Posted by HH on July 04, 2009 at 17:58:11:
In Reply to: What about dialect in fiction? posted by Lori on July 02, 2009 at 19:41:17:
True, many books on writing say don't do it. They dialect went out with Mark Twain (You wants to keep 'way fum de water as much as you kin, en don't run no resk, 'kase it's down in de bills dat you's gwyne to git hung) and DH Lawrence (I've bin 'elpin' an' what's think he's gen me? Nowt b'r a lousy hae'f-crown, an' that's ivry penny).
But you do still see it in modern fiction from time to time, only modern writers don't attempt to reproduce the dialect so accurately or so extensively. For example, "Aw shucks, it tain't so ba-yad" does the job with the use of regional speech and just a touch of dialect.
Hope that helps.
: How does everybody feel about using dialect in fiction? I've heard never to do it.