Why My Fantasy Characters Don't Speak Modern American English

Behind the Story of The Tale of Two Beasts
By Richard Scorpio

Have you ever read a sentence in a fantasy novel, stopped for a moment, and thought, What exactly did that mean?

Perhaps the words were familiar, but the expression wasn't. Or perhaps a character used a phrase that sounded slightly old-fashioned, even though you understood the conversation perfectly well.

That's one of the interesting things about language. Two people can speak English and still express themselves quite differently.

When developing The Tale of Two Beasts, I wanted the language to reflect the world in which my characters live.

I didn't want Tessa, Sera, Alden, and the people around them speaking as though they had stepped out of a modern American television show.

Their society has its own traditions, customs, beliefs, and ways of looking at the world. I wanted their dialogue to reflect that.

The result is a style influenced by traditional British expressions and older conversational patterns.

Not medieval English. Not Shakespearean English. And certainly not a collection of exaggerated British accents.

Simply a different rhythm of speaking—one that helps make their world feel like a place with its own history.

English Isn't Always the Same English

Most American readers are familiar with at least some differences between American and British English.

We say apartment; the British often say flat.

We say elevator; they say lift.

We might call someone crazy or silly, while a British speaker might describe them as daft.

Those differences are fairly straightforward.

But the language in The Tale of Two Beasts goes a little further.

Sometimes it's not the vocabulary that feels unfamiliar. It's the way an entire thought is expressed.

Consider the difference between:

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it."

And:

"I'll not dress it up."

Both communicate essentially the same thing: the speaker intends to tell the truth without making it sound more pleasant than it is.

But they don't sound quite the same, do they?

The second expression carries a different rhythm and a slightly older quality.

That's the sort of distinction I wanted throughout the novel.

A Few Expressions Readers May Encounter

For readers more accustomed to American English, here are several expressions from The Tale of Two Beasts, along with their more familiar equivalents.

"You daft man."

American equivalent: "You silly man" or "You fool."

The word daft generally means foolish or silly. But it doesn't always imply genuine criticism.

A wife might affectionately call her husband daft after he says something ridiculous. A frustrated person might use the same word as an insult.

As with many expressions, the meaning depends on the relationship and the circumstances.

"Folk will be strange about it."

American equivalent: "People are going to act weird about it."

Folk simply means people.

It's an especially fitting expression in small communities where families have known one another for generations.

There's also something wonderfully understated about saying people will be strange instead of saying they'll become suspicious, judgmental, or uncomfortable.

Sometimes a few ordinary words convey more than a lengthy explanation.

"I'll not dress it up."

American equivalent: "I'm not going to sugarcoat it."

This is an expression someone might use before delivering difficult news.

The speaker isn't necessarily being harsh. They may simply believe the other person deserves honesty rather than comforting words that conceal the truth.

"That's the whole of it."

American equivalent: "That's all there is to it."

An expression that suggests a matter has been explained completely.

It can sound matter-of-fact, reassuring, or dismissive, depending on who's speaking.

"You're not meant to touch that."

American equivalent: "You're not supposed to touch that."

This is a subtle difference.

Americans would understand both versions, but not meant to is particularly familiar in British conversational English.

It's a good example of how dialogue can feel slightly different without introducing a single unfamiliar word.

Why Not Just Use Modern American Expressions?

I certainly could have.

The story would still contain the same characters, magical abilities, adventures, and relationships.

But something would be missing.

Imagine an experienced Warden confronting an unfamiliar creature, then announcing, "Okay, guys, here's the deal."

That might work perfectly well in a contemporary fantasy comedy.

But would it belong in the atmosphere of The Tale of Two Beasts?

For me, it wouldn't.

Language helps establish the distance between our everyday lives and the fictional world we're visiting.

Just as clothing, architecture, and customs tell us something about a society, so does the way its people speak.

I wanted readers to feel that difference without needing a dictionary beside them.

The Rhythm Matters as Much as the Words

Another distinctive feature of the novel is its sentence structure.

Some characters speak directly, using only a few words. Others explain themselves through longer observations or carefully chosen comparisons.

The narration itself occasionally adopts a more traditional literary rhythm.

A sentence might carry several connected thoughts where modern American writing would separate them into shorter statements.

That doesn't necessarily make the sentence complicated. Sometimes it gives the reader a more complete impression of a moment.

Think of the difference between someone giving you a quick summary of an event and someone sitting beside a fireplace, telling you how it happened.

Both can communicate the same information.

But the experience of listening is different.

I wanted portions of the novel to have that storytelling quality.

Not every page, and not every conversation.

The language should suit the moment.

When there's danger, dialogue can become brief and urgent. When characters are remembering their childhood or discussing something personal, their words may become more reflective.

That variation is part of the experience.

Unfamiliar Doesn't Mean Unreadable

I recognize that some American readers may occasionally encounter a phrase they haven't heard before.

That's perfectly understandable.

But I don't believe every unfamiliar expression needs to be replaced with a modern equivalent.

Most of us have learned new words and expressions simply by reading.

Sometimes the meaning becomes clear through the next sentence. Sometimes another character's response explains everything.

And occasionally, we understand the emotion behind a statement before we understand its exact wording.

A reader doesn't need to know the dictionary definition of daft to recognize a wife affectionately teasing her husband.

The surrounding story supplies the meaning.

I think that kind of discovery can be enjoyable.

It encourages readers to spend a little more time in the fictional world instead of rushing through it.

Of course, there's a limit. If readers cannot understand an important conversation, the language has stopped serving the story.

My intention was never to make the writing unnecessarily difficult.

It was to create a recognizable voice.

A Language Belonging to Their World

There's one other distinction worth making.

The characters in The Tale of Two Beasts aren't literally British.

They don't live in England, and their world isn't intended to represent a particular period of British history.

The language is a literary choice, not a claim of historical accuracy.

I wanted something that felt familiar enough for modern readers while remaining distinct from everyday American conversation.

A mixture of traditional expressions, understated humor, occasional formality, and the practical language of people who live and work in a different society.

Just as the geography of Dunmere and the Hill District helps establish the setting, the language helps establish its people.

Sometimes It's Worth Slowing Down

Modern life encourages us to move quickly.

We scan headlines, skim articles, and hurry from one piece of information to the next.

A novel offers an opportunity to do something different.

It allows us to spend time with people who don't exist, in places we've never visited, experiencing lives entirely unlike our own.

Part of that experience is learning how their world works.

And sometimes that includes learning how they speak.

If an unfamiliar expression causes a reader to pause for a moment, consider the conversation, and then recognize what the character meant, I don't necessarily consider that a disadvantage.

Sometimes slowing down allows us to appreciate a story more fully.

I didn't want the people of The Tale of Two Beasts to sound as though they lived next door. I wanted readers to feel as though they'd traveled somewhere else—and, after a few chapters, begun to understand the people who lived there.

If their language contributes to that experience, then it has accomplished what I intended.

— Richard Scorpio

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The Tale of Two Beasts is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions.