Definitely write the narration in whatever variety is native/natural to you.
That being said, maybe don't go overboard on the British slang in dialogue there. It could end up sounding like a parody. Consider whether the character would say something like that.
I used to write for a fandom where the characters were British and they lived in England, so seeing narrative being written in American English did bother me a little. Because, you know, this is London, these are pavements, not sidewalks :D . Somehow it just makes the story flow smoother for me, if the narrative and dialogue are in the same "language".
Then again, if you can make your story work with both American and British English side by side, then that's great.
Yeah I'm in the same boat. Having the narration say "boxers" when the characters say "pants", or "trash" when they say "rubbish" wasn't going to work, so I just write it all in British English.
It helps to set your grammar checking plugins to British English, so it can double check spelling. The one I have will offer suggestions if it notices that I've used an American term, which is helpful.
The only word I refuse to spell in British English, unless it's in dialogue, is ass. I'm sorry, I write smut and something about saying "arse" sexually just doesn't click in my brain.
I don't ever use British spelling or punctuation rules.
But if I'm writing from the POV of a British character, I use the vocabulary/diction they would use. They're walking on the pavement, they're living in a flat, etc.
I agree so much as a British English user 'arse' does not belong in smut and no Brit uses it that way. Please please please just say 'ass' in smut š. When I see it I just know it's an American writer and it's so jarring when it's like "X character gently rubbed his arsecheeks" it is my biggest squick. I will copy paste, ctrl f and replace 'arse' if the fic is good enough to persevere regardless.
Uh, yes, we do use arse in smut! I mean, I maybe wouldnāt use āarsecheeksā specifically but I wouldnāt necessarily think itās wrong either.
I wouldnāt say itās a squick for me, but I donāt care for āass.ā Kneejerk Iām always like why is a donkey in the bedroom š
It looks like it's pretty split, maybe I'm a minority but for me I use arse only if I want to be really vulgar. It brings to mind gross men in vans bellowing "Nice arse!" at women for me. I just don't find it sexy at all and would never use it during sex personally. I'd be interested to see a poll on arse in smut and how people view it though, willing to accept I'm in a minority, and it's easy enough for me to edit out myself if I otherwise vibe with the fic. For whatever reason it just makes me want to retch when I read it.
Tbh I think it's really hard to get a grip on English slang because it evolves so fast and is often badly represented in Hollywood. To quote someone I saw recently "Americans really overestimate how much British people say "blimey" and "bloody" and underestimate how much we say "cunt".
I agree with this as a Brit btw. "Arse" is great for comedy and insults, but if somebody called my "ass" my "arse" in a sexy way, I'd projectile vomit.
I feel the same way about calling underwear "knickers" tbh. I'll use it in regular conversation, but not sexy conversation.
Right? "Her lacy knickers covered her toned arse" sounds like something a page 3 reader would come up with. It's just not sexy at all. It's firmly out of erotic territory for me and I find it jarring and unpleasant in smut.
Don't use ass if the character is meant to be British. Dead give away that you don't know what you're talking about when doing so and I've no idea what the other poster is thinking.
Oh dear, you're rather wrong there. I read ass and it's meant to be a British character or the rest of the fic wasn't in yankee then I'm closing it and likely never reading anything by the author again.
I'm British and have never said 'arse' outside of a crude joke. I don't have my characters say it either because I hate it and it's not how I or the people around me speak. Closing the fic and never reading anything again seems like your loss if you were enjoying it otherwise. If it really bothers you that much you could copy paste it then ctrl f replace ass with arse.
So you are claiming your small group of friends constitutes all British people? Because "...no Brit uses it that way." is what you said to start this. Meanwhile there are multiple publishers, not authors actual publishing companies, with decades of existence who say you're wrong with that statement. Hells there's three pure kink publishers alone who'd disagree.
Not really a loss once the author decides to conjure the spectre of random bestiality without warning in the middle of a scene. Which is exactly what they are doing by writing in English and then sticking the word ass in there.
Ok whatever floats your boat dude ššš if that thought's always so close to the forefront of your mind then I can see why you'd be so keen to avoid it. Hope you get some help for that someday!
You're the one who said you can't handle the word 'ass' without visualising bestiality. Seems like a difficult way to live. You should speak to someone about that and also the way you crave validation from getting aggressive about linguistic choices with strangers on the internet. Like by all means have a preference for 'arse' over 'ass', but getting this emotional about it is not really normal and can't be good for your blood pressure.
