'I'll Leave Lolita On Your Bed. ...The Book.'

[rionaleonhart]

Something I've been wondering: when I'm writing fanfiction involving American characters, does my Britishness show? I've been reading a bit of Merlin fanfiction and RPF recently, and much of it has been wonderful, and it's clear that the American writers make a great effort to use British terminology, but so often there's some tiny thing - 'principal' instead of 'headmaster/headmistress/head', 'subway' instead of 'tube', 'pants' used to mean trousers instead of underwear, 'airplane' instead of 'aeroplane' (it's illogical - we don't have 'aeroports', after all - but it's what we say!), a 'stick shift' instead of a manual car, 'purse' used to mean a bag, 'cell phone' instead of 'mobile phone' - that gives a writer away as American and pulls me out of the story a little. I don't mind American spellings in British fandoms (I would be a hypocrite if I did, because I cling desperately to my 'u's and '-ise's no matter what I'm writing (WHO SPELLS 'COSY' 'COZY'? 'Z' IS NOT A COSY LETTER, AMERICA. IT HAS SHARP EDGES)), but when a British character uses a word or phrase that that character simply wouldn't use I find it quite jarring.

I suppose I have a cultural-exposure advantage, as American television is more popular over here than British television is in America, but I don't understand half of what Dean Winchester says, so how can I be sure that I'm writing him accurately? I'm sure I forget to use 'gotten' on occasion when I'm writing from the point of view of an American character, and I've unthinkingly used 'leant' instead of 'leaned' and other '-t' participles in some of my older American-fandom fics (not such a problem now that I've started writing mostly in the present tense), and there are times when the possibility that a word isn't used in American English simply doesn't occur to me (is it true that you don't 'revise' for exams?). In my Supernatural fanfiction, is the fact that I am not American glaringly obvious?

Ah, writer's insecurity. Perhaps I should just use a cultural beta when I'm writing for American fandoms.


Speaking of giant mechanical spiders: I would very much like to see a Merlin and Avatar crossover. I think the tones of the two canons would mesh well. UTHER HAS OUTLAWED BENDING. MERLIN IS THE AVATAR.

Alternatively: everyone, perhaps including Merlin at first and certainly including Arthur himself, believes that Arthur is the Avatar, but in fact he is just a bloody good Earthbender. Merlin, travelling around with him in the Sokka role, comes to realise that he himself is, in fact, the Avatar. Whoops. He tries to conceal the fact that he has any bending skills at all, for, er, no doubt very good reasons. 'Protecting Arthur's ego' does not count as a good reason. I'm going to have to think about this. (They travel with Gwen and Morgana. Gwen is a Waterbender, Morgana a Firebender.)

THEIR MODE OF TRANSPORT IS A GIANT WINGED UNICORN.

POSSIBLY A GIANT SIX-LEGGED WINGED UNICORN.

YES.

I'm not sure of what to do with Gaius. He is not quite awesome enough to take the role of Iroh, and, besides, one cannot have an Iroh without a Zuko, and the only character of whom I can think to play Zuko to Gaius' Iroh is Merlin. Having Merlin striving to capture himself would probably be slightly too confusing.

I suppose Edwin could be Zuko. The question: would it be too silly and superficial to cast Edwin as Zuko purely because one half of his face is scarred? The answer: yes. Yes, it would.

(Perhaps Arthur could be a sort of blend of false-Avatar and Zuko, trying to get back into his father's good graces after he was banished for bending.

OR SOMETHING. I DON'T KNOW. ALL I KNOW IS THAT THE MERLIN AND AVATAR WORLDS NEED TO MEET.)

Comments

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

That's why I said it's part of the whole package, you have to pay attention to the whole British/American English deal and the person's own way of speaking.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I know, right? Fortunately my beta for the latest thing I was writing didn't find anything to Yankpick, phew. (Considering I was writing from the POV of a FDNY firefighter from Brooklyn.)

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I always get confused by people taking very little time to cross the country in fics. I travelled from the bottom to the top by bus once, and it took roughly three days. From one end to the other it'll take longer, unless it's by plane, then I wouldn't know.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

I've been studying British/American differences for a while now (so much so to the point that it has leaked into my speech, and people frequently as if I'm 'not from around here.') It's getting really easy to pick out whether a writer is British or American in an American or British fandom now.

Every writer has tells. Even if they're an expert, they'll give it away somehow.

I generally tend to put my mindset into that of the fandom I'm writing for, so that it becomes second nature; not just the regional language but the specific character's usage. In the Top Gear fandom, for example, I had to adapt my thinking to Jeremy, James, and Richard's voices, and in the Psych fandom I had to revert back to American, and then get to thinking in their voices. (Lassi was the trickiest, because he has a very formal, plice-men like tone.)

