Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41252
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41252
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The way you make a character Scottish (or any other nationality) is you research that nationality. And you don't settle for the "[Hollywood Atlas](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodAtlas)" version either (meaning a collection of exaggerated stereotypes. And that's a tv tropes link). You find out about _real_ Scotland, and ground your character in that.

To find out what various Scottish accents sound like, look for them on Youtube. Note, however, that relying heavily on phonetic spelling of words would make your prose harder to read. You can, instead, mention that the character has a certain accent, or that he pronounces a certain word in a particular way.

Some vocabulary, like 'lad' and 'lass' is more prevalent in Scotland than in other places. You can try googling something like "words more commonly used in Scotland". If, however, your character uses such "vocabulary" words every other sentence, he would appear more like a stereotype than a person. You'd want to use those words sparingly. Also, some vocabulary would be particular not to "Scotland" but to one city or area in Scotland. You'd want to be consistent with where your character is from.

But there is more to coming from a certain place than the accent and the vocabulary. There's the way one does things, and the things one would never do. Where a British character would still be talking about the weather, an Israeli one would already be asking personal questions.  
There's culture too, and there are the pop-culture references one is likely to make. For example, where an American character would make a reference to _Star Trek_, it would fit better for a British character to mention _Dr. Who_.

The more you know about a place and its culture, the more "local" you can make your character.

Original score: 9