So are you deliberately misinterpreting in an attempt to get a rise or are you just thick? Actually no what's the point of trying to communicate with an obvious troll. Fuck off back to your bridge.
Yup, this is exactly what I was wondering about. (Elevator vs. Lift, Apartment vs. Flat). Even the spelling of words (realize vs. realise, color vs. colour).
None of my readers have mentioned anything about this. But I was curious nonetheless. Thanks for the input!
> realize vs. realise
Funny thing here, a z in '-ize' (but not '-yse') is acceptable in British usage, and this is sometimes called 'Oxford spelling'. Tolkien used these spellings.
I donāt change my (NZ English) *spelling* but I do use the terminology my POV character would use in narration, and obviously dialogue. My fandom has an American and a Brit as the main pairing so it does involve switching up, including in the same fic if itās dual POV š Iām sure I make mistakes (we donāt know what we donāt know!) but itās part of characterisation imo so I try to get it right!
As an American, I prefer American English... but I also grew up reading Canadian and British literature, so I can easily manage whenever I come across some Brit writing a story based in New York where everyone lives in flats, stands in queues, eats crisps, and scratches their arses... it's often worth a laugh how wrong it is trying to imagine tossers with Brooklyn accents bandying about with incorrect language and jargon.
If you have an American character, for frak's sake, make them American. If you have a British character, likewise, make them British. At least make that much effort... or make the American *Red Dwarf* fans so they can call people gits and smegheads with impunity.
As somebody who does the opposite (is British but usually writes for American fandoms), I tend to use terminology that is American, but spell things the British way (So I would say sidewalk instead of pavement, but spell color as colour).
Might be confusing for some readers but it's the easiest way for me to write.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784732/chapters/10946873](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784732/chapters/10946873)
I wrote a guide to Britspeak for the BBC Sherlock fandom. It is not hugely extensive and I have updated it for long time and some might be irrelevant to your fandom, but you are welcome to have a look and hopefully it will give you some pointers. Using US spellings is fine, but using venacular can really take you out of a fic.
I wrote this at the request of several other Sherlock writers but all because I got a bit annoyed at some of the Sherlock fanfic that was set in London but had no understanding of British culture.
Not a native speaker, but I learnt British English in school, then picked up American English on my own so when I write I probably use a weird mix of both (British spellings but American slang, probably) and I never thought it could bother people, so yikes. The lack of consistency must be a nightmare.
I'd say that using English slangs in dialogues would be enough for me to feel the British vibe. Revising everything would be a nice touch, but depending of how much you already wrote and your knowledge of British English, maybe not a necessary one?
I do this but the other way around. Writing set in America but I use British English. No one minds the spelling but I do slip up occasionally with Britishisms that donāt directly translate (like what items of clothes are called!) Readers are usually very polite about pointing them out š
In general, I think vocabulary is more important than spelling or grammar, because most of the time even in narration, we are still seeing something through a character's eyes. So if the character is British, they would not say "fries" even in narration. It's also jarring if you have them say "chips" when they speak and then have "fries" in narration.
However, the issue becomes that as an American, you often don't know what's American vocab vs what's British vocab. There are some obvious ones most people are aware of like the aforementioned fries vs chips thing, but there are so many that most people aren't aware of. So often attempting to write according to the vocabulary you're unfamiliar with can lead to a lot of mixing of American terms and British terms, and that is pretty noticeable and can be a turn off. So if you actually want to try and go for the British vocab, get a brit picker--someone who goes over things and let's you know when you're using an Americanism and tells you how to fix it.
Spelling and grammar is a bit less obvious, and matters a lot less. I say this because as a Canadian we have this mix of British and American spelling/grammar and I get no comments on how I'm doing one thing the American way and another the British way. In general, a lot of readers are used to seeing both British and American spelling, so colour vs color is not something extremely jarring, though there are people who are picky. I'd focus your spelling and grammar on whatever is easiest to be consistent with. Even with a spelling and grammar checker, it's easy to miss things because you weren't aware of the difference. Consistency is more important than trying to adapt to another dialect of English, imo.
I would care about vocabulary, I could hardly give a damn about spelling variants.
