The Lady Apollonia West Country Mysteries are set in the time of Geoffrey Chaucer but are not written in Chaucerian English. Even if I did write in middle English, my readers would find it difficult to read. How then can I help readers get into the period and the 14th century places in which each story is set?
First, I try not to use words which have come into the English language in recent centuries. A good example is the word “Prithee” which has a nice sound as a contraction for “I pray thee”. Unfortunately, it did not come into usage until the sixteenth century. I try not to use contractions when my upper class English characters are speaking; an exception is “shan’t” which certain characters used in daily speech.
I consistently use a mild dialect for the uneducated or lower classes in my stories. The manner of speaking was important in the fourteenth century, even as it is important in Britain today. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took voice lessons to enable her to speak more like the Queen than the grocer’s daughter she actually was. There are many different local dialects throughout England today. I have invented a mild dialect just to remind readers that some of my characters are not of the of the educated or upper classes. Some members of Lady Apollonia’s affinity such as Nan, her personal maid, have learned to speak properly. Others, such as the Lady’s long-time stablemaster Gareth Trimble, have never changed in their dialect. A few characters in the Lady Apollonia stories have tried to improve their speech, only to find it reverting back when they are under pressure.
Another subtlety that I use to help the reader get into the time and place is the use of English spellings. I am an American author, but I am trying to write of England’s 14th century long before the United States existed. I don’t want English readers to be distracted by the American spelling of “judgment”, for example, when the English spelling is “judgement”. I choose to use the English spelling whenever one differs from an American spelling such as “realise” in place of “realize”.
These are simple things, but I use them to help to make fourteenth century West Country England come alive for my readers.
Tags: Chaucer's England, historical fiction, medieval mysteries