Support for Indie Authors discussion

Does anyone have a good link for every day phrases from the 17th Century?
This one is a good example, http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kid...

I would love to find similar links. I would be very grateful for any help.
Thank you in advance.

It rather depends on their location.
If you want a reference manual for English gentry books such as Clarissa Harlowe or Evelina provide great examples.

"Pr'y thee"
" 'Pon honour"
etc.

I would recommending reading some novels written from the time, as they include the best and most natural uses of phrases in context. Immerse yourself in their world.

Thanks, It is set in Sweden, but since I write in English regular speech will have to be the English of that time, (so it´ll be hard to pinpoint a location) I may decide to use a Swedish time appropriate phrase here and there, I´ll have to see how it flows.

Fun share, Thank You!
I love stuff like the website you posted above. I have an Auld Scots Dictionary I love flipping through from time to time. I also have a book with transcripts from the Salem witch trials that reads a bit like Shakespeare, in that it took me a while to get into the language.

K.A
:)
Glad you like it.

You know the Salem Witch trials documents might be a good equivalent, the Swedish witch trials are part of my project too, all though not extensively.

Samuel Pepys kept a diary from 1660-1669 which is famous and includes a description of the Great Fire of London - Wikipedia article. There are loads of cheap copies of it available and there are downloads on Project Guttenberg.

Pam wrote: "Samuel Pepys kept a diary from 1660-1669 which is famous and includes a description of the Great Fire of London - Wikipedia article. There are loads of cheap copies of it available and there are do..."

Perfect! Thank you.

My theory, for what it's worth, is that evoking period is not so much about the words but more about the rhythm and structure of your sentences, especially in dialogue.

I was searching for the book I mentioned, so I could forward you the title info, however, I can't find it at the moment. I did find a listopia list with a wealth of books very similar to my suggestion.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

K.A. wrote: "I was searching for the book I mentioned, so I could forward you the title info, however, I can't find it at the moment. I did find a listopia list with a wealth of books very similar to my suggest..."

This is perfect. Thank you so much!

Helen wrote: "K.A. wrote: "This is perfect. Thank you so much!"

No problem at all =D

http://www.pikle.co.uk/diaryjunction.... I've always found useful.

Just be aware that 'gadzookery' is not favoured these days. Having your characters running around crying 'Gadzooks! Prithee my good man what art thou doing.' etc. is regarded as old fashioned and not readable.

Plain simple English, with the occasional inversion,. special word, and care to the rhythm and word patterns, is considered best these days.

Check out the articles in the Historical Novel Society magazines on language.

P.D.R. wrote: "http://www.pikle.co.uk/diaryjunction.... I've always found useful.

Just be aware that 'gadzookery' is not favoured these days. Having your characters running around crying 'Gadzooks! Prithee my g..."

Thank you.
I am aware of this. I was very careful about this in my novel on the Underground Railroad.
I read a couple of articles on this but not the Historical Novel Societies, I believe. I will take a look.

I want to just have a word here and there consistently throughout the book, just to give a sense of the time.
I agree that if it´s too much people give up and wont have patience to read it. Especially since I´m writing in English about a time period in Sweden it wouldn´t work anyway.