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Comments on Using accents while staying legible

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Using accents while staying legible

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My character is using a hardly legible accent, or simply an accent which is not comfortable for a reader to read. For example:

“Ye've caught us in th' middle o' supper. Seein' as how yer no bleedin' or in immediate danger, I’ll let th' others finish their meal before callin' them t' help.

As you can see, it is not comfortable to read at all, but I would like to maintain the foreign feel of the character, including his strong accent, which is his distinguishing mark and makes him stand out of the crowd. The character is also very talkative, so his lines are long with tons of idiomatic expressions, but after testing the chapter I found the accent is simply too annoying to read (and write, haha).

TLDR: How do I use difficult accents while maintaining comfortable legibility?

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Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Isn't the point rather that it should be hard to read? This increases the reader's immersion, as they can easier picture how other characters listening may struggle to understand the accent. Many professional fiction authors type out accents just as you do here. In case some particular part turns almost incomprehensible to read, you could even have the other characters listening reply with "Sorry, what...?" and similar.