Thread: Character question.

So, one of my characters is a simple, jolly, bearded Scotsman who is a deeply superstitious Catholic.

Is this character too cliched, or is it acceptable?

Also, his dialogue will be written in normal English, though he will occasionally say words of the Scottish vernacular, like 'aye'. Again, will this be a grating cliche that will make the reader put their palm to their face?

If it is too cliched, are there any suggestions to alter his characterisation or dialogue?

I can't help much with the issue of whether he's cliché or not, unfortunately; personally, I haven't come across many deeply superstitious, jolly, bearded, Catholic Scotsmen, but that could be the types of book I read. They may be more common in your genre. ;P

As for his dialogue -- I realise you said he'd be written in 'normal English' but I feel a need to mention: please don't feel you ever have to write what he says phonetically! There ain't nuttin' mo' annoyin' than tha', an' a'way, 'af th' time it dun't work 'ow ye think 'twill. (I have no idea what accent that was supposed to be, so please don't ask me.)

To me, it sounds like you're on exactly the right lines with the occasional words to give the reader the idea. I have a character (not Scottish, but never mind) whose dialect includes 'Aye' as an affirmative, and I write him as saying it, but that's as far as it goes. Whether or not that's a cliché... I would say no. The guy is a Scotsman; Scotsmen, in my experience, are one of the dialect groups who legitimately get to say 'aye' and not sound like they're trying too hard. I'd say if used sparingly, it adds a level of legitimacy to his dialogue. Good luck with him!

I like FalconsHonour's thoughts on this.

I will add one thing about those occasional 'aye' 'eh' and it's this.

You have to know the dialogue slang of that country well when you do that. Because...well to me, its like when non-Canadians do the 'eh' thing to mimic how we sometimes speak(I do the 'eh' thing without even knowing) But when someone not from that country tries it(and I'm sure every country has its tourist that tries to sound like them. When I wrote on a U.K. site I had the opportunity to talk to a few. They all gave me the 'smile and be polite' look when I tried to do my best 'English' impression. that 'right right, cheerio, old man' - I'd probably get mashed into the ground by emo - goth alike if tried on the street.

It was never right because slang comes from a everyday familiarity, you have to live it to know it, my mom used to say. When to use it and when not to. I am saying this only if you write in that dialect, because sure as heck, some Scot will read it and go, 'wtf!' or whatever Scots say when ruffled. And though it might be 'just one reader here' there are lots of Scots who enjoy a good yarn out there, in which you eventually will place your story.

If you tell a reader than your character is a Scot - show him he's a Scot, well then I don't really need an accent. Just make good use of the words.

Sounds like an interesting fellow with lots of directions to go

Best writing to you

Sync

I think the use of "aye" here and there would be fine. As Sync said: show that he's a Scot. This could be achieved through his mannerisms, and appearance (which I think you have covered). Also, since you're going to write in normal English, most people have have a general idea of how the Scottish accent sounds, so you could always do something along the lines of, When Seamus spoke, his voice was thick and brought the images of the Scottish countryside to mind as he carried on about the recent events of the Church, and how he suspected that something dwelled within the clergy crypts.

And, as FalconsHonor said, don't write his accent out phonetically. I had to stop reading LA Banks' Vampire Huntress series partly for that reason (and for other reasons). It is annoying to have muddle your through speech that's written out that way and just makes your characters sound silly.

There is some great advice here, so I'll take a more light hearted approach. I don't think the description of your character sounds cliched, though it may be more lifelike if his beard was red or orange, and beneath his kilt he should have thighs like a norse god. Also we should see him eating porridge and drinking irn-bru...

I really, really, hope you don't take this advice too seriously.




Scott

Originally Posted by Sync

...its like when non-Canadians do the 'eh' thing to mimic how we sometimes speak (I do the 'eh' thing without even knowing) But when someone not from that country tries it(and I'm sure every country has its tourist that tries to sound like them.

We do seem to finish each sentence with it for some reason or another lol.
And yeah, it does tend to stick out as an oddity when a tourist tries to say it.