iceinyourmusic | (no subject)

(no subject)

So I was in Sweden for a bit and met all the marvelous girls there you know who you are dah-lings. still hiating, but for this:

[Poll #547515]

Please to speak of any whys and wherefores you wish in the comment section (also is it really obvious what I'm really trying to find out here).

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You know, I never thought of it before. I think it'd be interesting to read a British-situated fic with an American narrator, or vice versa, if it were done on purpose. If it were just sloppy writing, though, I probably wouldn't like it.

I think it'd be interesting to read a British-situated fic with an American narrator, or vice versa, if it were done on purpose.

I think it could be, yes - though I'm still trying to decide what it could possibly mean...

I used to get very annoyed whenever I read Linkin Park fics where the writer is obviously British and has the characters say things like "bollocks", but then I think if the writing wasn't bad to begin with I'd probably not care.

cm

if the writing wasn't bad to begin with I'd probably not care

Ha, one really forgives the good writing for much more than the bad, doesn't one? :)

A tight POV (1st, 2nd or 3rd) should reflect the voice of the character. Otherwise it just sounds bizarre. I suppose with an omniscient narrator it wouldn't matter terribly - although I'm suspicious of omniscient narrators...

But I don't change my spelling for nobody, baby.

A tight POV (1st, 2nd or 3rd) should reflect the voice of the character. Otherwise it just sounds bizarre.

Yes, this is true. Though, we do (don't we? I don't know, I have no hard statistics here, I'm just making it all up as I go) sometimes, fairly often maybe, have narrators who aren't omniscient and still say things that don't really read as 1:1 reproductions of the character's voice, and that's not all that much of an obstacle - so why does the language variant division feel so much like one? Because it kind of does, etc.

(And how does an American quoting a Brit spell colo(u)r, anyway? hmmm.)

narrators who aren't omniscient and still say things that don't really read as 1:1 reproductions of the character's voice, and that's not all that much of an obstacle

I'm not sure I know exactly what you're getting at here, but I would say that I would hesitate ot argue that the character's voice can and can not be faithfully reproduced. In the same way that I would not advocate the idea of a canonical representation of a character. I *would* suggest you want your character to be credible to your readership and that would involve producing a voice that is acceptable within these parameters.

So - a Britishism in the narrative POV of a US character is perhaps something that would clash with the credibility of the piece. Spelling of the word makes less of a difference because while we assume the character/ narrator is a *voice* we don't assume the character/ narrator is a writer (I wouldn't say this is always the case - and I have been told that my Australian spelling makes the reader thinking of the piece being said in an Australian accent - but I don't find the obverse to be true so I'm suspecting the jury is hung on that one).

Writing is incredibly formal. I think there's a tendencey to see it as an art form when it's quite a regimented process with all it's little codes and conventions that must be adhered to.

And how does an American quoting a Brit spell colo(u)r, anyway?

I've noticed no changes in HP fandom. Or Giles POV. I don't change my spelling for my American characters either. Although I like the idea of "colo(u)r"...

is acceptable within these parameters.

Uh - that didn't come out right. It should say that it is "acceptable within parameters"... I think...

I'm not sure I know exactly what you're getting at here, but I would say that I would hesitate ot argue that the character's voice can and can not be faithfully reproduced.

Yeah, yes, that's not what I was trying to get at, though I'll admit that the failure in communication was quite fully my own fault. What I meant was more along the lines of there being a continuum from "tight" 3rd person POV to "omniscient" - and what falls in between - that in many stories with a primary character-focalizer we nevertheless have words/sentences/paragraphs/what have you that are, more or less clearly, in the voice of the narrator rather than in the voice of the character per se (without, I think, the reader considering it a "lapse" or anything - just a matter of distances and such, and stylistic issues, of course). I'm still explaining that badly, though, so I don't know if it makes any sense at all. :P

Which, of course, is not to say that you don't have a very good point there, as well. you know.

My preferred answer to #1 and #2 (not offered) is: if the writing is good, the narrator is without either gender or nationality.

My preferred answer to #3 is: We are nothing if not adaptable. We can understand all of it.

ooh. Your preferred answer to #1 and #2 wasn't offered, because I'm not sure how that's possible, except perhaps in the tightestest POV/focalization situation where every single word is filtered through the character alone (and then, to what degree is the narration independent from the nationality of the focalizer/POV-character?) - and surely that's not the only option for writing well? Or is it? Possible? Or the only option? Teeelll me, I'm curious. (Unless, of course, you're trying to tell me that using nationality as shorthand for language/dialect/language variant is kind of silly, which, of course, it is, in a way.)

We are nothing if not adaptable. We can understand all of it.

heee.

What I meant was, if the writing is good, the use of language is organic and natural, with none of that jarring "WTF does that mean?" stuff in it that makes the reader wonder about the nationality of the narrator.

Of course, that may just be me. I never notice narrator nationality, particularly, unless the narrator is a different nationality (or species!) from the characters whose stories it's telling. And even then, if there were a reason for it, I might find it excusable.

Not, I hasten to add, that I read very much Potterfic.

got your text! and glad all is well. will catch you on the flipside!

ah, now go write us some ~~harry potter fic~~ harry/hermione, why doncha?

Harry kissed ~~Ginny~~ his Wife the lovely Mrs Hermione Potter with passion. "Remember the kids, oh Harry" she gasped profusely. "The kids are with their Aunt ~~Hermione and Uncle Ron~~ Ginny and her perfectly non-incestuous brother Ron."
"Oh ever since Luna died in childbirth Ron has been so sad." The red-headed vixen the sable-haired enchantress gasped as Harry drilled his power tool into her...

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