Rae has no idea what she is getting herself into or that her family’s past is going to come back and taunt her. She learns she is part of an unparalleled group of individuals who become marked with a unique tattoo (tatù) on their sixteenth birthday. The tatù enables them to have supernatural powers particular to the shape of their marking.
Both her parents were marked though Rae never knew, as they passed away when she was young and never told her. Learning about her family’s past, her evil father and sacrificial mother, Rae needs to decide if there is a ray of hope for her own life.
Lies and secrets are everywhere, and a betrayal cuts Rae deeply. Among her conflicts and enemies, it appears as if her father is reaching out from beyond the grave to ruin her life. With no one to trust, Rae doesn’t know where or who to turn to for help.
Has her destiny been written? Or will she becomes the one thing she hates the most-- her father’s prodigy?
Writing an Accent
One of the best thing when
watching a movie (for me) is listening to an actor or actress pick up an accent
that you know is not their native tongue. Listening to an American pick up a
Scottish accent and pull it off, or an Englishman speak with a North American
accent without flipping back to their normal dialect is beyond me.
Sure, I can fake the accent for a
few words but then I switch back to what is easiest, that requires no
thinking. It’s hard. I’m Canadian and in
grade school (and high school) French was a requirement. Learning to speak French was not easy for
me. My accent stank and the goal was
to learn how to think in French and parlez en francais. I sucked.
Now as a writer, not all my
characters speak “Canadian” or “American”.
The Chronicles of Kerrigan series is set in England with only one
American (who’s born in the UK so she’s still got a bit of Brit in her). So how do you show the accents without taking
away from the story or messing with the reader’s head?
It’s harder than it looks. The
key is to make is so smooth and simple that you don’t even notice it. You can’t start and then switch back to
what’s easy. You need to be consistent. I choose to focus on British wording
instead of American – instead of Soccer, I used ‘football/footie’, for garbage
I used bin, etc… My focus was not so much on showing the accent s in how the
words were written, but more in how the characters spoke.
In another series I am currently
writing, one of the main characters is Scottish and the rest are American. Here
I chose to write the accent, cutting letters or enunciating certain syllables a
Scottish accent would exemplify. My
husband is from England so I bugged (or was it begged) him to “fake” a Scottish
accent. I watched movies/TV and the best – a documentary on the history of
Scotland. I made a list of words that were consistently spoken which my ears
picked up as different. I tried to write a sentence in “American” English and
then “Scottish” English and compared.
Then I took ten keys words I felt would have the biggest impact and made
sure they were shown. For example, a
Scotsman would say ‘yer’ instead of ‘you’.
It seems to be working. As I edit
chapters and reread sections, I pick up on my wee Scotsman and like the way his
voice seems to dance while he speaks. Now I hope the reader can pick up on it
as well.
I’m curious to hear what other
writers and readers would suggest on picking up an accent and using it
effectively in a story. What’s your
secret?
About the Author:
Wanita May grew up in the fruit
belt of Ontario - St.Catharines. Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a
vivid imagination and loads of energy.
The youngest of six -- four older
brothers, and a sister -- taught her at a young age to be competitive in all
aspects of life.
At sixteen, she began competing
in athletics (track and field) and before she turned seventeen, she was
representing Canada in high jump. She continued to compete, breaking Canada's
JR High Jump record (1.92m - 6' 3 1/2" for those metric-ly challenged).
She attented University of Toronto, and Kansas State University - winning
CIAU's and becoming All-American 6x - NCAA Indoors Runner Up + more.
But you're not interested in her
athletic career - unless of course you're curious to know she stands 1.70m (5'7")
and has jumped 20cm over her head on more than one occasion. She's represented
Canada at the World Championships, World Jrs., won Francophone Games, and loved
every minute of every competition. From the grueling workouts, the crazy
weights she lifted on her back, the days she thought her lungs were going to
spit out of her mouth for lack of oxygen, the travelling around the world and
the opportunity to read - her favourite past time.
Wanita and her husband now run an
online business, dealing in antiques and collectables - particularly jewelry
and porcelain.
After her father passed away in
2009, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the
fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but
realized life was too short to keep putting it off.
She is currently represented by
Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Wanita is a writer of Young Adult,
Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.
Twitter: @wanitajump
Thanks for letting me stop by and for sharing The Chronicles of Kerrigan!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
WJ May
Here's an idea I heard from a Scottish crime writer: listen via the internet to radio phone-in shows for the country/region your character is from. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it does seem like a really god idea.
ReplyDeleteI've recently published a novel set in New York, with just two English characters in it - all the rest are New Yorkers. It's too early to tell how many things I got right and how many I got wrong!
(I'm English, btw)
Eva Hudson
Eva! Great suggestion! I was watching the history channel and pbs to get some clues - but radio would be so much better - more natural (lol and up to date!)
ReplyDeleteA fellow Canuck! Hello, WJ!
ReplyDeleteI've written for a multi-national set of characters; my main characters are an American and a Brit, but also characters from Ireland, Greece, Israel, and throughout the Middle East. I think part of capturing their voice with authenticity is exposing oneself to the sound of those nationalities through television, radio, and going for the linguistic nuances.