Thanks, @floreatcastellumpostsâI appreciate the compliment. I just want to share with my fellow non-British HP writers how I use research to give my stories that sense of geographical authenticity. Just for some context, Iâve been to the UK literally once in my life, seven years ago, and only to London. 99% of what I know about the UK comes from reading, watching and listening, not from personal experience.
Google Maps is my best friend. I use Google Streetview to âwalkâ down the streets of the neighbourhoods that most closely resemble the neighbourhoods Iâm imagining. I like to look at the buildings and get a sense of the architecture. I also use the âdirectionsâ tool to find out how long it would take to travel from Point A to Point B, and which form of public transportation is recommended (AKA bus, underground, etc.)
Get a sense of the architecture in the place youâre writing about. Itâs not just about describing the colour or the textural details (such as quoins, jambs, capitals, etc.) but also knowing the answer to questions like âWould a house in this place have a basement?â or âWhere would my character have to stand in order to eavesdrop on a conversation in the kitchen?â I take those real estate virtual tours of the type of house Iâm writing about so I know how all the rooms are laid out inside.
Brand names/specific productsâit takes 30 seconds to Google whether or not XYZ cereal or candy is sold in the UK or not. It takes an additional 30 seconds to find out the names of some relevant products that are exclusively sold in the UK, which give your story some more local flavour.
(Socioeconomic) class is a big deal. An even bigger deal than it is in the US or Canada. We tend to see wealth as wealth, whereas in the UK, itâs not just about wealth, but also your accent, the school you went to, the school your parents went to, the hobbies and activities you grew up doing, and so on. People can tell your social class by your accent and dialect.
How to pick up the vocabulary and dialect: NOT simply by finding some online list of US-British differences in language. Yes, those are useful, but what you really need to do is learn through immersion. Read British newspapers or magazines or novels, watch British movies in the oral dialect of the specific region/class youâre interested in, go online and read the British school curriculum, follow British people on Twitter. I actually find Twitter to be really useful because people speak in a colloquial, unfiltred way that is closer to oral language than the kind of language you see in a newspaper.
Theme vocabulary: Certain topics or themes in language tend to hold the most differences between North American and British vocabulary. I am extra careful to check my language when I write about the following topics:
cars, transportation & roads (such as lorry, railway, kerb, roundabout, crossing, etc.) (Also, when writing a scene that takes place inside a car, please donât forget that Brits drive on the left side and therefore, the driverâs seat is on the right side!)
products used for babies (pram, nappy, cot, dummy, etc.)
home furniture (bedside table, chest of drawers, wardrobe, welsh dresser, etc.)
education or school (primary school, grammar school, comprehensive school, Key Stages, uni, public school, pupils, head teachers, etc.)
food and meals (tea/dinner region difference, pudding, afters, squash, etc.)Â ânote that itâs not just a difference in what people call the same foods, itâs that British people often eat slightly different foods or prepare their food in a different way.Â
clothing (vest, pants, dungarees, braces, tights, and so on)
types of homes and rooms (flat, bedsit, block of flats, terraced houses, semi-detached, etc.)
Even more about Twitter: People get into fights and insult each other all the time on that site, which is great for picking up colloquial British slang and writing effective dialogue! I literally encourage you to find some petty drama between British accounts on Twitter and notice the way they call each other names.
Soft cultural differences that are hard to Google: Thereâs a lot of them, and theyâre sometimes region or class specific. Again, you need cultural immersion to develop a working understanding of British culture as it differs from American or Canadian culture. I encourage you to find an actual British person if you have a specific question, because this stuff is difficult to Google. I have sent @floreatcastellumposts questions like âWould the [schoolchildren] be allowed to eat their lunch outside, or in their classroom or in the school hall?âÂ
Climate. If youâre from a temperate place with four distinct Hallmark Movie seasons, then you will probably be shocked to learn how abysmally not hot it is in Britain in the summer, except when there is a notable heat wave. Again, there are region differences. Go on Wikipedia and look up the average temperature, precitipation, etc. for each month of the year. London, the hottest city in England, has an average temperature between 15 and 23 degrees Celsius in Julyâwhich is NOT bathing suit weather! Up in Inverness, around the place where Hogsmeade would be if it were real, the average September temperature is in between 9 and 16 degrees. You would definitely want to wear a coat and long sleeves, even at the beginning of the school year.Â
I didnât understand why I kept seeing pictures of Kate Middleton in a long-sleeved coat dress in July until I visited London in the summer and found shorts and t-shirt wardrobe entirely inappropriate. I wore basically the same sweatshire for the entire trip, in August.
Botany and vegetation: If youâre describing trees or flowers or anything growing outside, check to see if that plant can actually grow in that region, and if itâs flowering at that time of year.Â
Urban wildlife: This sounds like a weird thing to bring up, but I always have to remind myself to check which species of âpestâ animals and insects live in an area. There are no raccoons in the UK, etc.
Thereâs a million more tiny things that always need researching, but this is something to consider so far.
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