Accents

[Enjorous]

So one of my MC's is from London and not the fun side of London. As such he has a rather thick accent, (think Tim Roth), I'm not sure exactly the best way to show it. In dialogue, with fun and crazy spelling, or should I pick the most iconic words and add them in dialogue tags?

Or another option I haven't yet thought of.

[comprex]

Or another option I haven't yet thought of.

This.    Do it in dialogue with syntax, word order, and expressions.    Do it in plot with general attitude, to life, institutions, people.

Otherwise it will read like you took a US character and decorated him with cliches from the "Too Stereotyped Even For EastEnders" bin.

Rule of thumb: make believe like your character doesn't want to be recognized for what he is.   He is trying -hard- and would very much avoid anything "iconic" because it is easy for him to know that it is a giveaway.   Only put in the stuff he does not, cannot know to avoid.

[Starbeam]

So one of my MC's is from London and not the fun side of London. As such he has a rather thick accent, (think Tim Roth), I'm not sure exactly the best way to show it. In dialogue, with fun and crazy spelling, or should I pick the most iconic words and add them in dialogue tags?

Or another option I haven't yet thought of.

Watch anything where Tim Roth uses his natural accent, if you're basing it off that.  I have one character essentially based on Jason Statham, and to get his cadence, I'll rewatch Snatch every so often.  For the most part, the only way you need to do anything odd is if he's got a cockney accent.  Also, I'd suggest watching the first 3 seasons of new Doctor Who-both those companions are from London-though one's a little lower class than the other.  I'd also suggest getting Street Magic by Caitlinn Kittredge as an example of going overboard.  About the only thing I can think of that you might misspell often would be "wot" instead of "what" although it's been about five years since I visited England, or actually spoke to my friends there.

[Snowleopard]

Too much dialect in your writing and people won't understand what the heck you're saying.
Once in awhile is good or in a limited form.

You could look at the Brian Jacques Redwall books.  His Moles speak a very heavily accented tongue and he uses it sparingly.
Sometimes I had no clue as to what some of the words were supposed to mean.

[Wordmaker]

My one bit of advice would be to avoid over-using phoenetic spellings to get across your accent. It can be really tricky to get it right rather than making it difficult to read.

[meg_evonne]

I agree with wordmaker.  The writers/editors who i've heard speak recommand staying away from phonetic dialect.  Of course there are exceptions to every rule. I mean faulkner and clemens.  

... Do it in plot with general attitude, to life, institutions, people.
...

Rule of thumb: make believe like your character doesn't want to be recognized for what he is.   He is trying -hard- and would very much avoid anything "iconic" because it is easy for him to know that it is a giveaway.   Only put in the stuff he does not, cannot know to avoid.

Read ian rankin.  Drips in calore laden dialect, and never a phoenetic short cut.  Ya he's. English, but its there. Everywhere.
I agree with comprex' entire statement, but especially with the above.  Good luck!

[mithrandirthewhite]

I never had a problem with thick accents in writing.  In fact, some of the jokes made about the accents in writing didnt make sense to me because I understood what the Scottish guy was saying.

[OZ]

I agree with most of the above. Too much phonetic spelling of words spoken with an accent and you will lose some of your readers. Simply telling the reader ( I know this goes against the old "show don't tell rule" ) that the person is speaking in a thick accent and then including a few words or phrases to remind them, is usually enough to get the idea across. For me personally, reading constantly misspelled words used to give the phonetic sense of the speakers accent is extremely annoying.

[Snowleopard]

I think I read a book somewhere where a character with a heavy accent was written at first
as having the accent and then further on in the book - the author stopped writing the character's accent obviously
assuming that having established it - he didn't need to continue doing it.

[davetheyogi]

I'm not an author or anything but I live in London, and not the fun part, and I think there maybe cause to add more phonetic spelling of your character's dialogue. If, for example, the story takes place in the UK you can assume that everyone understands each other and throw in the occasional 'nuffink' or 'bruv' for colour. However, if it takes place in most places in North America no one is likely to understand him anyway and confusing your readers, a little, maybe appropriate.
By the By... do you really think Tim Roth has a thick accent?

[comprex]

I'm not an author or anything but I live in London, and not the fun part, and I think there maybe cause to add more phonetic spelling of your character's dialogue. If, for example, the story takes place in the UK you can assume that everyone understands each other and throw in the occasional 'nuffink' or 'bruv' for colour. However, if it takes place in most places in North America no one is likely to understand him anyway and confusing your readers, a little, maybe appropriate.

Perhaps.    On the other hand, this specific character's, ah, career choices might make the "don't advertise your origins" rule of thumb go double.

By the By... do you really think Tim Roth has a thick accent?

No.   His overall sentence tone and his pitch accent are distinctive, but I would certainly not call his accent 'thick'.

[Enjorous]

By the By... do you really think Tim Roth has a thick accent?

No, not really. But he's the closest actor I can think of with the right sounding accent.

[davetheyogi]

Watch 'The Football Factory' for a strong London accent.
Well... don't watch it all.

[meg_evonne]

I have a friend from mediabistro class who has her masters in folklore lit and writing. She does the most amazing historical accents that drop you right into the scene. I love her writing and I love the flavor her writing presents. It completely draws you into her work. (this is MG/YA) On the other hand, she's studied the stuff.  So it can be done, but I think for most of us
 caution would be best.

[Curly]

Rule of thumb: make believe like your character doesn't want to be recognized for what he is.   He is trying -hard- and would very much avoid anything "iconic" because it is easy for him to know that it is a giveaway.   Only put in the stuff he does not, cannot know to avoid.

I'd second that wholeheartedly. In real life, people tone down their accents when in a foreign land because they want to be understood. Especially in the US, as any English native who watches television has a good idea of how Americans speak -or rather how they don't speak.