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Fantasy Novel Dialogue (Fantasy writers help)?
I've recently asked a question concerning dialogue in fantasy novels. The problem is even if I have a general understanding of the language of the middle ages that still doesn't make my novel realistic. I can make it so my characters speak well enough, but where does that leave me when I'm crafting the 3rd person prose of the novel? Do I have to write the novel (in its entirety) in this ancient english way or can I just leave this with the dialogue? Wouldn't doing so cause a blatant lack of flow between context prose and dialogue? And even if I decided to make my characters have modern British accents (being that my novel is not set on this Earth, the time period and location does not apply the same way, giving me more freedom), I'm not native to England and therefore will undoubtedly generate an obvious misunderstanding of the language despite my greatest efforts. I hope you see what I mean. So, my question is this: How do I go about creating a realistic fantasy novel set in the middle ages without hampering the content or dialogue with my crippling language barrier? Please give me serious answers and don't be rude. Links to websites concerning this or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if my question is amateur-like but I rather be safe than sorry.
Thank you in advance.
3 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
In modern England, most people speak just with an accent, but use "American" English. It's the Cockney accent that drops letters. If you want the Cockney, I would just drop the "g" in "-ing"s. They also don't anunciate every single sylable. Such as "gov'ner".
I would stick to the modern English accents. Using an Old English dialect will just make things more complicated for you.
- troublewolfLv 71 decade ago
Unless your a professor in the ancient english language, i would not try to write it all in that. Research and use terms for things like "night-soil" for toilet, "serf" for indentured servant..things like that but write the story in real English. If you study most of the stories that are out there dealing with "ancient england" most, if not all, are written in modern English except for some terminology of everyday usage.
Having to consistantly wondering if your using the right word or terms will affect your ability to do a good job with your writing.
- dorryLv 45 years ago
lots of the reason of magic is going into how between the protagonists, Siren, can use a mystical capacity oftentimes used in basic terms via a race of demonic seductresses. i like to be responsive to in a manner how magic works, inspite of the undeniable fact that that's superb if that's a ways from a technological know-how.