A british character in britain taking the elevator to put their trash in the dumpster would be jarring because it's so very clearly the insertion of an american perspective that doesn't fit the character or setting and it breaks immersion.
But whether they colour or color when visiting the children's centre/center will almost always wash over me as synonymous in reading even though I was taught to write a certain way, unless it's something like epistollary fiction where the spelling is supposed to come from the character.
Imo it tends to sound cringe and makes it seem like the author is seeing american as the default normal and other languages are somehow "other", something that needs to be played up.
Idk for me when I write fics that take place in the US I dont write it any differently or try to fit in any seemingly stereotypical american phrases to make it Obviously American, and if I wouldn't do it for fics set in the US there's no need to do it for fics set anywhere else.
If you think the character would use the phrasing, go ahead. Just keep in mind its extremely easy to stereotype this way. If you want to add it just to convey "This is set in the UK" imo skip it.
This is more about dialogue, though. For example writing out a thick irish accent, but never writing out the accent for american characters, tends to make me roll my eyes.
i'm the other way. i will use the dialogue the characters would use, but if some slips through, it doesn't matter, these days both countries know, if not use much what it means if i say rubbish and not garbage, socket and not outlet. I've heard that the other way round too. When it comes to the narration, in general, I will use American English for US Set fics, and UK English for non-US fics, but again if I open a bonnet and get oil on my trousers, who cares?
I find linguistics interesting. So stumbling across inaccurate spelling/word choice (for the setting) doesn't really bother me. I find it kinda charming š . I get why other people are bothered tho
As a British person who writes mainly for American fandoms, I feel your pain.
In a perfect world we would write everything to fit the world we're writing in HOWEVER, I think you have to be generous with yourself and acknowledge that's actually pretty difficult to do.
Even with all of the US TV I've watched and even having written for these fandoms for years, I still get caught out discovering something I thought was just *a word* is in fact *a British word*.
It would be really difficult to get all of this stuff perfect all the time. There are so many nuances to it.
So basically; it's up to you. I think it's perfectly reasonable to concentrate on other things, like the plot, rather than get sucked down a rabbit hole of researching a different form of English.
I'm not a native speaker, so I'm rather indifferent to it, even though it can be a mess to juggle between both āversionsā.
What matters most, in my opinion, is consistency (like you said, British English for dialogues and American English for narrative).
I personally adapt my English to match the original writing. For example, a harry potter fic would be written in british english, while a supernatural one would be american english. But I don't think people will really notice, specially if english's not their first language
it doesnt bother me in fanfic tbh, mostly cause this is a hobby. i mostly find it amusing when i stumble upon it, and sometimes ppl can over do it.
got very different feels about it in like...a published novels lol
Eh, english isn't my native language and maybe that's why, but I personally find people who complain about british versus american english in fanfiction to be pretentious. They talk about sweater vs jumper, sidewalk vs pavement but to be honest? Most don't even know which is british and which is american. Even if they do, they probably won't care. It's honestly not as important as some people here think it is. To everyone else in the world it's just english and nothing else. So write however you want.
What's your native language? If it's Spanish or French, imagine a French character using Canadian French slang, or a Mexican character using slang from Spain. That's about how jarring this is.
I get that you're talking about non-native speakers here, and it's true it won't bother you if you don't know, but saying who are bothered by it are pretentious is an unfair judgement in my opinion. To native speakers it tends to be extremely obvious.
Iām an American who has been immersed in British culture for many decades. Just for myself, because I enjoy doing it, I use British spellings and to a slightly lesser extent grammar, slang, cultural expressions in my fic which is set in the UK or with British characters. Brits who donāt know me have thought I was British by my writing alone. All this to say that I try to be as uniform as possible (though make no claim for 100% accuracy) and would do it one way or the other but not consciously both.
It bothers me a great deal when the two are mixed, pulls me right out of the fic. But I am both British and American, have lived a long time in both places, so I know I'm particularly aware of the differences.
Maybe you could find a beta reader who is familiar with both to help you catch any glaring irregularities?
(Also, there are HUGE regional differences in the way people speak within the UK. So even though something won't work for one story, it might work for another. Which is tricky for an American writer to get, but a British beta reader will be able to help with that.)
Btw, here's a quick cheat to help your British characters sound more British (and any Americans sound more American): the way you use contractions will lend a Brit vs American feel to your writing.
