Writing Lister

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Sorry for posting so much on the group, but I have SO many questions.

So I'm still working on my "epic" and I've been going back and forth between writing Lister phonetically and not writing him phonetically. I want to be consistent throughout the fic and I can't decide which I prefer. Sometimes it just feels right writing Lister with an occasional dropped consonant and in' instead of ing. Other-times it feels... I dunno, forced? Maybe like I'm trying TOO hard to sound like Lister.

I know I've encountered both phonetic and non-phonetic Listers in my fanfic readings, and I was curious what everyone else thinks of it. Do you have a preference? Does it irritate you when you read, "smeggin' hell" instead of "smegging hell" or do you prefer it?

This has probably been discussed before, so I apologize if I'm dredging up a dead-horse to beat. :)

Comments

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Now I'm glad I posted this because what a lot of interesting comments and observations!

The whole classism thing never occurred to me before, but it's quite a fair point.

Also a very fair point to bring up how Lister's accent changed throughout the show too. I've started Red Dwarf over from the beginning again and Craig certainly plays him a bit differently in those early episodes. Series 1-2 Lister is sort of soft and fuzzy compared to later Listers.

I hadn't put too much phonetic dialogue in the story, but it was sprinkled here and there. I think I'm going to delete most of it and use it very smatteringly (That's not a word? too bad, I like the sound of it.) when I think it seems appropriate.

This fic grew from the tiniest little idea but it's turning into something of a monster. When I came up with the idea I never realized it was going to wind up being this long and difficult to write. These characters have completely invaded my brain though and I can't turn them out. Hopefully I can bring the whole thing to some sort of conclusion soon. :)

[kronette.livejournal.com]

Characters are evil. I had to forcibly eject them from my brain in order to focus on my sister's wedding and trip to Vegas, but now that that's done, I picked at the little Lloyd story to slowly get the brain back into characterization mode. I'm not ready to tackle the mess that has become Heroics part 2 and 3, but I have a feeling that in the back of my subconscious, the lads were working on fixing an ending for me.

I think sprinkled phonetic dialog is okay. As long as it sounds natural when you read it aloud, then it's perfectly fine. That's how I get around a lot of clunky dialog I'm stuck on - read it aloud and if you stumble over it, it's not right. :)