Presumably your 'earth' character is British because the kind of language you want the character to use is based on British slang. I don't think it would translate otherwise.

Yes, he is British. In fact he's a Kent lad--or is he?

With regards to the whole Pete Tong thing being dated or not, I'm not sure it really is "dated" as you state it. Sure, you don't hear it in fiction that much, but if you hang around with the right crowd, you'll hear it quite a bit. Heck, it's a word I use all the time, I even got my mum saying it now, which is funny!

I'm going to go back and re-write that Pete Tong scene anyway, so that it only happens in on bit and then that's it. I think I should be able to re-write it so that (even if you never heard the expression before) you'll understand it. At least that's my intention. When it gets put down on paper I'll know if I've got it right or wrong.

Sorry, I didn't mean it's dated now, rather that it could sound dated soon. But as I said, I don't see any reason not to have slang, if that's what speech the character would use.

Nik

You know, what--not that I like to admit going back on myself, I just looked at the "Pete Tong" bit and I suddenly thought "You know what--this REALLY doesn't work!" So I've removed it now. Funny, no matter HOW many times I edit something, I always find bits to take out still. Anyone else find this?

Anyone else find this?

Oh yes. All the freakin' time. It's knowing when to stop that's the trick (and one that I've still not learned!).

My problem is that I sometimes push myself to make my book perfect. If I see just ONE little mistake I missed the first time round I get a little ticked off! I should really start hiring an editor. Anyone fancy this? I can only pay you in cups of tea and chocolate buscuits, but I'm sure I could throw in a sandwich as well. ha ha.

My boyfriend speaks with a New York accent, so when we'd been going out for a bit I thought I'd better instruct him in some British phrases (kind of a My Fair Lady thing). 'It's all gone a bit Pete Tong' was one of the first phrases I taught him. The other was 'You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!'

It's pretty hilarious to hear him attempt them

I can't answer this question directly but I can tell you that, when throwing ideas around for book 2 with my agent she wasn't keen on the one I came up with that had a character think, at varying times within the story, "What would Ian Beale do?" (the character was supposed to be an Eastenders fan and would always do the opposite of what 'Ian Beale would do' in any given situation because his life is one long list of bad choices, mistakes and terrible outcomes!) Anyway, my agent wasn't keen on the character because her obsession with Eastenders and Ian Beale would effectively rule out the US market.

It really depends on how much you use Brit-isms and how easy they are to interpret/guess at if you're not British. I think, in Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding refers to shagging a fair bit which, before the Austin Powers films, wasn't a commonly known word in the US, but it's not hard to work out what she's talking about. I think minimising Brit-isms isn't a bad idea if you want your novel to have potential international appeal.

That's true what you say about Helen Fielding, of course the advantage that book has is that it's a British story set in Britain, so most brits are going to be familiar with the language said in it. Its the same when I watch or read a story set in America. Some of the times the characters speak in "ghetto" (if that's the right word) and I don't always have a clue what they are talking about.

I recently tried getting into the show the Wire, which is brilliant, but I can't understand what some of the characters are saying half the time. But I can still follow the story, so as long as that's the main thing then it probably doesn't matter how the characters speak.

Saying that, though, I still think I should tone it down a little. Don't want it all to go Pete Tong! (lol)

"What would Ian Beale do?"

There must be an equivalent in the US - like "What would Larry do?" from Larry David's character in the excruciating comedy show Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Then just change it for the US market.

I love Curb. It's honestly the only show I can see and be in fits of laughter in EVERY episode I watch. Supposedly, it was the inspiration for the Office and I can indeed see a lot on similarities, even though the Office was set in a Mock-Documentary setting.

you need to be careful that it doesn't get too hard to read

Sorry to revive an old thread with no good reason, but for my tuppence;

I have just abandoned reading Will Self's Book of Dave due in part to the godawful rendering of London cabbie speak. (Although he has also outdone himself on his magnificent talent for repugnant conceptualisation of obnoxious detail, which was another key factor.)

To summarise what could have been a long post...

Don't overdo it.

Thought I'd come back to this old post with another question as another thought has just sprung to mind.

There is a scene in my book where the main character (who is now slightly less chavvy shall we say), actually gets involved in a fight with someone and says to them:

"As they say in my world--you just got pwned!"

Now, for those who don't know, Pwned is actually a video game phrase. It's mainly common with the American market, they use it on online games when they beat up the opposing player. I've also noticed they use it on Youtube and some forums as well.

But coming back to my point, is this another thing that might put off the publisher? Would they see it as a spelling error rather than the word it's supposed to mean? I think it's quite funny, but if I need to take it out then I will.

Advice?

Well I thought it was a spelling mistake.
I suppose it depends on how old the agent is. If they're in their twenties they'd probably recognise the word; if they're in their +30-40's they'd probably see it as a spelling mistake.


- NaomiM

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you could put it in italics to indicate it's a slang word.

if they're in their +30-40's they'd probably see it as a spelling mistake

Unless they are the type of saddo who bought an iphone, discovered LOLCats.com and ended up on the FAIL blog marvelling at how the world has moved on since the days when he started programming on a computer the size of a small car that he needed to start with a key (and which had less memory and processing power than a watch he bought when going through his "marathon runnning" phase).

My... um... friend... who is about that age would recognise the word "pwn" even if he did have to look it up on wikipedia when he first encountered it.





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(http://www.lolcats.com/view/13448)

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Bloody auto format... http://www.lolcats.com/view/13448