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Post by rad on Jun 7, 2010 18:39:50 GMT -5
Because I really can't be doing with having threads for every story I have on the go / will write in the future, this can be a catch-all thread!!
Question: I know a few people on here write little side stories/interludes from time to time, and for the story I am currently shooting (which will be written in third person) I am wondering if little side stories/interludes might be an interesting thing to add. I'm envisaging these taking the place of first person narration, diary entries, poetry, extra photos and so on to supplement some of the chapters. The idea would be to explore things in a different style/voice than would be possible within the structure and format of the main narrative.
I'd probably put them on a separate page within the blog so they were optional to the main story and didn't disrupt the main narrative, but I'm wondering if this kind of thing helps you engage with a story as readers, or whether you would rather read stories straight with no extras.
(Of course I can do it for my own purposes to help understand the characters better as a writer and not publish the results, or put them up on my main sims blog rather than the story blog)
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Post by dbloveshermac on Jun 7, 2010 19:31:43 GMT -5
You are prolific!
I think it's nice to have the option to read more in-depth stuff. I like your idea of a separate page on the same blog for diary entries/whatever, as long as there is some way the readers can tell where/when it falls in relation to the main story.
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Post by thelunarfox on Jun 7, 2010 20:15:40 GMT -5
I'm with DB. I think extra, more in-depth stuff is handy and fascinating as well. Even if you don't publish those bits, they are definitely good for you as the author to do.
Having them on an extra page is a good idea. You can always link to them within the story to make it clear where in the story they happen.
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Post by rad on Aug 2, 2010 7:37:31 GMT -5
So, Stacey/anyone else
Can you give me tips on the kind of lingo they use in Southern America? Also looking to make the place Naomi's in somewhere specific soon - thinking she's based in a fairly sparse area where houses are few and far between but there will be a town/village nearby with shops, bars etc. Not a big city. Any places spring to mind?
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Post by Stacy on Aug 2, 2010 10:06:27 GMT -5
So, Stacey/anyone else Can you give me tips on the kind of lingo they use in Southern America? Also looking to make the place Naomi's in somewhere specific soon - thinking she's based in a fairly sparse area where houses are few and far between but there will be a town/village nearby with shops, bars etc. Not a big city. Any places spring to mind? Haha - that's a tall order. I only know backwoods northwestern North Carolina, which is Southern Appalachia - I reckon they talk summat different down in Mississippi and Alabama. I found this - which probably goes more in-depth than what you need, but hey. Actually the grammar and vocabulary sections do seem pretty helpful. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_EnglishHere's my second legacy, Paradise Estate - you don't have to read all of it, but a lot of the Maxis-mades in Riverblossom Hills talked with the accent I heard growing up. thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/uploads.php?user_id=4342123&nstart=1&asset_type=storyLike this paragraph. "I seen 'em, I did. With their hundreds of tiny feet and one huge nostril. Snorted my grandma right up. I know you ain't met any other folk around here yet, so let me be the first to tell you. This town got a mighty powerful curse on it, and you'd do well to avoid that abandoned condo down the road a piece. Somethin' ain't right there." As for the area - that sounds pretty much like any rural area. And we'd call them stores, not shops. And yeah, where I grew up is the place that springs to mind but it feels kind of weird to say "Hey, put Surry County in your story!" I'll keep thinking and if I come up with anything else I'll post it here.
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Post by thelunarfox on Aug 2, 2010 15:58:48 GMT -5
My boyfriend is actually from NC too, but not really rural. Well, it's so weird, rural to me (he lived between towns and had a freakin' forest as his backyard), but not really rural for the state. He has no discernible accent unless he says "shit" (He actually turns it into two syllables- CUTE!) or words that end in "ow" sounds (windah, potatah).
One thing that got us early when we were talking on the phone is Barbeque. Here in the west (CA), we say we're having a barbeque meaning we're doing some grilling. We also use it as a verb- "We're going to barbeque the hotdogs" or we say they're "barbequed."
But Barbeque is an actual dish in most places in the south.
Just thought the barbeque/Barbeque thing might be an important detail. It might not come up at all, but it's sort of a perfect example of the difference ways South and everywhere else communicate, lol.
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Post by bunnylita on Aug 2, 2010 18:08:11 GMT -5
Funny thing about the Barbecue thing you mentioned thelunarfox. I'm always having to clarify with people what kind of barbecue they mean whenever it's mentioned as a meal. It's confusing even to locals like me. I'm from Atlanta.
As for southern vernacular, being from the south, I honestly don't notice it until I'm not here. Actually since I talk so fast most people assume I'm from somewhere else. But non-southerners can point me out as a southerner almost immediately. It's not just the slang we use, it's how we talk that differentiates our lingo and accents from other parts of the country. It's hard to imitate too. I watch True Blood and some of those accents are just terrible. But then again, the way the characters use (and sometimes misuse) the English language is pretty spot on.
