: Re: Using colloquialisms the reader may not be familiar with I'm from Ireland, most of my stories take place in Ireland, and many of my characters will speak with Irish accents and/or dialects to

@Angie602

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Not much of an answer I'm afraid, but too much for a comment, IMHO:

One way to address this is to have one character who knows less than the audience. Meaning, if there is a character who doesn't know the colloquialisms and occasionally is confused and/or asks for clarification, then that would be a subtle way to help your readers understand better.

Of course it would help to have a solid motivation for that character to be in the story. If it's a detective story, for example, perhaps an American FBI agent is investigating related crimes committed in the USA and has come to Ireland to work with local law enforcement on their case. Even better might be a character who speaks English as a second language but otherwise has a compelling reason to be in the story. That gives you lots of opportunities to clarify almost anything you want to make sure doesn't go by the reader too quickly.

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