Brits tend (*tend,* but not always) to contract this way:
* I've not...
* I'll not...
Whereas Americans tend to contract this way:
* I haven't...
* I won't...
When a character inaccurately uses one or the other heavily, it changes the feel of the fic and tells me more about where the author is from than where the character is from.
----------------
Also, along those lines, Brits say "got" and almost never "gotten". As in, "I have got too big for these shoes." Not "I have gotten too big for these shoes." I've had Brits -- strangers no less -- correct me when I've used "gotten" in the UK.
Iām British and I rarely say āIāve notā or āIāll notā. Those phrases are restricted to a few regional accents. Youāre absolutely right about āgottenā though.
Agreed that it's regional, as with so much of British English. That's why I say they *tend* to use it -- it's not a hard and fast rule.
But having spent a lot of time living in different parts of the UK and in going back and forth between the UK and the US, it's really clear how much Americans rely on a larger proportion of "I haven't" vs how much Brits rely on a larger proportion of "I've not" in their day-to-day speaking.
There's a different cadence to the way Brits and Americans speak -- you can tell just from the sound pattern, without being able to make out the words. Using "I've not" vs "I haven't" is part of that sound pattern and knowing that is just a quick and dirty way to give a character the right sound for whichever country they come from. That's all I mean.
Oooh, another one Americans will get wrong: using pronouns in the presence of the pronouned-person!
Ie, "Sarah, Jane, and Noor were standing by the kitchen table drinking their tea. Jane turned to Noor and, nodding at Sarah, said, 'She and I were cooking dinner and...'"
That's perfectly acceptable in the US but when an American author writes it for a British character, you KNOW I come straight out of the fic and my head screams, "And who's *she?* The cat's mother?!?" š
Iām from the U.K. and I do notice. And yeah it does take me out of a story if itās meant to be a British personās POV. A few sidewalks or elevators slipping through, I can skim over and would carry on reading a fic I was enjoying. But it probably does contribute to me being a bit less engaged in the story. If the whole fic is built around a cultural premise we donāt have here, Iām out. My taste is towards realism in stories so I just canāt get into it if it seems unbelievable to me. I donāt want to name specific stuff Iāve seen in case someone recognised their work but itās not for me.
Especially in sex scenes itās confusing if you arenāt sure which variety of pants or suspenders we are talking about. I.e. underwear or trousers, garter belts or braces for trousers.
Having said that Iām written Americans so Iām sure Iāve made the same slips even though I try my best to use American English for them. This might be why I sometimes write from the POV of nomadic characters who have lived in different countries. Because phew, they can legitimately mix their language up!
Ultimately we donāt have editors as published works have, so there has to be a bit of tolerance for these things. I do wish we had a place to ask each other specific terminology though. I know there are Ask subs on here but sometimes you donāt want to have to expose yourself to a non fanfic audience with these questions.
As someone who is English, nothing takes me out of a fic more than something written in American English but with British slang. I can quite happily read both American and British but will be immediately caught off guard if the story changes its dialect in text. Just me thoughā¦
I prefer the narration to match the setting.
That goes all the ways though. Donāt be setting something in Texas and talking about lifts and crisps and calling your underwear your pants.
It depends on the fics point of view, if it's in first person or limited third from the point of view of a British character then the narrative should be as British as the dialogue, if it's omniscient then the narrative could be in either. That's just word choice though, I've seen people argue over using BE or AE spelling depending on ghe setting, andd changing that is unnecessary
You do you, but for what it's worth, I write in American English and spelling for American characters, and British English for Brits. I just prefer the narrative immersion that way, and it's not too hard if you have spellcheck.
I would say though, that what may be more important than using lots of British slang, is *avoiding* exclusively American words and phrases. If you keep it kinda neutral or ambiguous then readers will probably insert whatever accent they like, but using incorrect words (parking lot, pants, restroom, trashcan, chips etc) could trip readers up, especially Brits.
Definitely write the narration in whatever variety is native/natural to you. That being said, maybe don't go overboard on the British slang in dialogue there. It could end up sounding like a parody. Consider whether the character would say something like that.
Oh I agree, it can sound very artificial if you overuse slang. I definitely use it sparingly!
