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Q&A How can I make a character sound uneducated?

Question: Grammar mistakes. Low-level vocabulary. Are there any other tricks I can use? Answer: Yes. A. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the ...

posted 5y ago by DPT‭  ·  edited 5y ago by DPT‭

Answer
#11: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:58:31Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?" It was surprising; she seemed bright enough.
  • Gloria cocked her head and frowned. "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good. Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?" It was surprising; she seemed bright enough.
  • Gloria cocked her head and frowned. "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • **Ex:**
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • **Ex:**
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#10: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:57:56Z (almost 5 years ago)
#9: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:57:35Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?"
  • .
  • "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?" It was surprising; she seemed bright enough.
  • Gloria cocked her head and frowned. "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#8: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:56:35Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?"
  • "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?"
  • .
  • "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#7: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:56:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **Ex:**
  • "You didn't go to school?"
  • "No reason to. Dad taught me everything I need to know."
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#6: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:55:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't jar them out of their mental image with inconsistent character behavior, you should be okay to use this very sparingly.
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#5: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:54:25Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • A. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • B. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • C. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • D. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • E. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • F. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • G. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • **A.** We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • **B.** Low level vocabulary is good, Sounds like you are using this effectively already.
  • **C.** Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • **D.** Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • **E.** Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • **F.** Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • **G.** Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#4: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:53:34Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • 1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • 2. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • 3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • 4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • 5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • 6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • 7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • A. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • B. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • C. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • D. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • E. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • F. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • G. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#3: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:53:00Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Yes.
  • 1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • 2. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • 3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • 4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • 5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • 6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • 7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • Question:
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Answer:
  • Yes.
  • 1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • 2. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • 3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • 4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • 5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • 6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • 7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#2: Post edited by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:52:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • Grammar mistakes.
  • Low-level vocabulary.
  • Are there any other tricks I can use?
  • -----------------------------
  • Yes.
  • 1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • 2. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • 3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • 4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • 5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • 6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • 7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
  • **Grammar mistakes.**
  • **Low-level vocabulary.**
  • **Are there any other tricks I can use?**
  • -----------------------------
  • Yes.
  • 1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't
  • 2. Low level vocabulary is good,
  • 3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.
  • 4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.
  • **You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**
  • 5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs.
  • Ex:
  • *He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*
  • 6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog.
  • Ex:
  • *'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)
  • The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria. (narrative)
  • 7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar DPT‭ · 2020-02-10T14:51:51Z (almost 5 years ago)
Grammar mistakes. 
Low-level vocabulary.
Are there any other tricks I can use?

-----------------------------

Yes. 

1. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the point across, and the reader will hold the character image they form to inform the rest of the story. As long as you don't 

2. Low level vocabulary is good, 

3. Have educational norms and reveals come up in conversation. This leans toward telling, but can still be done in a showy way with voice and character judgment.

4. Shine a light on the relative **high** education of the other characters. Show through contrast that your world has both.

**You don't need to rely on dialog, unless you want to. Non-dialog ways of achieving this includes the following:**

5. Depending on genre, you can world build tip-offs. 

Ex: 

*He wore a pin on his lapel. Gloria's mother had once told her those pins meant a person had gone to University. She didn't care about university education, but having a pin like that would be nice.*

6. Go ahead and use internal monolog and narrative to show in addition to using dialog. 

Ex:

*'These ivory-tower types really got on his nerves.'* (internal thought)

The man sounded well-educated. That had never been the sort of thing to impress Gloria.  (narrative)

7. Rely on reader bias and give your character a job that the reader will associate with poor education. Field worker, manual laborer, and so on.