: How do I know what language is period-appropriate? I write fiction set in 18th-century England and America. Obviously, they speak English, and equally obviously, they speak it very differently

I write fiction set in 18th-century England and America. Obviously, they speak English, and equally obviously, they speak it very differently than we do today. For example, I need to know which contractions were common, which were rarely used, and which were not in use yet.

How do I know how to get the language correct and accurate? What kind of resources and reference material will be helpful here?

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@Tiffany377

Just start reading. Type in the words "18th century novels" in ye olde google machine, and you'll get quite a passel of novels: Moll Flanders (which I do dearly love), Robinson Crusoe and so on. There's also quite a good list at good reads... Many of them are available for free online. Once you have your titles, do a search for a PDF of each. Then take notes. If you don't want to read whole novels, scan for dialogue and go from there.

The conversational style of dialogue can be found in these novels and are a great model.

But you could do with reading Common Sense, and some founding father literature, including Ben Franklin's stuff. I like his Silence Dogood letters. They have a conversational tone, though they are letters, but if anyone writes a letter in your novel, the habit of weird capitalization was a thing back then...Plus, it's letters to the editor Ben Franklin wrote as a character which is super interesting.

Reading this stuff will help far more than a dictionary of commonly used words would, because you can note tone and structure.

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: How do I know what language is period-appropriate? I write fiction set in 18th-century England and America. Obviously, they speak English, and equally obviously, they speak it very differently

More posts by @Michele605

: How do I cover many years with little activity without it feeling rushed? In a story that I am writing, due to some time travel issues, the protagonists will have to wait a number of years

: How to deal with seriously ill characters and what type of illness should I give them My heroine is seriously ill with something that can sooner or later take her life away at any moment.

: I like this idea. I was actually planning to use a similar technique in one of my own stories at once point. To address the bullet points in your question: It may be jarring to the

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