The Importance of Period- and Location-Specific Language
If you self-publish, the general process for producing a book remains the same wherever you are, but location does matter.
- Some online platforms aren’t available in some countries.
- ISBNs are free in some countries, but not in others.
- Differences in language are location- and period- specific.
Hen House Publishing has worked with clients from all over the world and spanning socioeconomic strata: a major Chinese media conglomerate, a Greek Supreme Court Lawyer, a disenchanted entrepreneur from Poland, and housekeeper from Texas. They all had different editing needs, including ensuring smooth translation of content from other languages into American English and preserving British, Canadian, Australian, and British English.
The question as to whether to use American English often arises, but there is no one right and true answer that satisfies every situation. The most practical advice I see is for the author to write for his or her audience. If you’re writing for a European audience, then adherence to British English would be recommended. If your main audience will be American readers (and/or Canadian readers), then sticking with American English generally serves the purpose.
(Different versions of English also have different standards in punctuation and spelling.)
Indeed, the issue isn’t whether to use a particular version of English, but whether the English used throughout the story is consistent. The digital age is quickly blurring the distinctions between versions of English.
Why Is Consistency Important?
Consistency establishes expectations. This holds true for genre tropes. The most obvious example of a consistent genre trope is that one hard rule held by romance: the “happily ever after” (HEA) or “happily for now” (HFN) conclusion to the story. Put simply, if the story doesn’t end on an HEA or HFN, then it’s not a romance. The voracious readers of romance know this and don’t appreciate having their expectations upset if the story ends in tragedy or ambiguity.
What Sayest Thou?
Consistency in language demonstrates an author’s linguistic skill, sense of period, and other nuances that either immerse readers into the story or jolt them from it. This particularly applies to historical fiction for which the author must blend modern language with period-accurate phrasing to enhance both comprehension and ease of “hearing” for the reader.
For instance, if you’re writing a Regency romance, neither the heroine nor her friend would rate prospective suitors on a scale of 1 to 10. That wasn’t a concept in the early 1800s, and readers may very well find using such a device jarring.
Here’s another, more recent example from the movie Back to the Future. When Marty McFly journeys 30 years into the past and meets his mother’s family back in the 1950s, he admits to having two televisions, something anachronistic for all but the wealthy in 1950s American society. Those differences between his contemporary 1980s cultural experiences and the 1950s middle class lifestyle prove jarring as he struggles to acclimate to his new 1950s circumstances. Not only does this happen with tangible objects, it also happens with language. Diet cola Tab didn’t exist then; neither did Pepsi® Free. A request for a sugar-free beverage results in a cup of black coffee.
Slips of the Tongue
In other cases, an author might not use the wrong word so much as he or she overuses a particular word. (This most often happens in translations to English from other languages.) For instance, “meal” might be used every time the protagonist eats, but “meal” doesn’t offer detail like “breakfast,” “lunch,” and “supper” do, because we associate breakfast with morning, lunch with midday, and supper with evening. Or perhaps the author uses a dialogue tag every time a character speaks, which isn’t necessary. Or an imperfect translation doesn’t recognize that an idiom in one language has no direct translation in another language. For instance, in French there is no translation for “homecoming.” A linguistic workaround is needed—and that’s something an editor can help you with.
For the author whose mind’s eye doesn’t see variations in language within the manuscript, professional sentence-level editing brings the objectivity that catches and corrects them. Hen House Publishing makes note of the author’s preference for language and incorporates it into editing, ensuring a consistent style throughout the story.
Is your manuscript ready for editing? Contact me to schedule a consultation and get your questions answered.
