What Accent?

I have a friend, Bret, that lives out on the east coast.  Before I released my book, THE GOUGE, I sent him an advance copy to read.  He’s been exceptionally reliable with honest feedback about my writing, and I’ve always appreciated his opinion.  

So, Bret read the book, and then called me up to tell me what he thought.  He had a ton of good things to say about The Gouge, and some critiques, but one comment stood out to me more than the rest for some reason.  

“I couldn’t help but hear your country boy accent in Carson’s voice, as I was reading it,” Bret said.

Okay, it took me a long time to acknowledge it, but admittedly, I do have what most people would call a “country boy” accent.  I can’t help it.  I was raised in the sticks of the Midwest around farmers and hillbillies.  It’s something that I picked up without even realizing it.  I think everyone experiences this growing up, and some of us adapt and grow out of it—I guess I never did.    

Let me be clear that I am not embarrassed or ashamed by my upbringing or the way that it resulted in my voice being the way that it is—nor should anyone else that has been blessed with this twang in their tongue.  But I used to be embarrassed.   That embarrassment was only a result of others making fun of it.   

It’s funny how long I went without realizing other people took notice of this accent.  When someone did spot the accent, or mocked me for it, I tried to hide it.  I would either limit my speaking, or I would try to articulate each syllable to the point that the accent was the least of my problems.  

What’s worse than having a noticeable country boy accent?  Trying to cover it up with anything else.  It took me a while, but I finally decided that I sound like I sound, and I’m not going to go out of my way to change it to suit someone who has no problem making fun of me.

Here’s a funny story though—a few years back, I was invited to be a guest on a podcast to talk about comic books.  Those that know me know that I love reading and collecting comic books.  (Yep, nerd with a country boy accent, that’s me!)  Anyway, the podcast host was based in Massachusetts where, as most may know, many of the locals have their own accent.  Not that this was something I had thought about beforehand, but the host did have a pretty rich Boston dialect.  There were two other guests on the show—one from New York, and the other was from San Diego.  Again, I hadn’t put a single thought into the way we stressed our “R’s” before the show—all of this just makes it all that more humorous when I think about what happened. 

The podcast was going great.  We were nearly an hour into the podcast, and the four of us had gotten pretty comfortable with one another—we were all joking and poking fun—just having a good time.  None of us had met or spoken to one another before the show, except through email, so it was a really fun conversation with strangers.  

Suddenly, the hosts says, “You really have an interesting accent.  Where are you from?”

I didn’t say anything.  It wasn’t because I was embarrassed—I was over all of that by the time of the podcast—I just didn’t think that the host was addressing me with this comment.  Funny enough, I was clearly the only one who was confused.  There was no less than five seconds of dead air with everyone waiting for me to answer before the host said my name to make sure my mic was still on.

“What?  Me?  What accent?” I finally said.

We all laughed it off.  I’ll admit, I was a little embarrassed, but I got over it quickly.  It was just an interested scenario.  

So, when my friend, Bret, said that my writing sounds like my voice, I wondered if I’d finally found my voice in writing.  A lot of famous people have their own sound.  Maybe this is mine?   

Is that a thing?  Writing like you sound?  I guess we’ll make it a thing.  

Well, if you happen to pick up The Gouge, and you hear some country boy twang in some of the character’s speech, it was put there unintentionally, but hey, I can’t help it.  It's the way I am, and the way I most likely always will be.

That’s all for now.  Keep reading, and support Indie Authors!