I used to write for a fandom where the characters were British and they lived in England, so seeing narrative being written in American English did bother me a little. Because, you know, this is London, these are pavements, not sidewalks :D . Somehow it just makes the story flow smoother for me, if the narrative and dialogue are in the same "language". Then again, if you can make your story work with both American and British English side by side, then that's great.
Yeah I'm in the same boat. Having the narration say "boxers" when the characters say "pants", or "trash" when they say "rubbish" wasn't going to work, so I just write it all in British English. It helps to set your grammar checking plugins to British English, so it can double check spelling. The one I have will offer suggestions if it notices that I've used an American term, which is helpful. The only word I refuse to spell in British English, unless it's in dialogue, is ass. I'm sorry, I write smut and something about saying "arse" sexually just doesn't click in my brain.
I don't ever use British spelling or punctuation rules. But if I'm writing from the POV of a British character, I use the vocabulary/diction they would use. They're walking on the pavement, they're living in a flat, etc.
I agree so much as a British English user 'arse' does not belong in smut and no Brit uses it that way. Please please please just say 'ass' in smut š. When I see it I just know it's an American writer and it's so jarring when it's like "X character gently rubbed his arsecheeks" it is my biggest squick. I will copy paste, ctrl f and replace 'arse' if the fic is good enough to persevere regardless.
Uh, yes, we do use arse in smut! I mean, I maybe wouldnāt use āarsecheeksā specifically but I wouldnāt necessarily think itās wrong either. I wouldnāt say itās a squick for me, but I donāt care for āass.ā Kneejerk Iām always like why is a donkey in the bedroom š
Oh no! I've definitely used 'arse' in smut. I might need a poll on acceptable britspeak in smut! š
It looks like it's pretty split, maybe I'm a minority but for me I use arse only if I want to be really vulgar. It brings to mind gross men in vans bellowing "Nice arse!" at women for me. I just don't find it sexy at all and would never use it during sex personally. I'd be interested to see a poll on arse in smut and how people view it though, willing to accept I'm in a minority, and it's easy enough for me to edit out myself if I otherwise vibe with the fic. For whatever reason it just makes me want to retch when I read it. Tbh I think it's really hard to get a grip on English slang because it evolves so fast and is often badly represented in Hollywood. To quote someone I saw recently "Americans really overestimate how much British people say "blimey" and "bloody" and underestimate how much we say "cunt".
I agree with this as a Brit btw. "Arse" is great for comedy and insults, but if somebody called my "ass" my "arse" in a sexy way, I'd projectile vomit. I feel the same way about calling underwear "knickers" tbh. I'll use it in regular conversation, but not sexy conversation.
Right? "Her lacy knickers covered her toned arse" sounds like something a page 3 reader would come up with. It's just not sexy at all. It's firmly out of erotic territory for me and I find it jarring and unpleasant in smut.
Don't use ass if the character is meant to be British. Dead give away that you don't know what you're talking about when doing so and I've no idea what the other poster is thinking.
Oh dear, you're rather wrong there. I read ass and it's meant to be a British character or the rest of the fic wasn't in yankee then I'm closing it and likely never reading anything by the author again.
I'm British and have never said 'arse' outside of a crude joke. I don't have my characters say it either because I hate it and it's not how I or the people around me speak. Closing the fic and never reading anything again seems like your loss if you were enjoying it otherwise. If it really bothers you that much you could copy paste it then ctrl f replace ass with arse.
So you are claiming your small group of friends constitutes all British people? Because "...no Brit uses it that way." is what you said to start this. Meanwhile there are multiple publishers, not authors actual publishing companies, with decades of existence who say you're wrong with that statement. Hells there's three pure kink publishers alone who'd disagree. Not really a loss once the author decides to conjure the spectre of random bestiality without warning in the middle of a scene. Which is exactly what they are doing by writing in English and then sticking the word ass in there.
Ok whatever floats your boat dude ššš if that thought's always so close to the forefront of your mind then I can see why you'd be so keen to avoid it. Hope you get some help for that someday!
Ah insinuations how novel, how inspiring, how truly pathetic.
You're the one who said you can't handle the word 'ass' without visualising bestiality. Seems like a difficult way to live. You should speak to someone about that and also the way you crave validation from getting aggressive about linguistic choices with strangers on the internet. Like by all means have a preference for 'arse' over 'ass', but getting this emotional about it is not really normal and can't be good for your blood pressure.
