: Re: First Person Voice - Same as speaking? When writing in first person, if the POV character talks with a certain dialect or type of diction (eg. "I ain't got all day! Hurry it up, will ya?")

@Sent2472441

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Elmore Leonard's seventh rule of writing:

Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Once you start spelling words
in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apos­trophes, you
won't be able to stop.

If your book were intended to be spoken by an actor then it would not include non-standard grammar or contractions. It is understood in theatre and film that the written script is a blueprint and it is up to the actor and a dialogue coach (if necessary) to inflect and add a specific accent.

Having said that voice has a flavour even without the use of non-standard punctuation. If you ask a UK Politician how his journey to work was he might reply:

"The blasted underground was closed between Pimlico and King's Cross,
had to use the bally bus service. Most monstrous inconvenience you can
imagine."

If you asked a cleaner in the House of Commons a less-educated chap from the East End he might reply.

"Got stuck on the tube, didn't I? I tell you what, these jokers might
run the country but they can't manage to run the bloody trains, know
what I mean?"

Just the response they give and the way they use language communicates the differences in attitude plainly without recourse to extra apostrophes and patois.

EDIT: Disclaimer: I don't necessarily agree with Leonard and don't think this advice is universal. But in 99 cases out of 100 it will be. If you have some special reason for breaking this rule then do so. But you probably don't so...

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