#desertnovel

Hallo, I'd like you to meet Wang Xiaoman—my favorite key character in my novel N39° Legend—Across the Taklamakan. He's a smart… hmm… handsome guy from southern China. He loves making friends and is always eager to help—though sometimes his help ends up… not so helpful. I've been waking up at 5 a.m. every day to spend an hour studying Southern American slang, but he still doesn't trust me, a non-native author, to nail it (secretly, I think he's probably correct). He dreams of speaking authentic Southern street slang, so he's got something to say to all you native speakers out there. Take it away, Xiaoman. [hands him the mic]

Ayo, Tumblr! Ya boy Wang Xiaoman rollin’ up. 26-year-old young buck—only made it to third grade ’fore I bailed. Been haulin’ six-wheelers to stack paper, now I got a slice of the action in a big-ass garage. Hell, I even snatched a stage win in a rally-raid—shaved three full minutes off the record in a bone-stock Wrangler. But that’s all past-glory chatter, ha~

[Xiao Gai cut in: tell the folks why you here.] Bet. Xiao Gai says the slang in the book ain’t half bad, but I need that real back-roads flavor from y’all. Tryna sound smooth as them country boys croonin’ on the porch radio—ya dig? “Y’all,” “ain’t,” “fixin’ to,” the whole nine. So help a brother out. If I spit somethin’ whack as hell, call me on it—drop a comment, school the author, do ya thang. I wanna rep my desert crew with legit drawl (yeah we’re out in the dunes but we got Southern vibes!), no cap. Appreciate it, y’all!

[XiaoGai snatched the mic back.]Much obliged, y'all!

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