SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Welcome to the revamped Things in Scots series. In this incarnation of TiS, I’m sharing the Scots language found in my upcoming romantic suspense novel, Running the Asset.

This week’s word is either just clear enough, or it’s as clear as mud. It’s a word I use a lot, and one I use with wild abandon when planning out my stories. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the excerpt is leaning towards just clear enough. ?

Oh, and there’s a bonus word, too!

Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)

Adam peered through the peephole, gun at the ready. What the fuck was he doing here? It wasn’t to kill them. Adam had spent enough time with Mason’s dossier to know his M.O. The man was a messy killer who needed privacy to work, and knocking the door drew unwanted attention. Witnesses.

Adam dug a hole in the planter by Elle’s door and planked the gun inside, covering it with the loose soil. He opened the door, his foot planted firmly behind it just in case he was wrong about their unexpected visitor’s intentions. “Awright, pal? What brings you round?”

Running the Asset (Deniable Unit #1)

I’m of two minds if this one is clear or not. It’s a tricky task, I don’t want to make it difficult for readers, but on the other hand, I don’t want to spoonfeed them.

Fingers crossed, time. I hope that it’s clear from the text that planked in this context means to hide, to secret away, for later use.

Plank also means to hoard, to plonk down, to put something down with a thud, and a piece of arable land. There’s more in-depth information on plank in the Dictionars o the Scots Leid.

Time for the bonus word. Awright means all right in English and is used as a greeting in this context.

That’s it for this week

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’d love to hear your comments on how easy or difficult it was to get the gist of planked as it appeared in the quote. 

If you find yourself inspired by the Scots words I share, add the tag #TiS or #ThingsinScots to your writing/art/photo post and drop your link in the comments.

If you want to see more Scots posts, check out the original series, Things in Scots.

Thanks for reading. Take care, and I hope to see you next week for more Scots on Manuscript Mondays!