Regarding an above conversation, your pronnuciation of the letter z confuses me.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

TRUE STORY TIME

I played Solid Snake (American character from a Japanese fandom) in a horror-based RP for a year before anyone told me that the lightbulb-on-a-stick device people take with them in dark places isn't called a 'torch' to Americans.

By the time I'd found out, I had long since dropped the RP, and I only discovered I'd got it wrong when I found a friend of mine bitching me out in a fanficrants post ("Did you know that there was this one writer who kept making Solid Snake call it a 'torch', omg omg") and people were responding ("OMG THAT'S HORRIBLE, SHOULD STOP WRITING FOREVER, TOO BRITISH TO WRITE GOD DO YOUR RESEARCH GODDDDD") and I popped up and said "Um, thanks for noticing, but it'd be really nice if you'd have told me."

She said she was too shy to tell me.

So when I picked up at the RP again I made a big post in the OOC comm begging people to pick up on Britishisms in my writing, and I got a profound groan of 'no-one cares'.

WELL, I CARE. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LEARN IF I'M NOT TAUGHT? I CAN'T MAGICALLY OSMOSE AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY INTO MY BRAIN BECAUSE I DON'T SPEAK TO AMERICANS IRL AND THE INTERNET HAS A WEIRD MIX OF SLANG FROM EVERY CULTURE EVER. I KNOW BRITS ARE SUPPOSED TO FEEL SLIGHTLY ASHAMED OF BEING BRITISH ALL THE TIME, BUT WHEN I ASK TO CHECK 'IS THIS OKAY' IT'D BE NICE IF PEOPLE ACTUALLY RESPONDED WITH ANYTHING BESIDES CONTEMPT AAH AAAH AAAAAGH


...Um. I just had to get that out somehow.

Well, er, drop_the_u is a pretty nice comm, especially for setting issues. And if you find it useful, join the advice team in hp_britglish.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

...And then someone else has already mentioned drop_the_u above me, making this whole post even more self-serving and whiny.

I'll just. Er. Go. Shall I?

[geekgirlofdoom.livejournal.com]

I use the word "pants" so often, even though I know better. I'm pretty good at assimilating myself with other words, but I cannot shake "pants" over "trousers." I think it's because you have to be approximately 97 years old to use the word "trousers" in America.

[rionaleonhart]

'Pants' is one of the things that most jars me when it's used with regard to British characters, in part because I always and for no good reason expect people to know it means something different in British English, possibly due to the entirely flawed logic that I QUICKLY LEARNT FROM AMERICAN TELEVISION THAT AMERICANS USE 'PANTS' TO MEAN TROUSERS, THEREFORE AMERICANS MUST KNOW THAT WE DO NOT. Also, of course, because 'pants' actually means something in British English; if a British character is eating 'Twizzlers', I'll have an 'er, probably not' reaction, but as 'Twizzlers' doesn't actually have a separate meaning over here I won't go 'HE'S EATING GLASS?' To me, 'leather pants' sound like very uncomfortable undergarments worn by persons of unusual sexual taste.

[black-regalia.livejournal.com]

As a British-American, I often fall into an uncomfortable middle. I still pronounce 'schedule' and 'water' like a Brit, but I say 'y'all' as well. My accent tends to change based on who I'm listening to. Most of the time, Americans can't tell I'm British. So long as I don't say a specifically British sounding word(like schedule), my accent is typical American. But if my mom calls me up on the phone, and I hear her accent, I almost immediately switch to a British accent.

This was something I'd never really noticed until my roommate pointed it out.

We've been watching some of the new Who recently and apparently I've been stuck in British-accent for the last week.

It's funny, because ALL the things you listed above? I use the American versions of the words, because I've lived here for the last twenty years, and the first time I saw a cell phone was in America, and so I learned the American term for it. But at the same time, ALL my friends still point out all the Britishisms I use in speech(and usually playfully tease me for them). When I'm in Britain I'm seen as a complete American by all my relatives, but when I'm in America I'm seen as a Brit!

I can't win! Also, I can't give blood in America because I might have THE MAD COW OH NOEZ and I can't give blood in Britain because I might have THE WEST NILE DEAR GOD.

At least the British have the justification that the disease can be spread by blood, and it has killed more than like...a handful of people in the history of ever. But still. It's very irritating, especially because I have a rare bloodtype, and even though I'm perfectly healthy, no one wants my blood :(

[black-regalia.livejournal.com]

My relatives are like this. When they come to visit, they're always SHOCKED AND AWED by the amount of driving Americans do. Back when I was in high school and mentioned that I drove half an hour every day to get there, I think their jaws were on the floor. Conversely, I've had conversation with them where they've said they barely ever see X Relative because they live so very far away! On further inspection, however, I found out that X Relative lived in the next town over, all of a ten minute drive away.

