: Re: How realistic should dialogue and character voices be? I've heard a lot of conflicting suggestions in the past regarding dialogue, so I'm hoping I can get a solid answer here. Some people have

@Carla500

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Strike a balance. Your character who speaks in dialect uses different vocabulary, word order, grammar than the person who speaks in the Received Standard version of the language.

Non-Dialect American English: "Can I come see you tomorrow?"
British English: "Shall I knock you up?"
Brooklynese: "I'll come call f'you."

Only in the third one would I change the spelling, and that's to indicate the contraction of for you to the reader's ear. Focus more on the content than every slurred syllable or swallowed dipthong. Using "Oi!" instead of "Hey!" immediately indicates British, which primes your reader at least to assume that the character has some kind of British accent.

You can drop a few Gs (callin', sayin') because that's not too tiresome to read. A broad Southern accent can be represented with Boy, Ah say, boy, you're about as subtle as a hand grenade in a barrel'a oatmeal.

I would only use the ums and uhs when it's important to indicate stammering and stuttering, like your anxious character.

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