cutsie slangy writing

Do other editors have to struggle with editing stories written as narration in which the narrator is illiterate. This way the writer has an excuse for all the bad writing one can do. The excuse is; I was tryin' to make it sound real. That's the way I talk. I cannot convince some of these 'writers' That their characters have a right to be ignorant, they do not!

Anyone else have this trouble?

Not really, although I have received a few stories that made me question a few things, like if I was getting punked by someone on Lit.

I don't usually accept a project that's going to be abnormally time-consuming. I mean, yeah, I accept projects that are long, like from 50+ pages from writers I've worked with before, but length is just one of many considerations in editing choices.

Besides, Lit is like a box of chocolates. It's hard to predict what kind of story an editor will get, even if you state in your profile what you will and won't edit.

PS If I look at a project and know there's no way I can edit it, regardless of the issue(s), I tell the writer that I can't edit it the way it is and state why. Some writers are willing to make the changes I suggest, and some aren't. One of my favorite writers is one I had told needed to make revisions. The main problem was sentence structure and lack of clarity. There were too many sentences I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. When he revised it and sent it back, I was amazed. It was a great story. I've edited about 8 stories for him so far. I love editing for him. I still have to ask him every once in a while what he's trying to convey, but we work it out.

I'm sure Mark Twain's editor struggled with that.

Before I jump into the swimming hole I check out the prose the best period writers used: John O'Hara, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Faulkner for the 1920s, say. Many of excellent writers of later periods larded their first efforts with flapper-talk that went away with the Depression. Took me forever to find what 23 Skidoo meant....same as Skeedaddle of 1861 Civil War invention. Fernando's Taxi and Cracker Carriage both mean 'walk.'

I guess i didn't express myself well. Obviously i am not talking Mickey Spillane here. One writer was writing a story about knights and gremlins and Succubi, but the narration was full of modern slangisms, almost valley talk. Inappropriate to the story. Twain's characters speak in dialect and so do mine. But Twain (in the third person omniscent) does not!

robertreams said:

I guess i didn't express myself well. Obviously i am not talking Mickey Spillane here. One writer was writing a story about knights and gremlins and Succubi, but the narration was full of modern slangisms, almost valley talk. Inappropriate to the story. Twain's characters speak in dialect and so do mine. But Twain (in the third person omniscent) does not!

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LOL Again, Lit's like a box of chocolates.

If a writer was saying they were trying to replicate what someone actually would say, you can tell them that this isn't successfully done without bogging down or derailing the read--and you can invite them to record any actual conversation, transcribe it, and challenge anyone to make heads or tails out of it. In actual conversation, sentences and phrases are constantly repeated and statements are left incomplete, often because they are interrupted by someone else.

What they want to do with dialect is to give a flavor only and remain consistent.

(Mark Twain actually sometimes went too far in rendering dialect and loses some of his readers, who get tired trying to figure it out.)

I completely understand where you're coming from. I love the Br'er Rabbit folktales but I can't read them in period language. It drives me bonkers. On the other side of the coin are those who write their characters conversations like it was a college term paper. " I believe it is going to rain today. I think I shall bring an umbrella with me to my girlfriends house." This was something I was asked to edit for someone who wanted to sell the story on Amazon/smash words. The character was described as a member of an urban criminal group based in LA.

So I would allow bad spellin, and grammma if it was only for flava for that OG. Know what I is sayin dawg. In the narrative I would have the writer take another look.

SeaUrchin_STG_M said:

So I would allow bad spellin, and grammma if it was only for flava for that OG. Know what I is sayin dawg. In the narrative I would have the writer take another look.

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I just watched "Airplane!" last night... jive talkin, G.

PennLady said:

I just watched "Airplane!" last night... jive talkin, G.

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I ain't no fool mama. I dug her rap.

Everyone misunderstood. What i mean is they,l the writer speaking as third person omniscent use slangy talk, not for effect,but because that is the way they write. I an write a southen accent or several others, but in my description of a woman i would never say, "nice boobs, unless my character saying it was a boob.

Except that your narrator, even omniscient, can be a character, with his/her own vocal patterns.

robertreams said:

Everyone misunderstood. What i mean is they,l the writer speaking as third person omniscent use slangy talk, not for effect,but because that is the way they write. I an write a southen accent or several others, but in my description of a woman i would never say, "nice boobs, unless my character saying it was a boob.

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robert, I have seen enough Lit story drafts to understand your frustration. The thing is that you need to communicate to the author the issues you're having and why. The story may be one that*you need to turn down.