Accent or no accent?

Most of the characters in my (still unpublished) novel As Winter Came and Went speak with an accent. There are French accents, Irish accents, Devonian accents, “aristocratic” accents… This would all be very well if it was a BBC or ITV series, but As Winter Came… is a novel, and as I was editing it, I wondered: how can I make the readers “hear” all those accents? And as I tried to find an answer, I realised that what I should really ask myself was: should I make the readers hear all those accents? 

 

Many novelists make some of their characters speak with a regional accent. Examples that come to my mind right now are Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, or, closer to us, Winston Graham’s Poldark series. The spelling and the use of dialect give some of the characters in those books a very distinctive “accent.” The narrative thus gains both originality and what can be described as local colour. Would this work in my novel? Should I try to emulate these authors?

 

Pros of making a character speak with an accent

 

• A character’s accent is a clue to their identity. It gives indications as to their origins or their social class.
• As such they are a good example of the “show don’t tell” dogma every would-be novelist keeps hearing or reading.
• Accents can give colour and originality to the narrative. They are stylistically interesting.
• Accents can help define a character’s individual voice. It can become their signature and can help this voice stand out and become instantly recognisable.

But…

 

Cons of making a character speak with an accent

 

• It’s not that easy to transcribe an accent into writing. You have to know that accent very well: that means you either have to speak with that accent or have a first-hand experience of it. Otherwise there is a risk you will not transcribe it well (and vex those who speak with this accent). For instance, nothing annoys me more than fake French accents, whether in literature or in films and series. The worse is when English actors who do not speak a word of French speak English with what they think is a French accent. I mean, it’s ok if it was supposed to be comical. But if not… It’s a big fail.
• Accents require consistency. If you decide to make a character speak with an accent, he/she has to keep that accent for the whole of the novel.
• If there a several different accents in a novel, I think you have to either transcribe all or none.
• If an accent is not transcribed well, it can easily become a parody. And actually some authors tend to use characters with heavy regional accents because it brings comic relief.
• Accents can slow down the reading and make a narrative loose fluidity. By transcribing accents into writing, you change the spelling, sometimes the grammar. And though I don’t mind that, some people can find it annoying.

 

My decision for As Winter Came and Went

 

In the end I decided I would not try to transcribe the accents of my characters into my narrative. Even if it meant I had to “tell” instead of “show.” The accents of some of the characters are important in the narrative so I made it clear that they spoke with an accent: for instance another character remarks on it. Yes, it’s a bit of a shortcut and it’s not very original but I think it’s better than having them speak in a fake accent. Sometimes you do have to “tell.”

 

This also led me to realise that there are other ways of making a character’s voice individual, interesting and original: their choice of vocabulary, their use of grammar, etc. I tried to use these to create the different voices of my characters. And I hope it worked.