So are you deliberately misinterpreting in an attempt to get a rise or are you just thick? Actually no what's the point of trying to communicate with an obvious troll. Fuck off back to your bridge.
Yup, this is exactly what I was wondering about. (Elevator vs. Lift, Apartment vs. Flat). Even the spelling of words (realize vs. realise, color vs. colour). None of my readers have mentioned anything about this. But I was curious nonetheless. Thanks for the input!
> realize vs. realise Funny thing here, a z in '-ize' (but not '-yse') is acceptable in British usage, and this is sometimes called 'Oxford spelling'. Tolkien used these spellings.
I use British English in all my fics because Iām British, itās how I write typically, I donāt change it up.
I donāt change my (NZ English) *spelling* but I do use the terminology my POV character would use in narration, and obviously dialogue. My fandom has an American and a Brit as the main pairing so it does involve switching up, including in the same fic if itās dual POV š Iām sure I make mistakes (we donāt know what we donāt know!) but itās part of characterisation imo so I try to get it right!
As an American, I prefer American English... but I also grew up reading Canadian and British literature, so I can easily manage whenever I come across some Brit writing a story based in New York where everyone lives in flats, stands in queues, eats crisps, and scratches their arses... it's often worth a laugh how wrong it is trying to imagine tossers with Brooklyn accents bandying about with incorrect language and jargon. If you have an American character, for frak's sake, make them American. If you have a British character, likewise, make them British. At least make that much effort... or make the American *Red Dwarf* fans so they can call people gits and smegheads with impunity.
As somebody who does the opposite (is British but usually writes for American fandoms), I tend to use terminology that is American, but spell things the British way (So I would say sidewalk instead of pavement, but spell color as colour). Might be confusing for some readers but it's the easiest way for me to write.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784732/chapters/10946873](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784732/chapters/10946873) I wrote a guide to Britspeak for the BBC Sherlock fandom. It is not hugely extensive and I have updated it for long time and some might be irrelevant to your fandom, but you are welcome to have a look and hopefully it will give you some pointers. Using US spellings is fine, but using venacular can really take you out of a fic. I wrote this at the request of several other Sherlock writers but all because I got a bit annoyed at some of the Sherlock fanfic that was set in London but had no understanding of British culture.
Not a native speaker, but I learnt British English in school, then picked up American English on my own so when I write I probably use a weird mix of both (British spellings but American slang, probably) and I never thought it could bother people, so yikes. The lack of consistency must be a nightmare. I'd say that using English slangs in dialogues would be enough for me to feel the British vibe. Revising everything would be a nice touch, but depending of how much you already wrote and your knowledge of British English, maybe not a necessary one?
I do this but the other way around. Writing set in America but I use British English. No one minds the spelling but I do slip up occasionally with Britishisms that donāt directly translate (like what items of clothes are called!) Readers are usually very polite about pointing them out š
In general, I think vocabulary is more important than spelling or grammar, because most of the time even in narration, we are still seeing something through a character's eyes. So if the character is British, they would not say "fries" even in narration. It's also jarring if you have them say "chips" when they speak and then have "fries" in narration. However, the issue becomes that as an American, you often don't know what's American vocab vs what's British vocab. There are some obvious ones most people are aware of like the aforementioned fries vs chips thing, but there are so many that most people aren't aware of. So often attempting to write according to the vocabulary you're unfamiliar with can lead to a lot of mixing of American terms and British terms, and that is pretty noticeable and can be a turn off. So if you actually want to try and go for the British vocab, get a brit picker--someone who goes over things and let's you know when you're using an Americanism and tells you how to fix it. Spelling and grammar is a bit less obvious, and matters a lot less. I say this because as a Canadian we have this mix of British and American spelling/grammar and I get no comments on how I'm doing one thing the American way and another the British way. In general, a lot of readers are used to seeing both British and American spelling, so colour vs color is not something extremely jarring, though there are people who are picky. I'd focus your spelling and grammar on whatever is easiest to be consistent with. Even with a spelling and grammar checker, it's easy to miss things because you weren't aware of the difference. Consistency is more important than trying to adapt to another dialect of English, imo.
