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HEY MATT!

I realized, much later than useful, that I didn't answer your question about writing about England in a satisfactory matter. True, I lived there, which gives an insight, a little, on speech on some of the area, but truth be told, you can do it to. But here's what you have to do:

1. Research, research, and research. Once you tire of that, do more research. Jorge Luis Borges once said that fiction is the art of telling lies. It's true. What you need to do is get a grasp on a couple of good facts and work them into the story. As many that NATURALLY fit.. For example, lets say you want to do a Ramsey Campbell styled story set in Liverpool. Go and read everything about Liverpool, it's history and even tourist guides. I suggest you pick landmarks that are easily googled using their image search. Describe the images that you pick up.

2) Don't try imitating "English" dialects. More often then not, it will sound forced, unreal, and over done. Do, however, listen carefully to any brits you know, and selectively appropriate phrases. Be subtle, and use it sparingly.

3) Honestly, watch BBC, ITV, or SKY programming. You can YouTube a lot of that. "A Little bit of Frye and Laurie" is probably a good place to start, but the best place to start is to watch BBC News. (Besides, you'll likely find that the BBC is a far superior place to get International News anyway). News anchors always try to sound the most "Neutral" -- it's true here, and it's true in the UK. You'll likely pick up a few key words and mannerisms.

4). Pretend the Richard Quest on CNN doesn't exist. Nobody I know of in England has his obnoxious accent.

5) Read British horror. But since you're a Campbell fan, you probably have a lot of that covered.


these are just a few ideas.

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Thanks for the advice, Rich. I usually don't try pulling off various acceents with my character because it is so hard to do it and make it feel right. I do try and have my creatures or what have you speak very cryptically or with ominous undertones but that can be hard to pull off as well.

Yeah. Making up a language is harder then just appropriating an already existing one. Did you know that all of lucas' alien languages in starwars were actually remastered and altered. Like, I forgot the base language of the Jawas, but I think it was like a common language, played in reverse, and then sped up.

Editors usually hate thee and thine or attempts to sound antiquated. That I do know.

More often then not, if you use simple English, most people will buy it. You have to get something really, really wrong for people to notice. Unfortunately, when people go overboard, it really is that bad. I once read a story by a friend of mine -- years ago -- that was about the IRA. This friend was a fourth generation Irish American, and he got it wrong. Badly, and it was partly due to the deliberate misspellings like "Fook."

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I'm not talking about writing another language so much as having what they say carry a meaning to it that could be construed as vaguely threatening or ominous with being blatant about it. Like using common everyday words but constructed in a way through the sentence that it causes a sense of dread. I love that sort of thing. It is probably one of the reasons that I enjoy Campbells work so much. He is a master at doing that.