: Re: Dialect resources for early/mid 20th Century Midwestern American speech I'm setting the book I'm writing in the 1900s ~ 1950s, in the central states of the US: Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and

@Goswami879

Writing accurate dialogue for a time period other than the one you live in can be particularly challenging. Here's how I would approach it.

Read literature and novels written during the 1920's or set in the 1920's. The best way to know how people talked is to read books written during or set within your target time period. For your specific query, off the top of my head I'd recommend you read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, a novel about the Dust Bowl set in the 30's.

Watch movies set in the 20's. To see if the dialogue you want to put in your book flows, listen to actors say it out loud, in context! Here is a blog post I found listing user-recommended movies set in the 20's that are useful for modeling your dialogue.

Research 1920's slang, and the 20's themselves. One Google search got me here, to a page full of 20's slang. A few results down here is slang used by 20's and 30's flappers. Here is a Wikipedia page all about the Roaring Twenties.

And, of course, when you think you've crafted accurate dialogue, have someone read it. If they think it sounds awkward or inaccurate, change things up, and try again. Writing is sometimes a trial and error process.

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