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American player here, interested in picking up a character from the British Isles. She's a modern teenager, from a rural mining community. Any tips of things to keep in mind would be greatly appreciated!

kit's wilderness???

-look at how the character speaks rather than how you think british people speak. if they call people "pet", use it. if they don't, don't. it sounds simple, but people often forget this.
-as she's a teenager, do a little research into the school system so you don't get her referring to her year as a grade.
-do research into margaret thatcher and miners because she'll likely knou ow all about that if she lives in a mining community.
-you don't need to know every corner of british culture, but if you don't know any tv shows outside of doctor who, it's worth looking up some trashy ones because teenagers love them.
-don't show off your knowledge if it's not relevant.
-also remember that even british people will understand a large amount of american lingo and culture (especially the sitcom friends because that's a staple of any british teenage diet).

This really depends on how important that "rural mining community" is. There's the obvious things (don't write out accents, remember that college is something different in the UK, etc), but the location, if it's important to her character...

Mining on the British Isles is a tricky subject at the best of times, so I'd definitely recommend brushing up on energy, as well as any effects of the Thatcher regime on her part of the Isles. Since I only have your words to go on, I won't go into a massive diatribe about the decline of mining in the UK, but it needs a good amount of research if it's something you want to reference when playing her.

Try and figure out what she'd call a bread roll because it is a massive cause of argument amongst the British. To that extent, try and really understand any dialectal words she may use - even if she doesn't have a strong local accent, she'll probably use some dialect that other people will go "what??" at and knowing how to use it is for the best. Also Wiki have a massive comparison of linguistic differences between "BrE" and "AmE" here.

Education is something you'll need to understand, obviously, but a general breakdown:
- We have compulsory schooling until 16.
- Between 14 and 16 we take GCSEs - usually between 9 and 11 different subjects.
- If people study after 16, they will study at a Sixth Form College, which can either be attached to their secondary school (usually called sixth form) or a college that will include a lot more vocational qualifications as well as the below vv
- Post 16 qualifications are generally A-Levels, which are broken into AS-Levels (for one year of study) and A2-Levels (for two). This is usually in a 4 subjects --> 3 subjects formula, and they will be geared towards what the student wants to study at university.
- There's no such thing as going to university and figuring out what you want to do there, and switching courses isn't easy to do.
- There's also UCAS, which is a centralised website/form for applying to university (you can apply independently, but it's not really done). It's a boring chore and something that is fantastic for complaining about.
- There's also vocational and alternate qualifications but that would make this ramble go on even longer. I'd only research them if you definitely need them.

Honestly, I'd say aside from the linguistic differences, and the educational differences, most things you'll need to check out would be related to her location. Figure out what areas she lives close to ~~and then find out the stereotypes of those areas~~ and figure out how she'd get there. Is there a train station, or is she reliant on cars? And check if a chain is in the UK before you mention it - it's so easy to just go "blah blah blah as big as Sephora in Birmingham" but there's no Sephora in the UK and that's just made a load of British people furrow their brows at the screen.

Aside from what above anons have said, sometimes it helps if you know a player from the area. Just so you can double check on things you're unsure of.

Namely words and phrases.

I'll +1 everything mentioned above, but I'd also recommend having a bit of a read into the modern Conservative and Labour (and to a certain extent, Liberal Democrat) parties as whole — Margaret Thatcher and the Tories are obvs a big thing re: the history and decline of mining in the UK, but the Labour party is traditionally equally important when it comes to the political ties of mining families (at least, in the north of England; I can't speak for Wales. WALES IS A WHOLE OTHER KETTLE OF FISH.)

A good starting point politically and historically would be the Winter of Discontent, which led to a vote of no confidence, a general election, and Maggie Thatcher ("milk snatcher") and the Tories winning power in the subsequent general election.

Attitudes towards the main parties have remained fairly consistent, although depending on the character's age and when the canon is set, having a refresher of the Tony Blair years might help — a lot of people have felt betrayed by the Labour party* and their direction from 1994 - present day. (Of course, by 'a lot of people', I mean 'Labour Party supporters.' This also, post the most recent general election, extends to current students and recent uni graduates re: the goddamned fucking lib dem party huuuuargh.)

*Tony Blair abandoned the Labour Party of the Socialist Clause 4 in their constitution and considering the history of the Labour party as being a party for the working classes and trade unions... NOT CONSIDERED A GREAT THING.

I studied the Blair years extensively as part of my Politics A-Level (ho ho) and although it's been A FEW YEARS NOW, I'd be happy to help you out in any respect wrt the politics of the UK. (We also did a comparative of UK and US politics, so if you want or need any help in translating any of it across, I CAN HELP WITH THAT. I have a lot of political feelings. This may all be tosh for you/the character, but the offer's there!)

ALSO on the more fun side of things, I'd recommend having a watch of past episodes of Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You. As well as being pretty fucking glorious, it'll allow you to get an insight into the marvellous shit we watch and enjoy (some of us), our comedians, the celebrities that are in the public eye and what the public opinion may be of said celebrities, and also politics. All combined into one! HIGNFY and MtW are available on YouTube, I believe, and I'm almost certain there are a few torrents floating around. I'm not sure where else they'd be available (particularly legit) to anyone outside of the UK.

Unrelated to politics (I feel I should bold that as I rambled a bit), check out the geography and terms used for the various parts of the UK + England (I can really only help for England tbh). South, Midlands, North etc etc. What one personally considers as the other may depend on how correct one wants to be, where they're from, and how much they want to take the piss. For example, I know southerners who'd intentionally tell people from Birmingham that they're from the north (B'ham is the midlands), whereas northerners would deliberately refer to it as 'the south'.

My only comments on language would be the same as everyone else in the thread: focus on idiolect above all else. Don't resort to stereotypes because that's just going to end in a terrible mess, and please don't write out accents. Especially if it's a northern or Yorkshire accent.

Edited (sometimes i am incapable of typing :() 2013-02-28 22:24 (UTC)

Nobody likes the midlands.

especially birmingham, man.

although apparently the brummie accent is 'nicest' (or friendliest, one of the two) sounding to people not from the UK...

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General: British Characters

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