http://faerye.net/post/affectation-and-authenticity-not-an-austen-novel Comments on "Affectation and authenticity (not an Austen novel)" - Faerye Net 2007-03-13T09:16:11+00:00 http://faerye.net/post/affectation-and-authenticity-not-an-austen-novel#comment-2081 As I recall... 2007-03-13T09:16:11+00:00 2007-03-13T09:16:11+00:00 <p>... when you were around 10 years old, you quite habitually used words such as &#8220;likewise&#8221; and &#8220;pinnacle&#8221;, though I imagine that you would have been more likely to use &#8220;octopi&#8221; than &#8220;octopodes&#8221;. For what it&#8217;s worth, then, there do exist small children with adult vocabularies- but they usually have some interesting reason for being that way. Therefore, follow LadyLong&#8217;s suggestion and construct your character&#8217;s background such that it would be plausible for her to have a higher-than-average command of language.</p> bedrick http://faerye.net/post/affectation-and-authenticity-not-an-austen-novel#comment-2080 Little Girls and Octopodes 2007-03-12T19:54:30+00:00 2007-03-12T19:54:30+00:00 <p>Easy answer. Just make her a very intelligent and precocious 10-year-old girl, and let her talk the way you do. It would make her ever so much more interesting, at least to me! :)</p> LadyLong