Download This Worksheet (PDF) Your antagonist* is tired of being compared to your protagonist. Give him / her some love with this worksheet. While this worksheet has been designed for antagonists who are characters, remember that this needn’t always be the case! Also works for your real-life antagonists… More Ways to Understand Your Antagonist Protagonists…
Accents are essential for worldbuilding, can make a very defining trait for characters, and are just part of making your book more realistic. I have been fascinated with accents since I was a child and I've been imitating them for years to the amusement of even some of the native speakers. But accents are also tricky to write. You don't want to butcher an accent and disrespect the speaker or sound inauthentic, or sometimes you want to write an accent and you just have no idea how to start. Let's first define what exactly is an accent. It's such a broad term. I've brought in my friend Cassidy Clayton who is majoring in linguistics at University of Rochester to define that for us: Milo: How's my accent? Kida: Boorish, provincial--and you speak through your nose. Any accent besides yours is often easily detectable. The presence of accents, however, boils down to differences in phonology (the study of languages’ sounds, or phonemes) and how each individual or group produces the sounds of their language/languages, or differences in the rules between languages. One common accent type is the ‘foreign’ accent. This accent occurs when a speaker learns another language, and can’t quite fully adapt their own phonological (or other) rules to match those of their second language (there’s a number of reasons that this happens, most having to do with other fun linguistic facts, but that’s a topic for another post ^~^). Not all languages contain the same sounds—for example, German lacks the ‘w’ of ‘with’ and the ‘th’ of ‘this’. So, someone (say, your character) with a ‘German’ accent often replaces these phonemes with the sound v and z; ‘with’ -> ‘vith’ and ‘this’ -> ‘zis’ (although, to be honest, German is fairly overused and stereotyped—there are literally thousands of other languages to pick from, each with their own fun twists.) Another thing to consider is the reality of accents within a language. In the USA, for example, there’s a vast difference between the way someone speaks in, say, Arkansas, versus the way someone speaks in New York City. Even though the two speakers both use English, they each acquired different ways of producing the sounds of their native language, due to regional patterns (i.e. southern dialects tend to have broader, more lengthened vowels than northern dialects). Keep this in mind when you’re worldbuilding—different groups of people develop different ways of speaking, even if they’re speaking the same language. The reality, of course, is that everyone has an accent to someone else. Researching the Accent For my books, I've done a lot of studying for the many different accents I incorporate including, Icelandic, Southern United States, Boston, Scottish, British (including Windsor and Cockney), and Kiwi (New Zealand). I've gone about this in three ways: 1.) Talk to Someone Who Have That Accent - I had the brief privilege of working in a British corner shop. There I heard accents from people all around the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia. I've also traveled to France and Canada. I got to to study these accents first hand and I even spoke to the speakers about their terminology and so forth. As Cassidy said in her blurb, look for how they pronounce certain words like how Canadians pronounce "about" or how Scottish people will roll their Rs. The more you study accents, the more you develop an ear for them. This is the best way to learn an accent, but sometimes one can't always find someone from the source, which brings us to our next tip ... In Alberta, Canada with Cassia 2.) Listen to Actors or YouTubers Who Have That Accent - I had to find someone who spoke in an Icelandic accent for Red Hood, but I don't know anyone from Iceland. Thus, I searched on YouTube for people from Iceland and I found videos of different speakers from Iceland. Another thing I like to do is listen to actor interviews. I say interviews as opposed to movies or shows because actors will often change their accents for a role. If you check on IMDB, you can find where an actor is born and then look up interviews, so you can hear their accents. These are a few actors that I know that are from different countries (If you have some more you'd like me to add to the list, let me know): Great Britain: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, & Craig Parker Ireland: Andrew Scott & James Nesbitt Scotland: Billy Boyd, David Tennant, & Graham McTavish Wales: Rhys Ifans Australia: Liam Hemsworth, Chris Hemsworth New Zealand: Manu Bennett & Peter Jackson Sweden: Alexander Skarsgård Denmark: Mads Mikkelsen Mexico: Diego Luna Spain: Antonio Banderas China: Donnie Yen & Jackie Chan Austria: Christopher Waltz Croatia: Rade Serbedzija Me with Craig Parker 3.) Look Up the Slang Terms - When I was researching for my Scottish character, Claes, I looked up a lot of Scottish slang terms. This adds a lot of authenticity to his point of view and makes him sound more unique as a character. I found entire lists of terms that I've been able to incorporate with discretion. Writing the Accent Now that you know how to research an accent, let's look at how to portray that accent in your story. These are four methods I've seen across dozens of books. 