by brian bennett
Member since:
September 12, 2009

Gather Wednesday Writing Essential, 03/30/11 Use 'em if ya got 'em!

March 30, 2011 07:58 PM UTC (Updated: March 30, 2011 08:04 PM UTC)
views: 0 | 10 people recommend this | comments: 53

 

Colloquialisms; every writer is told to “stay away” from them. Yet some of the most incredible novels ever written have a lot of colloquial writing in them. From the venerable Mark Twain to the more recent Steven King this dreaded language style inhabits tales that seem to crank you in and pull you along in so many ways. I am interested this week in your own “colloquial” styles and what kind of language or sayings you grew up with. What do you have to overcome to write in an “accepted” style? What plagues you in your personal writings?

 

Please respond by Wednesday April the 6th, use GWWE in the title and tag it with Colloquial.

 

I had a lot of nice responses to last weeks post!

Super Moon - New Horizons - GWWE - Wednesday Writing Essentials - Gather Writing Essentials

Evolution of a Story (Wednesday Writing Essentials)

Wednesday Writing Essentials: Darkness comes

Is there life out there? (Gather, Wednesday Writing Essential, March 23rd, 2011)

The Confession - GWWE - New Horizons

On Imagery (Wednesday Writing Essential)

 

These authors all took a chance and wrote “outside the box” of their comfort zones so take a look and remember to hit the “recommend” button if you like it!

Comments: 53

Lynn P. Mar 30, 2011, 10:05pm UTC
54 years of struggling to avoid all my telltale signs and you want me to break loose? Not problem. ;)
brian bennett Mar 31, 2011, 8:28am UTC
Hey lets just say it's cathartic!
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 12:19pm UTC
My Dad's from upstate NY, but I've never lived there. I ended up with his accent years longer then he kept it. Plus, growing up in South Jersey, I picked up a bastardized form of the Philly accent. No one noticed, until we moved, but then everyone kept asking (and still do), "Where are you from?" No one believed me, when I told them. Add to that, I picked up all the accents from the different moves, giving me a nice combination of Philly-speak with the no-accent of Illinois, the nasally upstate sound and an occasional "y'all" tossed in. Thirty years to remove them all, but I still think (and write sometimes) with all of it. (I just found out another word I write that is as different as an old favorite - "alls." As in "Alls I want to do is....")

Cathartic? Hell, I'm letting my freak flag fly! Yippee, y'all/you guys! ;)
Lynn P. Apr 2, 2011, 2:33am UTC
I have since learned I was confusing accents/dialect with colloquialisms. So, anyone else confused, don't count the above comment as anything related to the prompt. lol
Kathryn Flynn Mar 30, 2011, 11:26pm UTC
l always use colloquialisms. Gotta keep up with the langwage n how it changes, ya knows?
brian bennett Mar 31, 2011, 8:28am UTC
OMG Fur Sure!!!
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Mar 31, 2011, 3:09am UTC
I know writers are told to avoid cliche, but didn't realize that extended to colloquialisms, too. I like them. I think they flavor the meat and color the cheeks of a story.

Yes?

btw, sidn't get a teaser in my mailbox to alert me to this column.
brian bennett Mar 31, 2011, 8:30am UTC
No, being half asleep yesterday, I failed to feature and to send the email out. Greg was kind enough to feature my column, for which I thanked him...right now the email is trying to time out...and I am leaving it alone lest I send out a bajillion copies.
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Mar 31, 2011, 9:35am UTC
It takes 21 days (at least) to form a habit. How long you been editor here? ;-)
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Mar 31, 2011, 9:36am UTC
Wait a minute. I think it IS NOT 21 days, but maybe it has been. I was attempting to get you off the hook for not sending out a peep to GWE members.

I'd better return to my morning routine.
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 12:01pm UTC
Suz,
Ite! S'ok ta add sum colloquialisms inza writin'. But 'membah how tuff itzta read? 'magin' turdy tree pagez ov dis kinda wurdin'! Makja wanna trow upz, huh?

