Accents, Dialects and Languages

Yesterday evening at Write Night, we worked on the following exercise. I found it very difficult, even though I thought it up.

1. Write an innocuous statement.
2. Rewrite it using a different accent, dialect or language.
3. How would your protagonist react to the statement in #2?

• a. Is it familiar, foreign, interesting, scary, impressive, despicable, etc.?
• b. Is the character aware of his/her reaction?
• c.  Does the character show or hide his/her reaction?

4. Write a scene depicting your protagonist’s reactions to the accent/dialect/ language.

5. Write a second scene in which you change the character’s reaction to the accent/dialect/language, with the emphasis on 3b. (If your protagonist was conscious of the reaction in the last scene, make him/her unaware this time or vice versa.) The scene may be a continuation of the last one or something completely different.