Sam

[sophinisba]

I'm concerned that Sam is being neglected in my hobbit fics and suspect it's because I don't know how to write him or am scared to write him, and I need practice. Please to be commenting with prompts involving Sam, which I may or may not answer in comments or in new posts or, um, something. Also please share any thoughts or helpful hints about how he can be written well.

Comments

[gloryunderhill.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything here and your character outline is outstanding. But I do take pause at this...

Don't try to write his dialect if you don't know it inside and out.

I think the only way to come to know something inside and out is to try it. If you get it wrong, it is certainly not the end of the world and you will have learned along the way. Heck, Sean Astin didn't have the accent down perfect and he had a coach, but he made a very convincing Sam nonetheless. I say go for it, try the dialect (even if you butcher it)...do a little research, look stuff up in the books, play with it...have fun. But never be afraid to try! And of all the places in this world where you'll get kudos and support when you try, the LJ Hobbit fandom is one of the safest places to screw up!

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

You have a good point. Certainly, such things must be attempted if one wishes to do them. However, this remark was made in response to someone asking for pointers on how to write Sam well, who seemed nervous about doing so. Therefore, the advice about the dialect was given as a way to try to remove that as a prerequisite for writing Sam. I have seen many writers agonize over it when perhaps it's not necessary to write a special dialect, at all. I cannot say that I made either point as well as I could have, as I have been short on time, sleep and eyes, lately.

To my mind, there's a difference also between hearing dialect and seeing it written out. I know that Sean Astin didn't get it completely, though he did a very decent job for an American, I think, and I adored his performance. (I am American, and I grew up in the area they were trying to emulate. I always had trouble translating it from the ear to the mouth. :) ) Going off on a technical and geeky tangent, they gave Astin the wrong accent for Sam, as they chose a Westcountry one when it actually should have been moved closer to the Midlands, specifically Warwickshire and/or the Severn Valley of the early twentieth century. (The way Tolkien wrote him, though, I always heard him the way our Devonshire gardener spoke, with a few exceptions.) The speech of this area is tinged with all sorts of influences and virtually impossible for an American to emulate. The Westcountry accent is tough but possible for an American to do, as that's about where the underlying 'standard' American accent originated. Of all the possible English regionalisms, Astin's native speech most closely resembles that accent, so it was a wise choice that best fit the needs of the movie and the actor.

It's a hard thing to write dialect well, and one that can be an obstacle to any writer if they think that they must attempt it. I struggle with it when I write it, as it's something that can overtake an author, thus distracting the reader. All that said, you're quite right that for a person who specifically wishes to attempt Sam's dialect, in particular, LJ Hobbit fandom is (or can be) a fairly safe place to start. Had I known or deduced that such was the case for Sophinisba, I might have phrased things a little differently, and simply expanded upon the advice I did give about how to write it. To my mind, though, the very best stories about him focus less on his language and more on his character.

Sorry for the lengthy response. I am a huge language geek, and always get carried away when talking about it.

Catherine

[sophinisba]

It's funny because I think of myself as a language geek too, but I can't get excited about dialects in English. I think what all of you are saying makes sense. I do find this fandom to be a pretty supportive place for the most part, and I'm all for experimenting and trying new things, but it's true that Sam's speech is one of the things I've found a little daunting. I'm not really tempted to make his accent part of the way I write. When I read things with the spelling changed to reflect an accent it tends to look exaggerated to me and distracts from what the story's really about. I have run into other people who seem to say "Don't try to write in dialect because YOU WILL FAIL OMG" and that's a little discouraging, but I think what you're saying is more "Don't feel that you need to write Sam's dialect because there are other things that are more important," and that is very helpful.

I also thank you very much for the other things you said about him in your first comment.

And I scribbled about taters in my notebook this morning, will see if it comes to any more than that. :D Thanks a lot.

[sophinisba]

Thank you, dear, this is a wonderfully encouraging comment. I am not especially drawn to writing in dialect, but I think it's important to keep in mind that, yeah, we can try anything we want here. This is what we do for fun and this is a community of people who enjoy the same things. It's not like I'm going to be banned from the fandom forever if I get it wrong.

I also love your prompt and it was very clever of you to insist I write only about Sam. I haven't come up with anything for it yet (and I don't know the first thing about gardening), but I will keep it in mind and see what I can do.