Hello lovely readers! It's Kay Jaybee here. I'm thrilled to be able to welcome the delicious Lana Fox to the Brit Babes site! Today she's talking dirty, UK style...
I’ve been living in the USA for over ten
years now, but people still stop me mid-sentence asking, “What’s the accent?
Are you a Brit?” Sometimes, on the other hand, they ask, “Are you Australian?”
And once, only once, I was told I was German. “It’s easy to tell,” said this
guy at a party, pointing my way as he opened a beer. “The clipped vowels give
you away.”
My UK life was spent in many different
regions, so my English accent was a mix to start with. But speaking with any
kind of Brit accent in the USA can have amazing advantages, particularly for an
erotica author and publisher. At readings, people flock over to compliment my
pronunciation. They call my accent “hot” and “sexy”, and sometimes they even
tell me I’d make a good dominatrix. (What makes them think I’m not already a good dominatrix, I wonder! *wink*)
In one of my erotic writing classes, which I taught at a literary writing
center in Boston, the students said that my accent had really made a difference
at first. “When you started saying these words that we’d been taught not to say,” said one woman, “they sounded
soft and exotic because of your accent.” This helped them to get over their
shyness, they believed. It wasn’t only the teacher who gave them permission.
The accent did too.
I had no idea, before I moved to America,
that British accents would be crushworthy. After all, when I was living in
Britain, I thought American accents were far sexier than my own. Yet on my
first day in the US, my accent got me onto the Boston subway for free. “You
sound so cute!” said the ticket guy. “Have a free ride.”
I don’t think he’d guessed I was an erotic
writer, but given his words, I could be wrong!
It’s a funny thing, but I rarely write from
the point of view of American characters, even though I often include them in
my stories. My most recent erotic novel, Cream:
An Erotic Romance, was set in England and I really enjoyed writing it, not
least because of the focus on kinky sex, smoky jazz, and cream being poured
over warm bodies. (You
can read a sample here at the Erotica For All. Thank you, Lucy!) I also
loved writing the second half of the novel because the protagonist, Caroline, flies
to Boston with a sexy American businessman called Kyle. It was fun writing
Kyle! I got to express my American side, safely in the knowledge that my
U.S.-born wife, Angela, with whom I run Go
Deeper Press, would make sure that rich boy Kyle sounded suitably
Bostonian.
These days, I still feel British, but I feel even
more like a British ex-pat or immigrant. What I don’t like to feel like is “a
resident alien” (which is what appears on my green card) with an “A-number.” Yup,
whenever I’m asked for my “alien number”, it does feel strange! That said, as a
queer woman who co-runs an erotic press, there is a lot about me that is
different. I’m sure that’s also to do with being sex-positive though, wouldn’t
you say? Those of us who take an interest in sexuality do learn to be
different, I think—and also to enjoy the differences around us.
One difference I rarely notice is the
difference between my accent and Angela’s.
I just hear Angela. And I know it’s the same for her.
Thank
you so much for having me, Brib Babes!
You can find me here:
Buy Cream:
An Erotic Romance (USA) - http://goo.gl/slPsDo
Buy Cream:
An Erotic Romance (UK) - http://goo.gl/HzYKiz
The Deeper Daily (daily erotica from Go
Deeper) - http://goo.gl/JKZOzd
Twitter - @foxlana and @GoDeeperPress
Facebook – Go Deeper Press - https://www.facebook.com/godeeperpress?fref=ts
Find out more about Cream (and hear Lana’s
accent!) - http://godeeperpress.com/projects/cream-by-lana-fox/
****
Many thanks Lana!!! Brilliant blog.
Happy reading everyone,
Kay and the Babes xxx
Thanks ever so much for visiting Lana- great blog x
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted to be here, Kay! The post looks awesome. Thanks so much! <3
ReplyDeleteGreat blog .... Shall be seeking out your books
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Alison! I really appreciate that. :)
DeleteGreat blog I will check out your books.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind of you! Thank you. :)
DeleteFab blog!
ReplyDeleteI loved the line, I just hear Angela. Isn't that great? :D
Congratulations on Cream too.
If you know the origin of your authors or see they are obviously British or American through the MS, do you 'hear' those in their accent?
I hear anything I read by Victoria Blisse in her Northern lass accent!
Thanks for stopping by x x
Hey Tabitha! Thank you so much! I'm thrilled you enjoyed it and thanks for your kind congrats about Cream. :) You ask a really great question too -- you know, I think I usually hear an accent from Brit authors when they're writing in a very pronounced Brit dialect, if you see what I mean. Sometimes, I get to a point in an MS where I suddenly remember this voice is British! It will be a word or a line that suddenly triggers Britain!! That said, I heard Lucy Felthouse's "Stately Pleasures" in a very awesome British accent, so it definitely depends.
DeleteIt's *very* cool that you hear Victoria Blisse in her Northern accent! Accents are so fabulous, aren't they? Every time I go to France, I think, "Damn, I wish I spoke like this!"
Thanks again, Tabitha! And thanks for having me. xoxo