I don't think most southerners talk too differently from everyone else though. But we will throw around y'all a lot (at least I do). And there's a cadence to southern speech that's unique. But every person has their own spin on it. My grandmother pronounces some words differently than I do because she grew up in the 30s in a small town. But as an English teacher, the way she talks is very proper. It's very complicated.
I don't know how helpful I've been, but I hope in all my rambling something made sense.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Aug 2, 2010 20:01:27 GMT -5
There are several different kinds of Southern speech. There is the genteel, slightly toned-down Scarlett O'Hara type, which is very rare now but still pops up at Junior League meetings sometimes. Then there is the hick type, such as, "Hey Bubba, I'm gon pop this hyer fower by fower up ore the crick 'n set er down buhtween them two pines ore ahr!" (Translation: May I have your attention, please, Bubba, I am going to launch my 4x4 vehicle into the air, over the stream, and land gently between the two pine trees on the other side.) Then there is the most common (imho) type, which is most characterized by leaving off the "g" on words ending in "ing" and by a tendency to linger on the vowels, often coaxing another syllable or two from them.
I've lived in rural areas, towns, and cities in several states around the Southeast. I'd be happy to test read something for you.
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Post by Stacy on Aug 2, 2010 21:15:18 GMT -5
There are several different kinds of Southern speech. There is the genteel, slightly toned-down Scarlett O'Hara type, which is very rare now but still pops up at Junior League meetings sometimes. Then there is the hick type, such as, "Hey Bubba, I'm gon pop this hyer fower by fower up ore the crick 'n set er down buhtween them two pines ore ahr!" (Translation: May I have your attention, please, Bubba, I am going to launch my 4x4 vehicle into the air, over the stream, and land gently between the two pine trees on the other side.) Then there is the most common (imho) type, which is most characterized by leaving off the "g" on words ending in "ing" and by a tendency to linger on the vowels, often coaxing another syllable or two from them. I've lived in rural areas, towns, and cities in several states around the Southeast. I'd be happy to test read something for you. Haha! I love your example! I did actually get my Thunderbird perfectly parallel parked between two trees while trying to get up a hill on a dirt road after an ice storm once. There's a woman with the old school Scarlett accent on the radio ads for the Southern Home Show or whatever. I sort of based Bella on that template - the older genteel Southern lady. Oh, and I should say that the speech in my legacy may have been a little exaggerated for comic effect.
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Post by rad on Aug 3, 2010 4:42:14 GMT -5
Thans everyone, lot to think of there.
We say barbecue over here too, so it'd be grill in the southern US for the same thing? Probably not going to do too much in the way of showing an accent (I haven't done for my British characters, mainly because I've never been to Canterbury, though I imagine it's a bit posh!) but I do want to get the slang, terminology and location to feel right.
This chapter will probably be a bit delayed, but later this week for sure.
Oh, and if anyone's interested, this song is a pretty good indication of wot folk rahnd 'ere (where I live, not where any of my characters live) talk like. I also say potatah and summat but with a very different twang to y'all.
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Post by Stacy on Aug 3, 2010 9:32:14 GMT -5
This is only for my little neck of the woods, but we tend to say "cookin' out". And grill, too. I guess - okay, like when I smell people grilling stuff I'll say "Someone must be cooking out" but I think grill would be the actual verb, like "I'll grill ya'll some hot dogs when you come up here next."
Cook-out can be a noun too. Like "We're gonna have us a cook-out this weekend."
Haha - there's a fast food chain named Cook-Out and I just looked it up and apparently it's only here in North Carolina.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Aug 3, 2010 10:16:07 GMT -5
People in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama have cookouts, too.
If you want to go really country, you can have someone cook up a mess of greens an' shoo the flies off with the fly flap till the young'uns come tearin' in the house for dinner. Note that dinner is served around midday. Supper is eaten in the evening.
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Post by rad on Aug 3, 2010 10:35:46 GMT -5
Yay, you call lunch dinner too! In the UK that's a bit of a north/south divide - northerners eat dinner and tea; southerners eat lunch and dinner. Then there's Scots, who call their evening meal supper, which is what the rest of us eat as a snack later on.
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Post by rad on Aug 3, 2010 16:23:37 GMT -5
Well, I think there's a bit too much to think about and plan to get the whole of the chapter I had planned out - so I'm going to split it in two, which means the new chapter will be ready soon!
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Post by rad on Aug 9, 2010 13:19:11 GMT -5
Hello America!
More questions if that's OK...
1) I need to get Naomi to the centre of the small town but she clearly doesn't have a car - are buses likely to run (I am guessing she'll have to walk a little way to find a bus stop. Do you call them bus stops??), and how frequently would be realistic? Once or twice a day? Every hour?
2) What kind of bus fare are you talking from the sticks to the nearest town centre, and do you buy singles or returns (or does that vary according to place and bus company like it does here)?
3) Is a bus driver going to balk at someone trying to pay with a 10/20/50 dollar bill or not?
4) Do you actually say bus fare over there??
5) Is it compulsory for people to carry ID? If you don't have a passport or driving license (oh wait, it's driver's license over there isn't it??) do you have other forms of ID? Or does all of this vary from state to state?
