitate it when engaging with them, we reduce and other them. We cannot forget that black people are berated for being black while we are free to pick parts of their culture that we deem acceptable. Before we take on another person’s style of speech, we have to be aware of our position of privilege and question why we feel the need to switch up how we speak. Remember that for people of colour, code-switching can be a means of survival. If your natural style of speaking brings you privilege, why would you need to change it, and what does it suggest when you do? Full article here
I have had the advantage, being in and around the Navy, both as an officer and a senior engineer, of being around a wide variety blacks with a wide variety of education. Starting with my roommate at the Naval Academy in the 60s who retired as a Marine Brigadier General. He was an incredibly sophisticated, poised and social astute individual. While he could certainly lapse into speaking Black, that was not the norm for him. I would expect a physics PhD to do likewise. Communication with others across all racial and ethnic lines is very important for those who wish to rise. Just as I, a hill billy from Western North Carolina, did not want to let an overly conspicuous mountain twang to get in the way of my communications with others. Like my room mate, I can lapse back into that dialect, and often do if I am in Western North Carolina (my wife notices when I do), I do so to bridge the gap with the person I am talking to, and not come across as an over-educated snob. But when I am addressing engineering or military problems, I want to convey the idea that I am educated enough to discuss a complex topic. Code-switching? I guess you could call it that, but not out of shame.
North Carolina eh? Do you walk on your hills? I knew a guy from NC, and he confused the hell out of me for a while with that, until I realized he meant heels.
Thanks for your thoughts. I served in the Navy and Army, and work in a diverse manufacturing plant of 2K people. Like you, I have plenty of examples of black dialects from work. Except, I don't know any flag officers of color like you. The BG serves as a good example for my MC. I lack experience being present in intimate setting at home when a black mother and daughter are having an argument, with encouraging words from a neutral woman in her 70s. I have a path forward now. BTW, I've been code switching for 4 decades within my stratified white background and working with German/Spanish colleagues. Nothing new. Certainly not out of shame. I had to learn to speak 'educated' and 'white color'. It was tough emerging from my 'white trailer trash' roots but the military was my lifeboat. Thanks for your service.
