Torchwood: Miracle Day - All About Ianto?

One of the first things a writer (or a keen reader) realizes is that everything is autobiographical. Some writers wear this fact proudly; others like to hide it under layers and layers of distancing tricks; but the fact remains: a careful reader can always pick up the fictional threads that lead back to the writer's reality.

Digging through my favorite writers' heads is one of my favorite pastimes. As such, Russel T Davies has a wonderfully big one to roam around in. Brash, outspoken, confrontational, Davies wears his convictions on his sleeve, unapologetic about his radicalism. People (like myself) whose politics are in line with his might see him as an activist, a champion who screams the things too many people are afraid to whisper. Others wish he'd just shut the hell up.

Check out my short story Changes at SexLife Canada

SexLifeCanada.ca, the home of The National Sexlife Journal, recently started a new fiction section. My hardcore short story Changes is one of the first two pieces of fiction ever featured on the site! You can read it in the Hot Words section.

Changes was first published in Men Magazine in March 2006, along with a very explicit full-page illustration. Can we have a vote on whether or not I should scan it in? ;P

Writing Dialog With a Foreign Accent

Our literature, much like our society, is becoming more and more multicultural. A story in which all characters come from the same background might not sound credible in a world where people increasingly communicate across racial and national divides: today, most neighborhoods, workplaces, and families are a kaleidoscope of diverse accents and cultures.

But portraying linguistic differences in writing can be tricky. How can you write dialog for a character with an accent with grace and respect, without coming across as offensive?

Intention

First and foremost, you must ask yourself: how does the character's accent serve your story?

Make sure you have a good answer before you proceed. Does the maid's Spanish accent underline the racial and economic divides in our society, or does it simply strengthen the stereotype that all maids are Hispanic? What can you achieve by giving a waiter - or a high-powered attorney - a Pakistani accent? Do you expect your readers to react to a Russian accent in a certain way, and what do you plan to do with that reaction?

You must always remember that an accent is a tool, not a comment on the character's personality. When you use an accent to imply intellectual abilities, or to draw humor from the imperfect English, you run the risk of offending your readers. But used carefully and with a lot of forethought, an accent can add depth and flavor to your writing.

Kiran Mehdee's short story The Wellness Room published in The Broken City Magazine

The Broken City Magazine has published a short story called The Wellness Room written by my partner Kiran Mehdee. This funny and life-affirming story is easily one of the best pieces Kiran has written (so far). Here's a taste:

My aloneness was a warm blanket I could hide in, burrowing like a wild ferret. The room, called the "Wellness Room," was the only reason I even managed to survive the job for the fourteen months I was there. Sparsely furnished with a plain table, a chair, a small trash can, and a fake plastic tree in the corner, it was an inner room surrounded by offices full of cubicles full of diligent wage slaves like me.

But not quite like me.

Read the rest of the story in the Winter 2008 edition of The Broken City Magazine. And watch this space - and Kiran's own blog - for more beautiful prose and poetry!