6) In a small town in the south (still deciding where exactly), what's the proportion of chain stores/Maccy D's etc to local businesses likely to be?
7) I know you call off-licenses 'liquor stores' (and was amused to see a very random selection of English beers in a liquor store the one time I was in America) but do you call alcohol liquor in general?
8) What are your standard pub (sorry, bar) opening times?
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tesseracta
Full Member
5th Dimensional Spaz
Posts: 122
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Post by tesseracta on Aug 9, 2010 14:11:18 GMT -5
1) Mileage varies from podunk town to podunk town, and how far away the town is from a city. I have no idea about the south, but have taken buses in Upstate New York and Northern California. If the town is in the middle of nowhere, then a few times a day (once in the morning to go in the city, and once in the evening when you're coming home from the city). If the town is closer to a city then once an hour or every other hour.
They are called bus stops here too! I'm unsure where would be a good place for a bus stop though in the deep south. In California, there are buses that stop at some far away and obscure public parks and forests though. There are also stops at isolated factories/business and such.
2) It might vary in other places, but usually you buy a single, if you're talking about just hopping on some random bus. I would guesstimate between $1.50-$3.00 in US money?
3) All buses that I've ever taken have insisted on receiving exact change for the fare. Well, you could actually pay with a $10 bill, but the bus driver wouldn't give you any change back. Most buses will take single dollar bills, and coins.
4) I say bus fare too. : )
5) If you're just taking public transit, you don't need to show ID to board. I don't remember having to show ID while taking a Greyhound Bus either. If you get arrested though, the cop will ask you to show id. (That's never happened to me, honest!)
6) I'm unsure about the south. :/
7) I call it delicious! (Or liquor, or alcohol, or booze)
8) Opening and closing times vary in different towns and states. Some places have laws that bars can't be open on Sundays too.
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Post by rad on Aug 9, 2010 17:17:57 GMT -5
Question 5 wasn't to do with travelling, it was more a general query... i.e. if someone doesn't have any ID on them can they legitimately claim it's because they don't actually have any? (ID is not compulsory in my country, so you might easily not have any - though of course it doesn't mean you'll get served for age-restricted items and so on unless you have some)
Thanks for the answers though, they're helpful.
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tesseracta
Full Member
5th Dimensional Spaz
Posts: 122
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Post by tesseracta on Aug 9, 2010 18:38:05 GMT -5
Apologies for misunderstanding I had travelling on the brain because of the bus questions, and because my husband recently lost his ID and wallet while on vacation. (It was not fun getting him on the plane home). ID isn't compulsory here, either. If you get stopped by the police they might still take you to station anyways though (but not because of lack of ID, but for probable cause for whatever they're hassling you about).
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Post by thelunarfox on Aug 9, 2010 20:31:48 GMT -5
ID isn't compulsory, though it's odd to be without. Most people at least have a driver's license and if they don't have that, they'll usually have a state ID. Passports are probably pretty rare.
#1- I asked Jay this and he goes, "Dang, Naw." He says that he had to go to Raleigh to ride on a bus. In a small town it'd probably only be a mile from one end to the other. He also helpfully adds, "Grab a bike."
#3- a bus driver would most likely balk at a $10 or a $20. At least the ones I've come across.
#6- Me and Jay discussed it a bit from my own observations and from his experience growing up between towns. It seems fast food chains move in the quickest. We visited the town his high school was in and it had a Pizza Hut and had for years. But they didn't get a Walmart until they hit 10,000 in population apparently.
#7- I had to ask Jay about this because he has some strong ideas on it. He says that liquor is anything that is not beer or wine. He makes this distinction because apparently liquor stores only sell liquor, and that's the only place you can get it from. He says there are "dry counties" (places with no liquor- "That's rough," he says) and "blue counties" (places where the laws are super strict, like you can't buy on Sunday, and you can only buy on certain hours).
I can vouch that when he moved out here, he was amazed to see liquor being sold in grocery stores. He still flips out about it sometimes.
#8- Jay's actually going to look that up, lol. I asked him the question and he couldn't really answer me. As an aside, I will say that we do use pub too, but we actually refer to pubs as places where food (and alcohol) can be had. And where I live there are actually quite a few "British" pubs which I have no real explanation for but the city's rather proud of. ;D
Okay, the two places he can remember that were actual bars with little to no food open at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But he adds that if you're in a really small town there probably won't even be a bar.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Aug 10, 2010 10:41:06 GMT -5
Public transportation? I wish! Someone might take a Greyhound bus from town to town, but inside a small town in the South there is no public transportation whatsoever. A mediumish town near here has a significant immigrant population that has developed its own taxi business, and a large touristy town will likely have a free bus service that circles the touristy area. Cities have buses that require exact change, usually. As for fast food, a small town might have a Bojangles or a Hardee's and probably a Pizza Hut, but there would absolutely be a "meat and three" place named "hank's" or "patsy's" or something that is known for its chicken fried steak. Don't ask... Carrying ID is not required, but anyone 16 and up will proudly carry a driver's license.
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