Because I’m a writer who needs to make every story I create as inhumanly difficult as possible, my current Work-in-Progress (WIP) has two intertwined timelines. Tentatively titled “The Seven Gates of Guinee” NOLA Mystery #3 offers one cast of characters set in 1977 (i.e., the “cold case”) and a second cast working forty years later in 2017 (i.e., the “investigative team.”)
I’m having great fun writing this book. I love doing the
necessary rabbit hole research into events of both time periods. I thought it
would be easy to create my seventies characters. In 1977 I was a freshman at
the University of Missouri. I vividly recall those Mizzou days. I remember the dorm
behavior, the polyester and bell-bottomed pants fashion, the Farrah Fawcett
hairstyle. What tripped me up was my misuse of seventies slang.
According to my ruthless beta readers, I had a big problem. My seventies characters were using eighties Valley Girl speak.
Oops. Time for a rewrite. In my defense, it was forty years
ago.
Eighties slang was so prevalent it was even popularized by
the song “Valley Girl” by Frank Zappa featuring his 14-year-old daughter Moon Unit. The
song was nominated as a Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group (!) at the 25th
Annual Grammy Awards.
Here’s a link if you’d like to have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Q1yVLSR3I
Friendly warning: relistening to this song made me break out in hives.
Going back to my manuscript drawing board I started a list
of authentic seventies slang terms:
Space Cadet Brick House Dream
On
Groovy Far Out Freaky Deaky
Bummer Book it out of here Jive Talking Turkey
Catch My Drift Kiss My Grits Dork
I kept my newly watchful eye and my editing red pen on any
eighties slang that might be creeping in:
Bodacious Radical Tubular
Gag Me With a Spoon Take a Chill Pill Bogus
Gnarly Grody to the Max Dudette
Barf Me Out What’s Your Damage? Bite Me
Help me out. What slang or phrases(s) immediately transport
you to another time?
Having lived through the 80s and 70s (and 60s and 50s), it's not easy for me to pin down when terms became popular. So, if you want to transport me to a particular period of time, it has to be to a time before I was born - demonstrating that I would be a lousy beta reader for your story!
ReplyDeleteHi Jim - I've added buttoning slang down to my research rabbit holes.Luckily the internet offers slang dictionaries. Writing this book has given me a whole new appreciation for anyone who writes historical fiction not only with the correct language but with manners, fashions, events, etc. I'm going to do my best to stick to present day from now on. LOL
ReplyDeleteHaha! This is exactly why I write contemporary fiction! But having read a rough draft of your opening pages, I have to say, no matter what the decade, your characters are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Annette for the kind words. I also enjoy these characters and this NOLA world-building. Walter Mosley said writers need to put 500 words daily on a page. With this crew, sitting down every day to see what they're up to is easy!
DeleteI've become fairly adept at 40s slang with the help of an online etymology dictionary.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz - good morning! I found that listening to seventies music (on Xirius XM) helps ground me in that time frame too. Damn. We had some good tunes back then. LOL
DeleteI have a couple sites with 1940s slang bookmarked. I use slang sparingly--just enough to give a little period flavor.
ReplyDeleteHi Joyce - I'm using is sparingly in flashback chapters. I can't imagine using it heavily if it was my main character focus. I give a tip of the hat to anyone writing historical fiction. What a lot of tough work.
DeleteGetting period details correct--slang, clothing, habits, laws, police procedure--is a real challenge, but when it's done well, it's the basis for wonderful adventures for readers in another time.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I've discovered that researching the seventies has reopened a treasure trove of my personal memories. I remember going to the local disco with my BFF wearing my favorite platform shoes and my crazy bell-bottom jeans. Ah, good times.
DeleteUsing the slang for a given period correctly is something I shudder at as I'm sure something will slip by me. As a reader, I am annoyed when it slips by another writer and yet....
ReplyDeleteHi Debra - Try as I might, there's always something that slips through. When I hear from my readers I think: Hey, at least they're reading it!
DeleteAh, I was a freshman at the University of Miami in 1970. Thank you for the trip back in time! I instantly remembered – Cool, dyn-o-mite, neat, right on, and dig it
ReplyDeleteI almost forgot I spent two years at the University of Missouri until I started buttoning down the dates. It came as a shock when I realized where I was actually living in 1977. In my defense, it was forty-eight years ago. Yikes! There's more fresh shocking perspective for me!
DeleteSlang is fun! I rely on the teens next door to keep my current.
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret - I do the same thing: run dialogue past my niece and nephew to make sure I'm not showing my age. LOL
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