So, nowadays, they say, "Toss in a hint, and let the readers figure it out on their own." ;)

(Translation can be provided, if you need it. lol)
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 12:05pm UTC
Susan, You got him off the hook. You're right about 21 days, but it's supposed to be 21 days in a row. "Once a week" is tossing habit building out the window. I've been reading the responses to the prompts for months now and still forget to click "recommend." ;)
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Mar 31, 2011, 1:14pm UTC
Lynn, what you wrote above-above I would consider dialect not colloquialism. To me, colloquial phrases are knee high to a grasshopper and I'm fixin' to go to the store in a minute.
Kimberly Blackadar Mar 31, 2011, 2:31pm UTC
And slang for fixin' is fittin'. I learned that when I taught in Kentucky. ;)
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 3:01pm UTC
Ohhhhh, yeah. You're right. Although, from the way folks talk around here it's hard to tell. Is "Ite. We're goin' donna shore" colloquialism or dialect?
brian bennett Mar 31, 2011, 4:46pm UTC
and when your playin' bones (IE:Dominos) its not 15 its FIDEEEEN!!!! By the way, It wasn't a habit problem, it was recovering from a 23 hour marathon drive back from Missouri to Pennsylvania...I am getting to old for that crap, takes way to long to recover these days!
Lynn P. Apr 2, 2011, 2:38am UTC
My Dad was a nonstopper, too. We really did move from South Jersey to Illinois, and we really did have family in VA. The first trip took 14 hours, the second 16. Each year, we'd also drive to Canada to go fishing - another 10 hour trip. Frankly, I was too old for that crap at 14. Can't imagine doing it now. And people think there is nothing good about becoming disabled. That's one good thing - we can no longer drive past 90 minutes. lol

I feel for you, Brian. I suspect you're not quite done recovering yet. Try to avoid that again. ;)
brian bennett Apr 3, 2011, 8:40am UTC
yes well everything is here now so no I won't be doing it again...I swear the next time I travel its gonna be in a self sustained Motor-home with its own power supply for the A/C!
Robert - just a simple man - B. Mar 31, 2011, 8:55am UTC
My colloquialism, is Stephen King. We were venerable neighbors for a couple of decades. Met him a couple of times in school (No, i didn't go to school with him - I'm not that old; he visited).
Kimberly Blackadar Mar 31, 2011, 8:59am UTC
Brian, I am up for the challenge and will add to the MWE story with some fine southern colloquialisms.
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 12:21pm UTC
Hold on. Are Floridians allowed to do southern accents? ;)
Kimberly Blackadar Mar 31, 2011, 12:50pm UTC
Heck, yeah! We're as southern as it gets in the U.S. ;)
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Mar 31, 2011, 1:16pm UTC
Seriously, I thought Florida wasn't really Deep South in part because of all the AARP citizens who live there who hail from the North.

But I haven't been in a lot of Florida nor do I know many people from that state. Do you, Kimberly, align yourself with the Deep South?
Kimberly Blackadar Mar 31, 2011, 2:29pm UTC
It's not, Susan. When I said, We're as southern as it gets in the U.S., I was speaking geographically. ;)

