Scottish Stuff

I've been here for a few weeks now and there are some things that I've noticed that I had to blog about. 

When I moved back home I was all enthusiastic about using solely Scottish locations in the writing that I have planned for 2014.  Now this is fine in principle. After all there are few very unique places any more.  Few places that are so untouched by globalised culture that people from anywhere else wouldn't be able to understand the plot, or characters, or motivations. Whilst this is definitely true of most of Scotland I've become aware of a few things that I'd have to modify in any writing for the stories to be translatable by someone in Australia or America. 

Firstly and most obviously is the language. I don't just mean the Scottish accents (and there are a few, not just one). The way people speak here is unique to the locale and it is a mix of accent and language that make it impossible to write for a broader readership. I'm not sure where I'd even start if I tried to capture both the different words that get used here and the accents that are used. I'd fail miserably at trying to capture these in a written form that others would then be able to read and understand. So most of the speech that I write will have to be in standard English, with the uniqueness of accent and language choice included in description instead. This makes me feel like a bad Scotsman and a poor writer. That's ok though. I can try get better at those things over time. 

One of the other things that I've noticed is the very marked difference in physical height between Scots and those down south in London. I never thought of myself as being overly tall when I lived in London. I was always just about average there. But here in Scotland I am most definitely tall and walking along a busy street I can look over the top of the heads of more than half of the people. I'm only an inch or so above 6 foot tall, so no giant. 

But this quite obvious physical difference is going to have to inform future Scottish characters. They can't all be 6 foot-plus Adonis's. As that just wouldn't represent the local population. So shorter hero's are the way ahead. 

The final thing that I've noticed, or rather I forgot, during my 20 years of living elsewhere, is just how friendly people are. What would be taken for over familiarity, or downright crazy behaviour, in London, is commonplace here. People say hello and good morning to others waiting at a bus stop. People will stop and chat with complete strangers in bars and coffee shops, just to pass some time and it comes without agenda. You know what? It's really lovely that they do that. That open hearted approach to living is one of the reasons that I moved back home. I must remember to include it in the things that I write though, without being dazzled by its peculiarity from an outsiders perspective.