American Writers Writing British Characters

Hello! I know it's been a while since my last post, I had massive issues with Wordpress and my two gmail accounts were conflicting on my blogger page - all in all, it's been a complete pain! However, I'm here now and ready to role with my new post on an issue that affects me a lot.

Bloody American writers writing bloody British bloody characters.

Sound familiar?

Every British reader faces the regular struggle of reading a book by an American writer whom has written in a British character. Every sentence that character says will sound a little like this:

"I am going to the bloody shops to buy some bloody shoes because it's bloody cold outside and my car won't bloody start so I bloody have to walk".

Oh. My. Bloody. God. 

Anyone would think that everyone American thinks we're Alan Sugar!

This surge of anger has came from my recent attempt to read James Dashner's The Maze Runner where the character Newt, presumably British or possibly Australian, says 'bloody' far too much. It is a British stereotype that we all say "bloody" a lot like our good old friend Ron Weasley so writers from other nationalities incorporate it in to their work, unfortunately, to the annoyance of the British. It's a stereotype that Americans are all stupid but do you see British writers purposely making their American characters unintelligent? No, you don't. 

Of course, we do say it, of course we do but it's a pain in the arse when it's every other word the character spits out! 

Fiction has always managed to paint pictures of Britain and have given the Americans some crazy misconceptions. Let's iron out a few, just to extend the length of this post!

1) If you've read any of this post, you'll understand that number 1 has to be the word 'bloody' being used in the wrong context, too often and in the wrong part of the sentence. It's frustrating!

2) "British boys are so cute".

No. No they are not. Yes, Harry Potter and all of it's beautiful male array of characters are yummy both on screen and on paper but they are fictitious; there's not a geographical correlation between attractive men and their location on earth. Trust me, this guy is considered a sex lord in many parts of Britain. The attractive men are few and far between. 

3) We all speak like the queen.

7% of the British population speak like the queen. The other 93% speak in multiple variations of English language - chances are, your dream guy won't say "Hello darling, you look beautiful today", they'll say "oi love, yous looks well fit!". They're not romantic, to say the least. 

I hope this has cleared up some of the misconceptions you may have of British people after you read about them, it will save us all a lot of trouble if you find out about it now rather than later!

I do apologise for my lack of innovative posts right now, been so busy and drained in the run up to Christmas due to present buying, college work and working at the bookshop! This will be my last post until the new year and I will be back with a vengeance.

Have a marvellous Christmas and I look forward to being back with you in the new year,

Thanks,

Is x

Twitter: @marvellousshelf