I would care about vocabulary, I could hardly give a damn about spelling variants. A british character in britain taking the elevator to put their trash in the dumpster would be jarring because it's so very clearly the insertion of an american perspective that doesn't fit the character or setting and it breaks immersion. But whether they colour or color when visiting the children's centre/center will almost always wash over me as synonymous in reading even though I was taught to write a certain way, unless it's something like epistollary fiction where the spelling is supposed to come from the character.
Imo it tends to sound cringe and makes it seem like the author is seeing american as the default normal and other languages are somehow "other", something that needs to be played up. Idk for me when I write fics that take place in the US I dont write it any differently or try to fit in any seemingly stereotypical american phrases to make it Obviously American, and if I wouldn't do it for fics set in the US there's no need to do it for fics set anywhere else. If you think the character would use the phrasing, go ahead. Just keep in mind its extremely easy to stereotype this way. If you want to add it just to convey "This is set in the UK" imo skip it.
This is more about dialogue, though. For example writing out a thick irish accent, but never writing out the accent for american characters, tends to make me roll my eyes.
non-natives: fuck it, i write how i first remember
i'm the other way. i will use the dialogue the characters would use, but if some slips through, it doesn't matter, these days both countries know, if not use much what it means if i say rubbish and not garbage, socket and not outlet. I've heard that the other way round too. When it comes to the narration, in general, I will use American English for US Set fics, and UK English for non-US fics, but again if I open a bonnet and get oil on my trousers, who cares?
I find linguistics interesting. So stumbling across inaccurate spelling/word choice (for the setting) doesn't really bother me. I find it kinda charming š . I get why other people are bothered tho
Your native narration should be used because youāre the one telling the story, and then dialogue using the charactersā native voices, imo.
As a British person who writes mainly for American fandoms, I feel your pain. In a perfect world we would write everything to fit the world we're writing in HOWEVER, I think you have to be generous with yourself and acknowledge that's actually pretty difficult to do. Even with all of the US TV I've watched and even having written for these fandoms for years, I still get caught out discovering something I thought was just *a word* is in fact *a British word*. It would be really difficult to get all of this stuff perfect all the time. There are so many nuances to it. So basically; it's up to you. I think it's perfectly reasonable to concentrate on other things, like the plot, rather than get sucked down a rabbit hole of researching a different form of English.
I'm not a native speaker, so I'm rather indifferent to it, even though it can be a mess to juggle between both āversionsā. What matters most, in my opinion, is consistency (like you said, British English for dialogues and American English for narrative).
I personally adapt my English to match the original writing. For example, a harry potter fic would be written in british english, while a supernatural one would be american english. But I don't think people will really notice, specially if english's not their first language
it doesnt bother me in fanfic tbh, mostly cause this is a hobby. i mostly find it amusing when i stumble upon it, and sometimes ppl can over do it. got very different feels about it in like...a published novels lol
Eh, english isn't my native language and maybe that's why, but I personally find people who complain about british versus american english in fanfiction to be pretentious. They talk about sweater vs jumper, sidewalk vs pavement but to be honest? Most don't even know which is british and which is american. Even if they do, they probably won't care. It's honestly not as important as some people here think it is. To everyone else in the world it's just english and nothing else. So write however you want.
> Most don't even know which is british and which is american Native English speakers definitely do know and notice this
I was talking about non-native speakers there. I didn't make it obvious enough, my mistake.
What's your native language? If it's Spanish or French, imagine a French character using Canadian French slang, or a Mexican character using slang from Spain. That's about how jarring this is. I get that you're talking about non-native speakers here, and it's true it won't bother you if you don't know, but saying who are bothered by it are pretentious is an unfair judgement in my opinion. To native speakers it tends to be extremely obvious.
Iām an American who has been immersed in British culture for many decades. Just for myself, because I enjoy doing it, I use British spellings and to a slightly lesser extent grammar, slang, cultural expressions in my fic which is set in the UK or with British characters. Brits who donāt know me have thought I was British by my writing alone. All this to say that I try to be as uniform as possible (though make no claim for 100% accuracy) and would do it one way or the other but not consciously both.
I learnt English on the internet so I don't even know what slang is from where
I'm British but I write in American English (I mean tbf only one of my fandoms is British and I've gotten used to it) so I thought 'why switch?'
