Put gas on

Regional dialects are funny things. Especially for a writer. If we want to add authenticity to a character, we might add some dialect. But we have to be careful we don’t overdue it.

The title of this post, for example, is used in northern Minnesota and, as far as I know, nowhere else. “I’m driving to Bemidji but I need to stop in Walker to put gas on.” That is a perfectly normal thing you would hear.

But it isn’t clear to others and might pull the reader out of the story. It’s a trade-off between accuracy and keeping the reader in the story.