Thread: speech

I'm not sure that the title should be, but I couldn't think of anything to put. Anway. The story I'm going to write involves a deaf person. My question is can I write in a very basic way and it be acceptable? For example we may say I'm going to the store. But for a deaf person who speaks basic sign language it's I go store. So can I write that? I'm writing it in first person for now, unless I change my mind. Usually the younger deaf people want to sign just as people speak and my character is young, but I want to do basic because I don't want the readers to forget she's deaf and I'm not sure of another way to go about that. Any suggestions?

I think it would be fine to convert thier gestures to quoted dialog and instead of saying, "he/she said," you would say "he/she signed."

Also, from watching Marlee Matlin and the movie "Children of a Lesser God," when people signing are angry, they tend to hit their hands together harder, making a very audible slapping sound or their motions are much faster and more frantic.

I think it'll be fine, just make sure you keep reminding the reader they are "hearing" the dialog of a deaf person by describing their hand gestures now and then.

Sounds like an excellent way to distinguish your main character from the other characters and give her a unique personality. You might find that you can use fewer dialogue tags as readers will know from the presence or absence of prepositions who is doing the talking. It is always a good thing if the reader just knows rather than you having to tell them.