Writing dialogue with accents + slang

Once in a while, doing something like "theah" instead of "there" is OK, but I find that when it's used constantly in dialogue, it's hard to read, such as Mammy and Prissy and the rest of the slaves talking in "Gone With the Wind" I nearly had to read parts out loud to understand. But slang is a good thing, (ick! quoting MAtha Stewart!) as long as it is fairly clear what it means. Otherwise, you can get lost. Unless that is the intent, in which case thats terrifc, and can be very powerful.

I remember reading Dennis Wheatly books years ago and he when ever he had working class characters they would say things like 'Gor blimey guvernor' because that was his idea of how working class people spoke. It did not sound right. I think it can, ie trainspotting which was written, as I understand it, with a scottish voice.

trainspotting, found it lurking at the back of the bookshelf. Flicked through, dialog is excellent, can't read it without hearing the accent. Amazing how easy it is to read, because the words look difficult on the page. (bet his spellchecker nearly exploded...)

I'm a big fan of dialect and accent in dialogue. I've always had a go at it in my own writing, hopefully successfully. I think the key to it is to keep to the rhythm of an accent and keep the 'sense' of it. Sprinkling words doesn't do it for me, because accents have their own sentence structure, and their own way of putting sentences together to convey meaning. There are certain things you can say in some accents and not others. I seem to remember that 'Borstal Boy' by Bredan Behan has some excellently rendered accents and dialects. Hope this helps

Christopher Brookmyre (SP?) is v. good at accents. Also Colin Bateman.

I write using slang all the time. Accents, however, can best be conveyed by turn of phrase and insinuation rather than the 'bejasus and begorra' method, which editors etc don't really consider to be skillful writing. Here's one of mine, you might be interested. You might not like the story, but you have to admit it's full of slang :-)

Yes, it is a bit. The idea would be to CONVEY that Auntie Bessie was speaking with a broad Yorkshire accent by, perhaps, using a turn of phrase that only a Yorkshireperson (being PC here) would use.

I would suggest stating what the accent is, giving some examples, then writing normally from then on. I, for example, would have no idea on earth what a Yorkshire accent was, but it would be interesting to learn without having to read 250 pages of it written phonetically. I recently read FILTH by Irvine Welsh. I eventually more or less got used to the phonetic accent, but not entirely. It really distracted from the story for me. A little bit to give the flavor would have been much better, at least for me.

I don't remember Filth having much dialect in it, except maybe bits of dialogue. I'd steer well clear of trainspotting, Justyn. Half the bloody narrative is in Scottish! A classic never the less. The dialect looks impenetrable when you first set eyes on it, but turns transparent after a few pages, and you really feel you're there.

'All living language is sacred' A line from a Tom Leonard poem, the idea being that the vernacular and the demotic bear as much relevance or importance as any standard written form. In other words do not be afraid or ashamed to give voice (textually) to the sounds of words, especially those of your own socio-economic context. The trick is, perhaps, to celebrate it rather than patronise it.