Should we 'Americanize'?

[nightdreamer]

As an American, don't you dare! One of the cool things about reading is being able to sample different cultures. We need all those perspectives.

 

[David Doherty-Jebb]

I think you should keep to the spellings and grammar of your own native English when writing. Trying to Americanise because of marketability sounds so wrong in my opinion. Literature is where we preserve and keep language alive. Imagine if Robert Burns had not written in Scots for fear his poetry would not be understood by English readers. What wonders of language would we have lost? The English language is an amazing, breathing, living thing and so we should allow it to change organically because of the context of the times we live in, not because 'Americans might not understand it'.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I agree, and vice versa. Americans should not feel a necessity to anglisize their writing for the British market either. I don't mind lifting a book written by an American that is full of "gotten" and "realize", but if it was written by a British author the same language would probably irritate me.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think it would be for unwise for anyone to make any decisions along those lines based on the advice of someone they happen to know on a forum -- and that includes advice from me -- but if asked by an agent or an editor, and if it wouldn't make a nonsense of the characters and the setting, I suppose one would have to ask oneself whether there is really a principle involved that outweighs the chance at representation or publication, or if any reluctance is simply a stubborn resistance to change, or being told what to do.

I imagine the answer would not be the same for everyone, but it is possible that anyone who finds themselves suddenly in that position might surprise themselves by the decision they actually end up making. While some will undoubtedly stick by their original thinking, some who think they wouldn't make the changes might find the temptation too great, and some who thought they didn't care might find out that they do, very much.

It is easy to take a definite stand when it is all hypothetical, but who among us would really be willing to take the responsibility for someone else's decision if the situation actually arose, knowing they would not be the one to live with the consequences, either way.

 

[goldhawk]

Heinlein's rules of writing are:

• Rule One - You Must Write
• Rule Two - Finish What Your Start
• Rule Three - You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
• Rule Four - You Must Put Your Story on the Market
• Rule Five - You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold

I think #3 is apt for this discussion. Go with what you feel comfortable with. Change it only if requested by an editor.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

My comment was based on what I like to read.

In regard to my writing, I sincerely doubt anyone is ever going to be looking at US rights for anything I submit (even UK would surprise me unless I improve a lot more). If they did, however, and if I thought it might help the book appeal, I don't think I'd have any qualms about Americanizing my language. Perhaps that makes me seem two - faced, but I think it is just because I'm pretty laid back.

 

[David Doherty-Jebb]

My WiP is based in Northern Ireland, so any Americanisations would appears incongruous at best- daft at worst!
I understand if an editor who knew more about the business side were to advise me differently I'd have to rethink, but honestly how weird would it have been for Harry Potter to speak of the loss of his 'mom'?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

My WiP is based in Northern Ireland, so any Americanisations would appears incongruous at best- daft at worst!
I understand if an editor who knew more about the business side were to advise me differently I'd have to rethink, but honestly how weird would it have been for Harry Potter to speak of the loss of his 'mom'?

Then I think that's a different scenario. For my NI stuff no editor or agent has suggested changing the lingo. But for things less, um, set in a place or time (capsule?) then I think the argument becomes harder.

Bottom line, I'm a writer, I want to be a pro (might even be getting there now), if my publisher says jump, my job is (mostly, poor Gary...) to get on with it and be professional. I might put my side of the argument, I might try to hold firm, but if it really, really mattered the contracting stage is the time to address it.

 

[millymollymo]

No.
1. UKYA movement is there for a reason.
2. Your writing will speak to people. Those that want to 'touch base' with life back home, those who seek to escape their neighbourhood, those who want to be just like your characters - and so on.
3. You're not me. What you should do is not what I will. Story counts for something.
But...
4. Consider what you want. What do you call success? Depending on your goals will answer the question for you.

 

[ratsy]

I'm reading @SJAB and it feels very 'British' to me. This just adds to its charm though and would hate to see that lost. Seeing single quotations vs double, and seeing color vs colour never affect me when reading. Unless a book uses so much local dialect and words that I have no idea what's happening, I would prefer to read the authors words, because where they live helps add to the writing.

 

[Tywin]

Wonderfully fun conversation on here. Three comments:

1) Still fairly embarrassed that someone thought that Americans were too stupid to know what the Philosopher's Stone was.

2) There were no Americans around in Medieval times (don't you dare say the Native Americans. Focus people.)

3) I have yet to see any evidence of a viable British space program.

I think that should cover most of what we handle on these forums.

 

[Venusian Broon]

@Jo Zebedee

When we are both big and successful authors we should collaborate on a colloquial space opera - about a gang of misfits, half from Norn Iron and half frae Caledonia.

