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Criminal character's voice

Take for example Youtube, which is pretty much a cesspool in many comment sections. After thinking about using documentaries to see how people in various areas of the U.S. speak, the light bulb went off and I discovered a kind of viral video about "accent tags" where people from across the U.S. read off a list of words and answered questions about their word choice for describing various things. A search on Youtube for "Southern Accent Tag" narrows the search.

That might not be greatly helpful for the OP, since it's the same set of words, so it's a narrow, peculiar sample of vernacular.

But maybe the OP could decide on a state of origin for the criminal and simply search for homemade videos from people who live in that area. This could also eliminate some bias, because in those videos the people wouldn't be concentrating on explaining their particular vernacular.
 
Last edited:

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
Take for example Youtube, which is pretty much a cesspool in many comment sections. After thinking about using documentaries to see how people in various areas of the U.S. speak, the light bulb went off and I discovered a kind of viral video about "accent tags" where people from across the U.S. read off a list of words and answered questions about their word choice for describing various things. A search on Youtube for "Southern Accent Tag" narrows the search.

That might not be greatly helpful for the OP, since it's the same set of words, so it's a narrow, peculiar sample of vernacular.

But maybe the OP could decide on a state of origin for the criminal and simply search for homemade videos from people who live in that area. This could also eliminate some bias, because in those videos the people wouldn't be concentrating on explaining their particular vernacular.

This is an excellent idea! Thank you for proving my point about having smart people here at Mythic Scribes.
 

Ragnar

Dreamer
Me either. I'm from Louisiana and what one poster said, about different states having different dialects is right on. Some guys from South Carolina came to a place I worked and their accent and words they used was very different from local language!

I've seen authors try to incorporate accents, especially southern accents into their stories and sometimes it's well intentioned, but poorly done. Stephen King does a good job of sparingly using dialects in his stories. I remember specifically, "The Kid" from the Stand. That character was from Shreveport Louisiana, and having been there, he did a good job with the words he picked. Stuff like "y'all" and "over yonder". Things like that can add flavor without coming off too strongly, if you know what I mean :)

One suggestion. What about watching documentaries where they show people from certain areas, to get an idea of how they speak and what words they use?
 
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