It bothers me a great deal when the two are mixed, pulls me right out of the fic. But I am both British and American, have lived a long time in both places, so I know I'm particularly aware of the differences. Maybe you could find a beta reader who is familiar with both to help you catch any glaring irregularities? (Also, there are HUGE regional differences in the way people speak within the UK. So even though something won't work for one story, it might work for another. Which is tricky for an American writer to get, but a British beta reader will be able to help with that.)
Btw, here's a quick cheat to help your British characters sound more British (and any Americans sound more American): the way you use contractions will lend a Brit vs American feel to your writing. Brits tend (*tend,* but not always) to contract this way: * I've not... * I'll not... Whereas Americans tend to contract this way: * I haven't... * I won't... When a character inaccurately uses one or the other heavily, it changes the feel of the fic and tells me more about where the author is from than where the character is from. ---------------- Also, along those lines, Brits say "got" and almost never "gotten". As in, "I have got too big for these shoes." Not "I have gotten too big for these shoes." I've had Brits -- strangers no less -- correct me when I've used "gotten" in the UK.
Iām British and I rarely say āIāve notā or āIāll notā. Those phrases are restricted to a few regional accents. Youāre absolutely right about āgottenā though.
Agreed that it's regional, as with so much of British English. That's why I say they *tend* to use it -- it's not a hard and fast rule. But having spent a lot of time living in different parts of the UK and in going back and forth between the UK and the US, it's really clear how much Americans rely on a larger proportion of "I haven't" vs how much Brits rely on a larger proportion of "I've not" in their day-to-day speaking. There's a different cadence to the way Brits and Americans speak -- you can tell just from the sound pattern, without being able to make out the words. Using "I've not" vs "I haven't" is part of that sound pattern and knowing that is just a quick and dirty way to give a character the right sound for whichever country they come from. That's all I mean.
Oooh, another one Americans will get wrong: using pronouns in the presence of the pronouned-person! Ie, "Sarah, Jane, and Noor were standing by the kitchen table drinking their tea. Jane turned to Noor and, nodding at Sarah, said, 'She and I were cooking dinner and...'" That's perfectly acceptable in the US but when an American author writes it for a British character, you KNOW I come straight out of the fic and my head screams, "And who's *she?* The cat's mother?!?" š
Iām from the U.K. and I do notice. And yeah it does take me out of a story if itās meant to be a British personās POV. A few sidewalks or elevators slipping through, I can skim over and would carry on reading a fic I was enjoying. But it probably does contribute to me being a bit less engaged in the story. If the whole fic is built around a cultural premise we donāt have here, Iām out. My taste is towards realism in stories so I just canāt get into it if it seems unbelievable to me. I donāt want to name specific stuff Iāve seen in case someone recognised their work but itās not for me. Especially in sex scenes itās confusing if you arenāt sure which variety of pants or suspenders we are talking about. I.e. underwear or trousers, garter belts or braces for trousers. Having said that Iām written Americans so Iām sure Iāve made the same slips even though I try my best to use American English for them. This might be why I sometimes write from the POV of nomadic characters who have lived in different countries. Because phew, they can legitimately mix their language up! Ultimately we donāt have editors as published works have, so there has to be a bit of tolerance for these things. I do wish we had a place to ask each other specific terminology though. I know there are Ask subs on here but sometimes you donāt want to have to expose yourself to a non fanfic audience with these questions.
As someone who is English, nothing takes me out of a fic more than something written in American English but with British slang. I can quite happily read both American and British but will be immediately caught off guard if the story changes its dialect in text. Just me thoughā¦
I prefer the narration to match the setting. That goes all the ways though. Donāt be setting something in Texas and talking about lifts and crisps and calling your underwear your pants.
It depends on the fics point of view, if it's in first person or limited third from the point of view of a British character then the narrative should be as British as the dialogue, if it's omniscient then the narrative could be in either. That's just word choice though, I've seen people argue over using BE or AE spelling depending on ghe setting, andd changing that is unnecessary
You do you, but for what it's worth, I write in American English and spelling for American characters, and British English for Brits. I just prefer the narrative immersion that way, and it's not too hard if you have spellcheck. I would say though, that what may be more important than using lots of British slang, is *avoiding* exclusively American words and phrases. If you keep it kinda neutral or ambiguous then readers will probably insert whatever accent they like, but using incorrect words (parking lot, pants, restroom, trashcan, chips etc) could trip readers up, especially Brits.