RABBIT FANS remember the Australian character, Rakum Cow Stuart Loudon, from Rabbit Legacy. He runs into Canaan at a Rest Area one night when Canaan needs a "buzz." In the upcoming third installment (Rabbit Redemption, Little Roni Publishers Jan 2018), he has a much larger role. Because of this, I needed help with his dialogue. I'm not Australian so my scope of Aussie dialect and language comes from Hollywood.
HERE'S MY SOLUTION. The following is a helpful blog on what to do when your character isn't you!
DIALOGUE HELP: So what if your character is Australian and you're not? When I write fiction, my characters come as they are--I don't choose them, they arrive already formed. That means they aren't all White, Female, American, Christian, Southern Belles (touché). Thanks to social media, nearly every writer has friends around the country who they can ask for help to make sure their character sounds real and not "Hollywood."
Recently, I asked my friend and fellow author Stu Loudon for help bringing my Aussie character's dialogue to life. I know all about my character's personality, but not how he might say certain things. I asked Stu to help and he said YES.
IF YOU GET HELP, go through your novel and select portions where you need the friend to help out. Don't send the whole novel, or even the entire chapter--this will greatly slow down the response time. Send only what the friend needs above and beyond the dialogue to add his or her special native touch. Then, you should highlight the dialogue so your friend can go right to it easily. Keep in mind, no matter how much a friend or fan likes your work, he or she is busy 24/7 just like you are! Lastly, offer to pay them enough for a nice dinner. Trust me, there are a dozen good reasons to give a little monetary thank you for this help.
USING THE INTERNET: Sometimes you have to use the internet for this help. I googled "Aussie slang" in case my friend was too busy to help and dozens of sites came up. Of course, I would have bungled the job -- Americans wouldn't notice, but anyone who ever knew a true Australian would know I used the internet to make my character speak!
FINAL NOTE ABOUT GOOGLE TRANSLATE: Sometimes, your character speaks another language, or uses foreign phrases in his daily speech. For example, I have several Latino characters who may exclaim*, "Madre de dios!" or "Meirda!", or my German character may say, "jah," etc. etc. We all use Google Translate to make short sentences for our books. That is my advice--use it only for short items. It is not perfect, and if you know anyone who speaks that language, ask them to check it.
RABBIT TRILOGY
Author Beth Rider writes a vampire novel that angers a race of "real" vampires living under the radar since before Christ. Learn more at www.ellencmaze.com.
Purchase on Amazon:http://www.ellencmaze.com/re-released-for-2017.php
*Use proper punctuation, too. This blog doesn't support upside-down exclamation points. :)
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