A question to readers... · 12:46am Feb 4th, 2016
I have a couple of quick questions; firstly, what is ya'll's opinion on our resident seller of apples and apple products? More specifically, on her accent. In the show Applejack is depicted with a southern, Appalachian accent, with a lot of "ya'll"s and "howdy"s and "sugercube"s. In a visual or auditory format such as a video or radio play, it's pretty easy to get such an accent across. Much harder in a written medium such as a comic or fanfiction.
This is how I currently write AJ's accents; "Howdy sugercube, Ah am jus' plum tickled that ya'll would visit us here at Sweet Apple Acres!" I'm pretty satisfied with everything in that sentence except one thing, the way she says "I". Writing it this way can be a bit of a hassle, and I want to know if anyone has any opinion on how her accent sounds best. Do I keep writing "I" as "Ah", or is it better to stick to the grammatically correct way and let the reader determine on their own what her accent sounds like?
Second question: I have been inserting links to various soundtracks, theme songs, and other related YouTube videos in various places in my stories in an attempt to help set the mood and tone of what's happening in the story. Does anyone actually click on those? Are they a distraction, or a help in reading a story? Can you even tell when someone inserts a link like so? Give me your thoughts and opinions, as I attempt to hone my writing style and work to publish more chapters.
You should write AJ's dialect with "Ah" instead of "I."