Slang Dialogue?

[Luiglin]

I'm working on a short(ish) humourous - hopefully - story about a group of orcs/goblins fed up with life in general.

I've been writing the dialogue as I'd them imagine them to say it, changing words to fit their slang.

Do folks think this is a acceptable or would it grate on your nerves?

 

[HareBrain]

Could you give an example?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

The key is readability.
Anything that slows down the pace of reading is a no-no.
But dialogue is perfect for establishing character, so it can be very useful.
You have to walk the tightrope...

 

[Biskit]

Depends on how you do it... Wow. Seriously unhelpful, but...
As @HareBrain says, examples please?
I've just been doing an editing cycle, pruning back slang/dialect. It seemed fine when I wrote it, but excessive and intrusive on a re-read.

ETA: And the other stock answer - need a beta reader. When 'undoing' overdone things like slang and dialect, I can go too far the other way and it ends up bland.

 

[Mouse]

Yes it's acceptable. But also yes it would annoy me.

 

[The Judge]

Fine in small doses, but it's the kind of thing that I find palls very quickly. If it's just the odd word used in place of another, it should be OK, but whole reams of dialogue written in some kind of thieves' cant or patois could well get annoying.

 

[Paul Meccano]

Depends how well its written and how relevant the slang is to the story I suppose. If you were to write a section you'll probably be able to answer it yourself.
EPT Henry wrote a great piece in the 300 word challenge ( just before your entry ) where his aliens only spoke alien but this was translated by EPT Henry for us. I think it worked really well. it made me laugh.
A such its probably worth trying a couple of approaches and seeing which works best for you first. If your unsure post a small bit of garb and see how it goes down here.

For me If it takes away from the flow and has nothing to offer the story I would wonder why it's included. Needless to say if that if the slang is funny in itself ( like a funny cockney riming) it could add heaps also.

good luck

 

[Luiglin]

Cheers folks.

I'll dump a sample in the critique area when I get home.

My problem is that I want it to realistic - fantasy / realistic I know - rather than having them all speak with normal English. The changes are obvious and repeated. Also, don't expect whole paragraphs of dialogue. The characters don't waffle.

Think about a written version of something like Rab C Nesbit, Father Ted, The Only Way is Essex, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet... you get the idea - apologies for folks outside of UK.

All have got strong local dialect/slang appropriate to the characters.

 

[Abernovo]

Worked in A Clockwork Orange and Cloud Atlas, so have at it.

As others have said, it depends upon the scenario, and the writing. For me as a reader, it has to work instantly and draw me in; if not, it would wear thin quickly. Get beta feedback to keep yourself within your own rules. And, of course, no matter how good it is, you're not going to please everybody.

whole reams of dialogue written in some kind of thieves' cant or patois could well get annoying

My brain's ability to transpose words and numbers just did it again. I read the last three words as "get well annoying" on the first take, and thought 'Huh, TJ's writing street!?' Therein lies the issue. Is it natural-sounding for the character? If it works, can it be maintained?

 

[The Judge]

I can so write street, so I can. (Well, I could if I knew what a street was. We only have lanes and other upper class appellations here in the vicinity of Chateau Dunjudging.)

 

[Luiglin]

Worked in A Clockwork Orange and Cloud Atlas, so have at it.

As others have said, it depends upon the scenario, and the writing. For me as a reader, it has to work instantly and draw me in; if not, it would wear thin quickly. Get beta feedback to keep yourself within your own rules. And, of course, no matter how good it is, you're not going to please everybody.

My brain's ability to transpose words and numbers just did it again. I read the last three words as "get well annoying" on the first take, and thought 'Huh, TJ's writing street!?' Therein lies the issue. Is it natural-sounding for the character? If it works, can it be maintained?

I'm going to create a custom dictionary in MS Word with a list of the different words and then keep the total used to a minimum. That should help enforce the rules.

 

[X Equestris]

As long as it's easy to read and understand, I say go for it. It's very useful in establishing voice.

 

[Luiglin]

And here's that snippet - Fodder - 1347 words

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Check out The Plague Dogs.
the character 'The Tod' (a fox) is how not to do it - unreadable Geordie, which probably sounds fab, if you can wade through it...