Questions tagged [language]
Incorporating foreign languages, slang, dialect, and so on into a work.
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Is this writing technique practiced in RTL languages too?
First of all, I don't know the name of this writing technique, hence I only wrote writing technique in the title.
In English novels most of the time the quoted text comes before the sentence ...
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Custom Version of English for Writing Prose
If I want, can I create a modern English, early modern English hybrid with extensions to the language, and write prose in it? Will there be an audience for it?
user70995
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How "alien" must an alien language be?
I have some characters in my story that are aliens. They are reasonably similar to humans in that they have a shared culture, talk to one another, have distinct personalities with likes/dislikes. They ...
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White author using AAVE, is it appropriate?
A story I am writing follows a team of people, but the POV shifts. It’s first person from the point of view of one of the team members, but which team member it is changes each chapter. One member of ...
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How do I accurately write a french character in America?
I want to include a character in a webcomic who moved from France to America sometime after college. He knows english and is mostly fluent speaking, reading, and writing, but I want to still show that ...
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Does using real-world month and day names invalidate the believability of a world that never had those cultures?
In a world that does not share our history or cultures, it seems false to use words like Tuesday or September, yet by that standard, every word is in question and I am not trying to go full Tolkien ...
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Onomatopoeia for a noise people make when shutting someone up?
When someone wants to shut someone else up, they often make a noise that sounds kind of like "up-up-up," or "ah-ah-ah," often while putting a finger to the person's mouth. How ...
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How to correctly portray sign language between multiple characters
I am writing a book where one of the main characters only uses sign language to communicate, and all of the speaking characters communicate using ASL whilst also speaking aloud at the same time.
Is ...
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What language could I use to write spells or names of things in my fantasy novel?
I'm writing a fantasy novel and would like suggestions. I would like to write spells/incantations in a foreign language, preferably a dead language such as Anglo-Saxon. I also would need a translation ...
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How do I write a story in which no one can understand each other?
I have this story I want to write where there's different species that each speak their own different language, but none of them can understand each other at all.
Then the main character comes and ...
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Writing an accent and evolving
Sometimes I read written accents in books, most notably maybe Hagrid in Harry Potter. I find it a fun way to add a layer to a character that sets them apart from the rest.
Could you "evolve" ...
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Language of other countries
I write the little girl calls her grandmother Bunica Rose. The father calls her Bunica Rose also. In the narrative, I use the words, Grandmother Rose. Is this appropriate to do?Will my reading get ...
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Is it inadvisable to use a racial slur in my story?
I’m currently writing a story which is an erotic thriller/romance set in the music/TV industry. The protagonist is a Taylor Swift-type confessional songwriter who is the biggest popstar in the world, ...
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Selectively mute character where language is a barrier
I have a mc that speaks only mandarin and is taken in by pirates that are mostly English speakers. He didn't speak much before being taken by them. So how would I write a character that is basically ...
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How to provide translations, moods, and registry in multilanguage dialog within narration in English?
I am starting a serious writing project (a novel book from a story I once drafted as a TV show; I am not a script writer either). Furthermore I decided to write in English, which is not my native ...