1.) Just Say They Have An Accent - I personally find this method lazy and not immersive at all. In writing, we're encouraged to show, not tell. I think this is the primary reason why I think this method is not very effective. In the Hive by John W. Otte (a book I really enjoy), the author mentions a character has a "harsh accent" (P. 292). That's such a relative term. German and Klingon could be considered harsh or someone could consider Russian harsh. It's too vague of a term in my opinion. Then there's the more specific telling there's an accent like in Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. He mentions that Abraham is French Canadian, but other than him telling you that, you have no idea that he's French Canadian. His language is very similar to American. Then he also mentions Cody plays around with a Scottish and Southern accent, but other than a few slang words inserted (more about that in the next category), you really have no idea he has an accent. While I was reading the book, I constantly forgot they had accents. 3.) Insert Words from Their Language/Slang Into Their Dialogue - This mostly works for accents in the same language. Having Southerner say "ya'll", having a Brit call cookies "biscuits," having a Canadian call sneakers "runners," and so forth is a great way to define an accent, because different countries have different words for things and different slang. And this is very realistic. I've seen this as very effective in many stories I've read such as Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs or The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. On the other side of the scale, some authors insert words from a different language into dialogue such as oui for French or si for Spanish people. This can work, but make sure you don't overdo it, because it can come off as cheesy. It also highly depends on how strong your characters' accent is, but even that it's shaky. I have an aunt from Ecuador and though she has a very strong Ecuadorian accent, she never inserts words from her language and that's the same with my adopted cousin from Haiti. Also if anything they're going to substitute words for less commonly known words like words they would stumble over, not easy to understand words like yes, no, hello, goodbye. I've had people say a word in their language and then ask me what the word was in English as they try to describe it. 4.) Change the Grammar - This has to be my favorite method of portraying an accent. It's the most fluid and it's so effective. Most languages have different grammatical structures in English, therefore, we get a mishmash of grammar, creating an accent. For example, Eastern European and Russian accents tend to omit articles (the, a, etc.). Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo has many characters with Russian (or Ravkan in the book) accents. Here's a quote: "You can stop craning neck like hopeful goose." Just a slight change by omitting the "a," but the result is a Russian accent. Six of Crows also has a Shu accent, which is based on Chinese. Unfortunately, I didn't get an exact quote but here is one from an editing client who has a very strong Asian accent: "Over a couple of month period, we read many books about plant as well as have examined and ate many different parts of plant." Simply change the grammar and the reader can "hear" the accent. This is also effective for grammar with English like Southern accents: "Ain't you gonna eat that?" Or Cockney accents: "They was gonna that." This takes a lot of listening and study to accomplish effectively, but it has wonderful results. 5.) Change the Spelling of Some of the Words - This is probably the most immersive of all of the methods, but it runs a few risks. Number one is you can change the spelling so much your readers can't understand it. Number two is your publisher may not like it. I've had one publisher tell me to not spell words differently while another one didn't mind, so it's all dependent on who the publisher is. In Orphan's Song by Gillian Bronte Adams, she uses "ye" in Amos's Scottish accent. Then on the other side of the scale is Bryan Jaques in Redwall with his Mole Speak which is derived from a Somerset, England accent. Rogg doffed his hat gallantly, bowing his velvety head. “Gudd day to ee, zurr an’ miz, noice t’meet ee oi’m sure!” Dotti leapt lightly ashore and curtsied nicely “Bo urr, gudd day to ee, zurr Rogg. Stan’ on moi tunnel, but you’m an ‘ansome gurt beast, hurr aye!” Rogg threw up his big digging claws in surprise. “Burr! You’m spake ee molespeak vurry gudd, miz. Whurr did ee lurn et?” Dotti answered in the quaint mole dialect. “Moi ole mum’s molechum, Blossum Bunn, she’m taughten et to oi when oi wurr a h’infant, bo urr aye.” (A tale from Redwall: Lord Brocktree, 64) Here's an example with a Cockney accent: "'Ere be takin' this wif ya." By using apostrophes in the place of letters that aren't pronounced and changing the spelling you can create a very accurate and strong sound for the accent. Conclusion - Accents are fun, but tricky. But don't let that get you down. Accents can be something that makes your book memorable. So Your Character is from Another County Posts (These include brief info on slang and language from different countries): Algeria Australia Belgium Canada China England or Scotland Germany Liberia The Netherlands New Zealand Peru The Philippines Slovakia Thailand References: Why do some people have an accent? by Betty Birner (LSA) Accents (sociolinguistics) Wikipedia Vowels and Consonants by Peter Ladefoged A Course in Phonetics by Peter Ladefoged Have you ever written an accent in your book? If so what kind? Have you ever used any of these methods to write an accent? Do you have further questions about accents? Cassidy will be available to answer questions as well. You May Also Like: Character Chatting: How to Do It and How it Benefits Your Writing Five Tips on Writing A Good Main Character How Drawing Can Help You Write How to Write A Good Character Interview 7 Ways to Help You Get Back Into Reading
Metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, and more!
There’s no shortcut to writing a great story. However, there are guidelines that can help get you started if you’ve never done it before. This chart c
Download This Worksheet (PDF) How to Kill a Character All writers become murderous sooner or later, but it’s important to kill your character in the right way, at the right time and for the right reason. I hope this worksheet will help you premeditate the perfect coup de grâce.
Create your own crazy story with this fill-in-the-blank story! Your budding writer will practice parts of speech as he fills in missing parts of the story.
I created Writing Power Standards to use in my classroom, and this was a poster to help my students with figures of speech. Not all 17 figures of speech are there, but eight main ones (alliteration, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, personification, onomatopoeia, oxymoron) are included. If you ...
Writing Worksheet – Reconnect with your Story (PDF) Your harddrive is littered with languishing stories; I know it is! You believed in those stories in the beginning and built them up word by word, suffering when you had to run errands or go to work or even sleep. What happened? Don’t doubt that starting spark.…
20 weeks later and "A Stick Figure Macbeth" has finally come to an end. In case you're just joining me, here's what happened during the past 20 weeks:
This year I am piloting a new ELA program in my classroom. I teach in a SMALL town. A REALLY small town. We do not have curriculum developers, language arts consultants, or any other authorities on curriculum. What we do have is an awesome principal and a staff full of creative teachers. SO when tasked with the challenge of aligning our current ELA program to the Common Core we realized there were huge gaps. This led to some research of new Common Core alligned programs where we discovered the Common Core Progress series from Sadlier Schools. The Common Core Progress text contains nonfiction and informational text units aligned to the Core and surprisingly to our science and social studies topics! Between each reading unit is a writing unit that draws from the previous reading unit. Talk about keeping everything connected! This week I am beginning a fictional narrative writing unit. So far my class is doing a fantastic job analyzing the student sample and using the included graphic organizers to plan their piece. Overall I am VERY pleased with this new series thus far! I also found a catchy tune over at Flocabulary to help students understand the steps involved in creating a piece of writing. From that song came this great acronym POWER which inspired the classroom poster below:
Introducing students to challenging words through Word of the Week can help increase their confidence in reading, writing, & speaking.
“The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not.”
Writing Worksheet – Escaping a tight spot (PDF) Whether your character is locked up in a dungeon with her hands chained to the wall, or she’s hemmed in by the walls of your plot closing in around her, this worksheet will come to the rescue! It works! I used this worksheet to save my heroine when…
A good book offers interesting characters in conflict, but how do you tell if you have enough in your novel? Answer our conflict test to find out.
This week, it’s two-for-one on worksheets! Why? Because they’re basically the same worksheet with a different title.
Writers Write is your one-stop writing resource. Use these cheat sheets to help you show a character's state of mind when you're writing body language.
This is a practice worksheet for place prepositions with a great picture. The students must select the correct option from the brackets and then perform the true or false test. They must then write ten sentences about items in their own bedroom.
By mapping notes to letters, some musicians sneak secret words into tunes.
Help your beginning writer become an excellent essay-writer with this helpful proofreading practice sheet.
Creative Writer Worksheet – Everybody’s Doing It (PDF) This week’s worksheet is about doing what everyone else is doing… differently. If you’ve been struggling with writing something, perhaps you need to approach it your way. Or maybe you need a bigger challenge! ;) Don’t reinvent the wheel; redirect it.
Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far! This week in writing along with "showing, not telling," we are also working on adding adverbs to make our good writing even better! I had the kids close their eyes and I gave them the sentence, "The fish swam." Then they had to describe the picture they had in their head. All the pictures were different! Then I gave them the sentence, "The mama fish swam quickly upstream after laying her eggs." (We are studying the life cycle of fish this week!) The kids described their visualization and were so much closer in what they "saw." Adverbs are a way to revise writing to make our stories more clear for our readers! We want to make our good writing even better! We brainstormed three different kinds of simple adverbs. Then the kids got busy creating and building their own sentences full of adverbs. A quote from one of my little cuties, "I just love doing this! I can't wait to use adverbs in my draft book writing!" They were so proud of their 15+ word sentences!! I was too!!! I did create a little unit (of course) just to keep me organized and on track. Here are a few pics. Unit includes nouns, verbs and adverbs. The kids know how to add adjectives. If you would like a quick copy of this unit, click HERE!! OK! Gotta run!! Working on some decor for our school's 10 year birthday party!! It's going to be spectacular!! Have a great rest of the week!! Don't be shy! Leave a comment! Your words make me want to be better! Joyfully! Nancy
Teaching upper elementary or middle school students about correlative conjunctions? You'll definitely want to check out this blog post that includes an anchor chart lesson!
If you are out of excuses or if you just can't seem to make up good ones, this cheat sheet will have you sporting a perfect excuse every time you need one.
Shakespeare has been dead for over 400 years, but his plays are still being put on every day by theatre companies all over the world. If you're not sure where to start, this flowchart can help you decide which play you should see first. The flowchart, from artist Mya Gosling at Good Tickle Brain, starts […]
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
There's no crashing with this onomatopoeia worksheet!
A blank novel outline template for use with Google Docs, Google Keep, and Scrivener. The One Page Novel is a simple, memorable structure for novelists.
Sometimes it’s difficult to decide where to begin telling a story, and “begin at the beginning” isn’t always the best advice. Click here to download this writing worksheet (PDF) The beginning of your story need not take place in your opening scene! The opening scene can be used to… Capture the reader’s attention with an…
One of my most popular posts is for my Romance Beat Sheet, but one of my readers asked if I could create a Scrivener template to go along with the Romance Beat Sheet. Yes! If you're a romance author and use Scrivener for drafting your stories, today's post is for you.
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
Novel Quick Write Anchor Chart
A district-wide unit that affirms the experiences of ELLs while teaching content and developing their language skills. ELLs voices were highlighted through this multi-grade, multi-school unit.
TweetPin5EmailShare Creating a fictional culture is something that almost all fiction and fantasy writers will have to do at some point. Whether you need a culture for a society of... Read more »
Roll and Write a Story is a fun and creative way to get students to write creatively. It also helps those who struggle with beginning their own stories. This activity can be used within pairs or as individuals. With a dice, the students will roll three times to figure out their Characters, setting, and plot. Once they have them figured, they will begin building their stories around the ideas! INCLUDES: Title page to display within your writing center Directions page two different Roll and Write a Story ideas page
If you don’t have time to use our super-simple title capitalization tool there is another simple way to capitalize titles quickly. The M.I.N.T.S. Acronym for Title Capitalization Rules The “MINTS” acronym will give you some set rules to capitalize titles correctly: M. – Months, days, holidays I. – The pronoun I N. – Names of […]