Crazy ass relations.

[newbie1990.livejournal.com]

O HAI I HAVE NOT BEEN COMMENTING ON YOUR MERLIN ENTRIES BECAUSE I AM A LOSER, BUT THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING MY LIFE LATELY. I mean you! And Merlin! WHAT IS THERE NOT TO LIKE; IT IS BASICALLY AWESOME SQUARED.

ALSO, THERE IS NOTHING GAIUS IS NOT AWESOME ENOUGH FOR, WHAT. (Obviously it matters not that I have never seen SO MUCH AS HALF AN HOUR of Avatar.)

WHAT IS YOUR TITLE ALL ABOUT?

[rionaleonhart]

HOORAY IT IS A HANNAH.

NOBODY IS AS AWESOME AS IROH. NOT EVEN GAIUS. NOBODY. You need to watch Avatar! I think you might like it, because it is amazing and all the characters are amazing and IROH.

Er, the title is from a conversation I was having with my brother. I asked him whether he had read Lolita, he said he hadn't, and so I offered to lend him my copy, which resulted in a possibly-misinterpretable 'I'll leave Lolita on your bed', followed by a rather hasty '...the book'.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Neighborhood of a week, generally, depending on how fast you go. Longer if you're driving like a sane person, less time if you drive like Jeremy Clarkson on a bet.

[the-funmonkey.livejournal.com]

UTHER HAS OUTLAWED BENDING. - THIS IS NEVER GETTING OLD. JUST SO YOU KNOW.

I'm so utterly unadapted to writing in American fandoms. I can do character voices fine, but my narrative voice is more British than Stephen Fry sitting in a bath of crumpets. I can't help myself.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Sometimes they'll call the more formal ones exams, but that's more common on official paperwork and things. Generally, even when it's technically considered an exam, nearly all Americans say 'test'.

And you do have good eye for detail. Ask me if you ever have questions about this kind of thing.

ETA: I am also willing to explain fanny packs, if you want.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

That's my thing; generally I do narration through a specific person's perspective, so the word usage needs to work for them. I rarely, if ever, use a neutral narrator.

[rionaleonhart]

A 'fanny pack' sounds absolutely filthy, but I think it's something like a bum bag, yes?

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They were very in when I was a kid (I'm dating myself here), and then went out of fashion, and are considered somewhat dorky these days. It was years before I realized how bad that sounds in British English.

[rionaleonhart]

No, stay! It was an interesting and pertinent story! (Also a horrifying story (WHAT IF MY FRIENDS ARE TALKING ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK ON fanficrants), but an interesting one!)

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Pronunciation could be the case. In America, 'Z' is a lovely relaxing buzzing sound that's just soothing. No need to stick 'ed' on it. 'S' is more snaky, which tends to freak people out.

And if you weren't utterly wrong about how cozy a good z is, I'd advise you to spell it 'cousy'. Instead, it should be spelled 'cozy' because it's pleasingly small and has a lovely relaxing 'zzzz' sound.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

I think the only time I've ever talked about you on fanficrants are when the conversation turns to "Can someone rec any good intentionally-squicky-Wincest fic for people who find Wincest sqicky, but for some reason, still want to read it?" or "What's some truly hilarious SPN crackfic?"

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

You just made me envision someone combining leather pants and a fanny pack! It hurts to laugh this hard when I've got a cough like this!

[vzg.livejournal.com]

I am like you, but of course I made this mistake of saying so at fanficrants a few years back and other users (well, one specifically) insinuated that I was a mentally deficient non-reader or some such thing, because ALL FICTION EVER is written in a specific character's voice even if it is third-person. Apparently. I could understand just for the sake of it being uniform, but that made me want to find a heavy object and drop it on her head.

[vzg.livejournal.com]

Honestly I have the same paranoid feelings, and I've never to my knowledge been called out on my Americanisms, though I'm pretty sure my fic is littered with them.

At first I was okay with it so long as my dialogue wasn't overtly American, but apparently that is not okay at all. Pretty much the result has been my not writing a lot of Harry Potter fic that I would have liked to simply because I feel like it's going to become hated even if beta-ed or something, and my reluctance to step into Merlin fic writing.

[rionaleonhart]

Don't let it keep you from writing fanfiction! That's awful! As I've said, much of the British-fandom fanfiction I've read by American writers has been wonderful; I may notice things like 'cell phone', and they may bother me a bit, but they're not enough to keep me from enjoying a good story. If you're really worried about Americanisms, just get a British person to look over your story before you post. Why 'even if betaed'?