Do you use slang?

[LordInui]

This is something I found lacking in many works. Like, everyone talkes like their have a stick up their asses, and if they need to use the right grammar in a freaking conversation among friends. There are some on scribble and royal, but I NEVER found one with slang, maybe darfws but thats it on webnovel.

Any reason for this I might not see?

 

[John_Owl]

I use slang in dialogue, but not in narration. I also ensure to spell it correctly (At least as much as I can. I also use accents appropriate to the character).

Then again, I also use racism (fantasy races. so orcs might be called "piggies"), so maybe I'm not the best example lol.

One thing that does piss me off to no end is text shorthand in either. As an author, you shouldn't use "u" in lieu of "you". it just reeks of laziness.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I think it would affect reader comprehension. Many readers are unfamiliar with dialects from the US for example. If everyone in a story talked like deep south, it would be hard for many people to understand them. And even if they can understand it will take them a while. Stopping for a few seconds to understand every dialogue will go against flow.

 

[LordInui]

I think it would affect reader comprehension. Many readers are unfamiliar with dialects from the US for example. If everyone in a story talked like deep south, it would be hard for many people to understand them. And even if they can understand it will take them a while. Stopping for a few seconds to understand every dialogue will go against flow.

I am talking about smaller things, like wanna, gonna, Aint and similiar.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

I think novel original slang can be cool.

 

[2wordsperminute]

I sometimes do, but only because I use first person narration.

 

[LordInui]

I think novel original slang can be cool.

Yo Void youre german right? Do you think it would be funny to make a novel, where the mc is like a karen. Calling police for music over 22:00 Uhr and so on?´Always looking out the window...

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I am talking about smaller things, like wanna, gonna, Aint and similiar.

In that case, slang is good for flow. I have an opposite speech problem. For example, I say "I am" instead of "I'm", so sometimes even my characters are doing it.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Yo Void youre german right? Do you think it would be funny to make a novel, where the mc is like a karen. Calling police for music over 22:00 Uhr and so on?´Always looking out the window...

You call that a Karen? That's just normal German bad neighbor behavior. I've heard this happen more than enough times to friends. I'm so glad I actually live in the chillest countryside where almost everything can be solved by inviting the other party to a beer or a coffee.

I wouldn't call stuff like "ain't" slang anymore, tho. It's pretty much "normal" English now. Stuff like Ye Olde English was once pretty normal too, I guess. I use it as an easy way to make characters sound more casual compared to stuff like vs less casual "Isn't" vs formal or for emphasis "is not".

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

I only use slang if it’s a characteristic of a particular character, something defining for them, and only in their dialogues or if the POV is theirs. Being a non-native speaker, I prefer writing in a way that’s as clear as possible, as that’s also how I like to read. This approach also helps me reach people like me who don’t have English as their first language.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

Yo Void youre german right? Do you think it would be funny to make a novel, where the mc is like a karen. Calling police for music over 22:00 Uhr and so on?´Always looking out the window...

A german comrade indeed, it depends on the execution especially here because in my mind the novel would be a hit or miss depending on how insufferable the Karen is, I would make a horror parody novel with such a protagonist. It would be hilarious if the music was ghost made or something like that.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

This is something I found lacking in many works. Like, everyone talkes like their have a stick up their asses, and if they need to use the right grammar in a freaking conversation among friends. There are some on scribble and royal, but I NEVER found one with slang, maybe darfws but thats it on webnovel.

Any reason for this I might not see?

Unless you have a specific target demographic, using slang is not recommended because not everyone can understand such language made by and for certain groups of people.

You can still use it in your works, but you should also include its meaning: either by context clues, or author's notes.

 

[TheBestofSome]

I'll use slang, but only in dialogue, and only if it fits the character's personality. A highborn noble would never be caught dead using 'ain't', but that gutter orphan who just slit open your coinpurse probably doesn't even know you could use 'is not' instead.

Same with swearing, and even without using slang, you can really differentiate your characters by how you 'flavor' their dialogue. Is someone from a different culture or generally uses a different language? If so, it makes perfect sense that they might stumble over a complicated word, or pause while they try to translate a word in their heads into something that will make sense to the person they're talking to.

If overused, or worse, misused, it destroys immersion, but it's a handy tool in the writer's toolbox.

 

[Tsuru]

This is something I found lacking in many works. Like, everyone talkes like their have a stick up their asses, and if they need to use the right grammar in a freaking conversation among friends. There are some on scribble and royal, but I NEVER found one with slang, maybe darfws but thats it on webnovel.

Any reason for this I might not see?

I miss the era of CNs where they didnt use all this slangs.


I thought they would stop using the "40years in hedong 40years in ---". They did, but they simply changed by always the "currently trending" ones.
PS : annoyingly you can see the CNs' time period like earth stratums like an archeologist, bc not kiddingly i tried 3 different novels and ALL 3 at same time used the same word-for-word slang-meme. Me : "Did you guys share the same brain or what? Or is it some kind of speedrun game to try adding any new meme (that didnt exist 1month ago) in their books ?"

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I try not to, except in dialogue, but sometimes it just slips in.

 

[Elmir_Arch-Ham_of_Omega]

I use a translator to make the dwarf characters speak Scottish, and the trolls Cockney