Being Human and Brit Picking

[paragraphs]

UPDATE:  Thanks, Flist! I have several volunteers now, and am confident all will be covered. Thanks so much!

Hello Flist!  Yup, another post from me--that makes three in a row after three weeks of none.  Sorry about that, but I need a bit of help and thought I'd ask here.

I'm writing a Being Human/TW (George and Andy) fic for the lgbtfest and have the first scene in pretty good shape...I would dearly love to find SOMEONE who is familiar with the Being Human characters and Britishisms to have a healthy go at it with their evil red pen.  It is with George, Mitchell and Annie, and that presented all sorts of neat challenges in trying to get their characters close enough to canon as to not make BH fans scream.  I am a reluctant canoner, lol, but have worked hard at this, studying the episodes and even the one script I could get (Oh my, lots of exclamation points for George! I wonder why!).  I am very grateful there is only one series thus far.  I am a fan of the original pilot, however, and admit my Mitchell is a combo of the original and the present. Annie? No.  I like the regular series one quite well.

I could also, in addition to or as an alternative to, use some serious Britpicking.  Oh yes, could I, could I. LOL.

No Andy in the first scene--he comes in the 2nd.  This first scene is a ridiculously long 4000 some odd words.

Any takers? 

I feel very brave doing this--it has been approx. 3 years since I've written anything for posting, other than 2 HP fics I wrote.  But I didn't care so much about those as I do this.  I want to get it right!

C, gulping nervously

Comments

[elowena.livejournal.com]

Alas, I'm a)not British and b)not familiar with Being Human, but I couldn't resist jumping at the chance to come to your journal and complain about a fic I'm reading. (Because I'm a lovely and kind person like that.)

So, I'm reading a fic that's written by a non-British English geek. Her English is flawless and she's a really good writer, but for this one fic she decided to cast the (irl American) characters as a Scot, a Welshman, an Irishman and an Englishman. Cool, I like the idea of people of the Commonwealth coming together. But then she decided that repeatedly pointing out just how British they all are wasn't enough, and decided to transliterate their speech and give them exaggerated regional features of speech. It's so distracting! Writing out accents is so difficult to do well without coming across as a caricature.

It's such a shame because I really enjoy her fic, and I'm sure I will finish reading this one as well, but I can't seem to get over the endless "yeh"s and "aye"s and "me accent is Irish, see?"s.

I am sure your fic is fabulous! Just...don't pull an Irvine Welsh, a'ight? ;)

And now I feel like a meanie (almost wrote 'twat' - how's that for a Britishism) for pouncing you with mean things to say about someone else's fic. I just needed to get it out! Good luck with the fic, hope you find a beta soon!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOL that would be a wallbanging thing for me, unfortunately! So confusing!!!! Sounds like she tried too hard--just had to listen to the dialogue and read the script to see it isn't THAT much different than US English...overkill kills!!!

[blue-fjords.livejournal.com]

Dude, I think we are posting to LGBT on the same day! But mine has no Being Human, alas. However, I do adore Being Human (and have seen original pilot, too) and George especially and would be willing to look at your fic if you want. Am 100% American, though, so would not be able to do good Britpick. And would not be able to look at it until tomorrow. If all those caveats are cool, though, I'm bluefjords at gmail dot com.

[amproof.livejournal.com]

You know I'd love to volunteer and could probably do a decent job for all your needs, but how about asking over at getyourwordsout? Maybe someone over there needs a break...

Unless you don't want to risk getting a psycho. I guess what I'm saying is, if you want me to look at it, I will. LOL

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Amber, great idea...hopping a Brit volunteers from here (I am sure I have several!) but I would love it if you did.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Okay cool. Me too on the American...LOL.

I adore it too--so much! Am letting them replay on my computer today--still pickign up things.

[samueljames]

I'm glad rl didn't impose too much on your writing time and that you have an offer of a beta. Like you I'm glad there is only one series so far. Makes it easier to get in on Canon from the start.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOL I have two! I am happy. (should've thought of Amber, we talk all day long after all lol).

Yes, I am rewatching the whole thing today again. Am on the Owen episode. Good thing I am, as I am picking up all sorts of things--including the table in the kitchen I'd forgotten about! Must fix fic now....

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I can offer help on the Brit front, but I'm afraid I don't know the canon, so wouldn't be much use for characterisation (Yes, I know this is an awful thing, and I'm working to rectify it. Extremely slowly. So slowly one could be fooled into thinking I'm doing nothing at all).

I've no objection to reading just for language in a fandom I'm not familiar with though - I've already done it for one lgbtfest fic! Let me know if you want a hand.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Oh yes yes yes! That would be fantastic!

cparagraphs at gmail.com, email and I will send back. Awesome.

[la-localfreak.livejournal.com]

belated as always. I am familiar with being human (I've seen all the episodes save the pilot, at any rate and I liked it) and, as you know, am also a brit. Ergo would be very happy to read through, if you're still after volunteers on that front. I know nothing about torchwood, though (I assume that's what TW stands for?).