I’m back. Sorry for the delay. I’ve been busy writing two books and that takes loads of time. I wanted to share with you how I worked through the last few hurdles toward publication.
After months of revisions, beta reader input, Italian speaker reviews on language, and hundreds of edits, my manuscript was finally ready for a proofread. I was excited that I’d hit the deadlines and all systems were go. I sent my manuscript to the proofreader thinking: I’m done. It’s done!
NOPE. Dead stop. NOPE.
When I got the first pass back from the proofreader, she noted problems with the broken English/ Italianate. The edits I thought would take a week to clear took an extra three weeks!
Panic mode in full effect!
Since some of my characters were immigrants from Italy, it was important for me to write their dialog exactly how they sounded. I remembered how my uncles used to speak and tried to emulate those sounds. I wanted the reader to get an authentic feel for how the characters spoke, so I adapted a form of broken language into their dialog. I needed to be consistent and, because my main character’s love interest learned English overtime during the book, I had to find ways where I could ebb back his heavy dialect at certain benchmarks in the story.
This was no easy task. Basically, I had to create my own language, be consistent with most of the characters throughout and make small changes of mastery for my main character. I didn’t want the narrative to sound so heavy with dialect that it held up the reader. I had to find a middle ground.
So, I did research. I watched YouTube videos and really listened to how Italian speakers pronounce words in English. I learned the th sound is the hardest for native Italian speakers to master. I applied what I could and devised a way forward.
What I’ve learned so far:
Broken language can be a catch-22 for writers. We want the dialogue to feel genuine, but we also don’t want heavy dialect to pull readers out of the story. It is a very fine line. Critics say consistency is key; others say reader enjoyment is key. The truth is balance is key.
Whew… Glad that’s all done now.
Bottom line: Be true to your characters. Write about how they look, the way they act, and the way they actually speak.