You do the characters/chapters in all the shades of Ulster accents, I do the Scots side. We write it Trainspotting style.

Already have a few ideas for opening lines.

For a near future SF thriller-type Space Opera:
"The sky aboot Leith wis the colur o’ a telly on the f******g fritz."

Or perhaps even attempt an epic fantasy:
"When the jammy wee man o’ Poke End announced he woods shortly be haein a ceildh an’ drinks tae get steamin’ for his eleventy-first birthday, thaur wis much gab an’ geeing it yaldi in Hobbiton."

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Fab idea. Except everyone would be saying they didn't know the difference and they were all sort of Scottish. Or Irish. Or, you know - one of them-uns with the weird accent.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Fab idea. Except everyone would be saying they didn't know the difference and they were all sort of Scottish. Or Irish. Or, you know - one of them-uns with the weird accent.

We could branch out and include other accents - I think Gandalf as a geordie would work:

“The dark fire winnet avail yee, flame o’ Udûn. Gan back tuh the shada! Yee canna pass.”

 

[Denise Tanaka]

The question is too broadly stated, I think. Is it asking about the exposition part of the narrative or is it dialogue?

Exposition should be adjusted for the ease of readership. I'm an American but if I were to publish a book in the U.K. I would fully expect them to change the spelling and punctuation in my descriptive prose. Color can be colour. That's fine. I see it as a sort of translation issue. The Harry Potter books are a great example because, although the author was British, the story is an everyman (everyboy) type of tale. Also, it was marketed to children (age 10 or so) who are just learning to spell and would be confused.

Dialogue is the spoken word of the characters and, like Teresa said, it must be the editor's judgment to make changes there. Hey, in the states we all grew up reading Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn that is full of apostrophes and colloquialisms. America has lots and lots of regional accents so we understand the idea of people talking differently. If the story establishes that a character is from a particular region of the U.K. and uses that accent correctly, then it works. If it's a straight-up space opera where the origins of the characters are not intrinsic to the story, then change it to say mom instead of mum, etc.

Sidebar: I've watched Hollywood movies with voice-overs in Japanese (with my husband) and it's really cool to observe how diligently they try to keep the sense of the original. That scene in Lord of the Rings #1 when Gandalf faces the Balrog... you shall not pass... gets hit with the whiplash tail and falls... and he shouts, fly you fools. In Japanese, Gandalf has the typical voice of a curmudgeonly old man, Frodo has a country peasant accent, etc. Japan is very very similar to the U.K. in having a plethora of regional dialects. My husband is from the north (seriously, he is!) and when he moved to Tokyo for the first time, he had to work hard to conform to the standard accent. When I go visit the home town folks, it's like nothing I learned in the classes.

 

[HareBrain]

For a near future SF thriller-type Space Opera:
"The sky aboot Leith wis the colur o’ a telly on the f******g fritz."

Or perhaps even attempt an epic fantasy:
"When the jammy wee man o’ Poke End announced he woods shortly be haein a ceildh an’ drinks tae get steamin’ for his eleventy-first birthday, thaur wis much gab an’ geeing it yaldi in Hobbiton."

Only the knowledge that this might get wearing after hundreds of pages stops me dragging you to Kickstarter right now.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I have yet to see any evidence of a viable British space program.

I think they poke some money at ESA / Arianespace / European Space port. Arianespace does more launches than everyone else put together. European Space Port construction started 1960. The outfit in Sussex is one of the top builders of space tech.
But the UK is the only Country ever to abandon their own Space program, Bluestreak based in Woomera. The Australians are re-opening Woomera.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

then change it to say mom instead of mum, etc.

No!!!
That's FAR worse than Colour to Color!

 

[Ursa major]

The question is too broadly stated, I think. Is it asking about the exposition part of the narrative or is it dialogue?

Some of us writing close Third Person narrative (the kind that is very close to First Person, in spirit) at least try to match** the narrative voice to the Point of View character. Having the PoV's dialogue in, say, an English accent, but "their" narrative in, say, a New York one -- or vice versa -- would be really odd.


** - In most cases, the dialogue would tend to be less formal than the narrative. However, certain word choices would still be reflected across both dialogue and narrative.

 

[Tywin]

@Jo Zebedee

Or perhaps even attempt an epic fantasy:
"When the jammy wee man o’ Poke End announced he woods shortly be haein a ceildh an’ drinks tae get steamin’ for his eleventy-first birthday, thaur wis much gab an’ geeing it yaldi in Hobbiton."

Although I don't understand more than about 5 words in that sentence, it still sounds better than:

"Y'all thirteen mean ol' critters better git on down ta Mordor with that thar ring, ya hear?"