[michele-hollow Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

My story takes place in the early 1800s in England. The language was a lot different back then. I want to update the dialogue for today's MG readers. I'll avoid expressions that are common today, but I don't want to make this sound dry or archaic. What do you think? Thanks!

[Melody Posts: 522 Status: Offline WWW]

Sounds like a good plan. If you use generic English and avoid modern slangs and references, you should be fine.

[michele-hollow Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thanks, Melody.
A friend of mine said, "If she checks her Snapchat account on iPhone you may have gone too far. Just saying...."

[Trine Posts: 123 Status: Offline WWW]

 

[David Wright Posts: 942 Status: Offline Tell me that again.]

There are some old expressions that don't sound old. E.g. you could unfriend someone in the 1600s, find something funky, and trick out a ride too.

Plus there are a lot of expressions that only people over 30 know, like kitty-corner   --  which is archaic to the kids  :paperbag

Have fun with it

[michele-hollow Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Very cool, David. And thanks, everyone!

[rose-phillips Posts: 5 Status: Offline @rosephilipsya WWW]

Michelle,

If you haven't already done so, you might want to read YA in that genre. There's a good list here: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Nineteenth-Century-Europe-YA.html but I'm sure you can find many just through a Google search. Even reading excerpts will give you a sense of different ways to handle it.

[carrots Posts: 551 Status: Offline]

I'd embrace some of the language of the early 1800s (or, at least, I wouldn't run from it), especially if the story has humor!

Right now, my son and I are reading a fantastic MG, My Near-Death Adventures by Alison DeCamp. There's nothing like the terminology of an 1895 logging camp to bend us in half with laughter.

Best wishes with however you decide to handle it, Michelle.

 

[austen Posts: 190 Status: Offline Patience is everything.--Rilke]

If you're a language nerd like I am, you might like http://www.etymonline.com/
When I was working on a historical set in the early 1800s, I would look there to check the date on when  words I used came into the dictionary. It was nice way to avoid using modern expressions without knowing it. It sounds like you have a good plan to make sure the dialogue is still accessible to modern readers.

[Dionna Posts: 1,285 Status: Offline I love all things kidlit! WWW]

You could watch movies set in 1800 England...for research.

[Marcia Posts: 474 Status: Offline Never Too Late To Be What You Were Meant to Be WWW]

Sites such as dictionary dot com, usually show the origin and time period of a word, helps prevent you from using a word that's too new or too old. I just put in the word whereabout which comes up as 1250-1300; Middle English.

[Long Hair Posts: 20 Status: Offline Please forgive typos. My cat is on the keyboard.]

I'm coming in a little late on this one, but I love the thread.  Another area of research that could be useful is reading personal narratives from the time period.  You will probably have to update the language a bit, but it could be helpful, and quite fun.  At least for me, which has nothing to do with me being a history geek.

[Vijaya Posts: 7,320 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

"If she checks her Snapchat account on iPhone you may have gone too far. Just saying...."

I'd embrace some of the language of the early 1800s (or, at least, I wouldn't run from it), especially if the story has humor!

Right now, my son and I are reading a fantastic MG, My Near-Death Adventures by Alison DeCamp. There's nothing like the terminology of an 1895 logging camp to bend us in half with laughter.

Thanks for the laughs.

I have nothing else to add except to agree with the others. I also think a little bit of flavor goes a long way.

[michele-hollow Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thanks everyone! I just finished the second draft. It's with two writer friends. And then, more rewrites. The good thing is that I'm enjoying it.

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,255 Status: Offline WWW]

Thanks for those links, Austen and Marcia!