Hey, new people! Welcome, welcome! And thanks everyone for the advice; it's helped a lot in figuring out my story!
demoiselle; wrote:question;
i've been having some trouble writing dialogue for my story.
it's kind of set in the 19th century, in some weird east asia/japan inspired country.
i don't know how to set the tone with the dialogue and how to have the people converse with each other?
they're supposed to be uneducated peasants/etc. who bicker on the streets, but
i feel like it'll ruin the old-timey mood of the story if i make them use modern slang.
at the same time, however, i can't have them using long, fancy words.
help?
I think a lot of old-timey stories use more formal or proper speech, even if the words themselves are short. Maybe try to make dialogue where the bickering is with a simpler vocabulary but still with the same patterns as most old-fashioned tales. Alternatively, you could try to to use 19th century slang (of which there are some examples in older literature). However, if the country is asia-inspired, Western slang might not make as much sense... all up to you!
