March 30th, 2008

Deanna said:

I’ve only read your first chapter so far, and it was enjoyable after the first few pages. The dialogue was a little hard to follow and the modern colloquialisms confused the medievalish style. Other than that, though, I really liked it and can’t wait to read more!

Interesting! Deanna, thanks for your comment :) I admit that I did try to work some modern slang syntax into the talk around the bonfire. I also and equally admit that I never thought of my style as medievalish; it makes me grin.

I’ve immersed myself in old ballads and lots of Scots and English dialect, besides Gaelic, and they did speak words strongly in medieval times. So I feel a link with the past through old dialect, and perhaps that spurred me into capturing some bits and pieces of modern speech, too.

When one reads the really old literature in English, namely the Sword Plays and the Robin Hood ballads, you get a taste (if one can understand all the words used) of people who didn’t speak nearly so far off from us today as we might think. In the Tale of Young Gamlyn (a Robin Hood lay without Robin Hood) I vividly remember how rough and interesting the word choice was. This means that the lower classes did not speak in flowery language.

Also, there’s a fine wee song about a little known character of the old ballads going wooing. Most of the words in it are dialect, and I can hardly make them out—but it’s in surprisingly familiar syntax. We’re not so far removed from our ancestors.

This is why I don’t mind including some modern feeling in my word choice and syntax.

However, I try hard to make my writing feel old. I think about which words are sensed best in which places. I especially try to avoid words in English that come from Latin, because it convolutes the style since Latin words were only added to English relatively recently and do not feel authentic. But I do use some if I feel it makes a splash. It’s a mental game. And it’s a game that I don’t play alone—I’m always asking God’s assistance. Sometimes I just can’t write until I’ve set everything right between God and I.

Speaking again of medieval times … Once you push the shining knights and glittering ladies off the Middle Ages, and see the real people below, you realize what has changed, and what has not—and there is a lot of interestin’ things there. So, I hope you enjoy my medievalish style … and thanks for signing up for the mailing list. I hope you enjoy the second chapter!