I don't think of Florida as part of the Deep South at all, but the Panhandle is pretty much Southern Georgia. Central Florida is a melting pot, and that is where I grew up, Susan.
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 3:05pm UTC
Kimberly, then I have to ask - when you're talking to a group of others, which form of "you" do you use? Y'all? You guys? Youse? The weird one - you? Or do you have your own version? lol
Kimberly Blackadar Mar 31, 2011, 3:41pm UTC
Well, "y'all" might slip out on occassion, but boring old "you" works for me.
Dotti P. Mar 31, 2011, 9:12am UTC
Thank You for sharing
Elsie Duggan Mar 31, 2011, 11:23am UTC
I've had so many of them used in my life, I think I am full of them:) , thanks Brian , love, Elsie
lynn a. Mar 31, 2011, 11:54am UTC
Writing without colloquialisms is like trying to see a tree with no of color. Something is lost, the essence escapes. But, heck, I'm not a professional writer so feel a freedom to let me be.
lynn a. Mar 31, 2011, 11:55am UTC
Seriously though, this is good to think about and guidelines do tend to help with anything we do.
Dianna Doles-Petry Apr 1, 2011, 12:01am UTC
I like this comment very much. I totally agree!
brian bennett Apr 3, 2011, 8:43am UTC
To me, there is a time and a place for everything. Say you use some colloquialisms in your writing, that's fine but you never want to overwhelm your readers with it. If they have to google every other sentence to figure out what you are saying, they aren't going to read much past the first chapter or two...
Amber Nelson Mar 31, 2011, 12:40pm UTC
This type of thing hasn't bothered me as a freelance writer. Colloquialisms....
Angela A. Mar 31, 2011, 2:39pm UTC
I will have to go look up the definition and examples for Colloquialisms. I sort of understand, but as a very detail oriented person, having it in front of me helps.
I will set out to work on this one soon.
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 3:07pm UTC
Angela, helpful hint. Ignore what I wrote above. I mistook dialect for colloquialism. Now I have to reorient myself. ;)
Angela A. Mar 31, 2011, 3:47pm UTC
That's okay. I looked it up, and wrote down some examples.
Lynn P. Apr 2, 2011, 2:40am UTC
I had to look it up to. You wrote down a couple of examples? I coped and pasted 18 pages - just the ones I knew. I looked it up on wiki and still got confused. lol
Angela A. Apr 2, 2011, 2:46pm UTC
Ha, ha. Yes, I wrote some examples, from a great website...
I looked it up using the Swagbucks search engine.
brian bennett Apr 3, 2011, 8:45am UTC
Gee I guess if the Wednesday editor had been on the ball he would have given you some fine blue linked examples to follow...LOL...
brian bennett Apr 3, 2011, 8:46am UTC
Like This
Angela A. Apr 3, 2011, 6:35pm UTC
Well, you're awesome Brian, anyway. So, thanks.
norm hinderliter Mar 31, 2011, 2:48pm UTC
Brian, dont feel bad about having an "off-week" Take my nutty self, for example.

I was supposed to call two phone numbers, today, and visit a doctors office, TODAY.

I had such a weird week that I went to my appointment, and made my calls, YESTERDAY.

To say that I was embarrassed would be the king of understatements.

As for writing, I know I am "evil" to say this, but I just write what I "feel". Grammar, Punctuation, etc. If they fall into place, GREAT! If they dont, no big deal.

I just write to express myself.
Lynn P. Mar 31, 2011, 3:06pm UTC
Norm, oh, thank you! Nice to know I'm not the only person to show up early - 24 hours early - for appointments.
brian bennett Mar 31, 2011, 4:50pm UTC
Its better than showing up 24 hours late...and my writing sort of flows out all at once, i go back and clean it up later. Plus I have my grammar and spell check settings up near the highest levels so that I get a lot of pointers from my word processor as well...its irritating sometimes because it brings up things I have to go look up in my English 101/102 texts!
Bernard C. Mar 31, 2011, 7:46pm UTC
Thanks for sharing :-)
Alison H. Mar 31, 2011, 9:40pm UTC
Being from the Midwestern U.S., I grew up with many cliches...and now I love playing with them! Funny, moving to Washington State, I met a lot of Midwestern transplants. And the accent is not that different here. You can hear a lot of Scandinavian-isms, since there are a lot of Scandi descendants, but you can in Minnesota, too.
brian bennett Apr 3, 2011, 8:14am UTC
I am a transplant from Arizona to Pennsylvania, and i can hear the Penn-Dutch in the local speech here quite plainly at times.
Barbary Chaapel Apr 1, 2011, 3:21am UTC
Hey, to you, Brian.

Oh, how I love to listen to anyone, everyone talk their talk.

I just thought of one we used when I was a child - Now don't be dumbing around!
Allen H. Apr 1, 2011, 4:05pm UTC
Colloquialisms? What are they?
Something like this perhaps?
Hm. Brings to mind all of the things my Dad or pastor used to say...
I may be able to do this "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise...."
Oh, and "Hey, everybody!" suits me just fine. ;)
Sheila Deeth Apr 6, 2011, 8:24pm UTC
I just read a book with some great dialect and colloquialisms--Heaven Sent. I thought I'd struggle with the words but the voice became real and I loved the story.
Angela A. Jun 19, 2011, 7:01pm UTC
Don't know if I showed you that I wrote a post for this prompt.
So, here's the link just in case: Colloquialstyles

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