Contractions

crosseyed reader · Jan 14, 2006

No, no, I'm not talking about childbirth, but those lovely little contraptions that allow us writers to join two words together.

A bunch of us at our writer's meeting were discussing the merits and drawbacks of using contractions in our prose. We all readily agreed that if our character was the type to say "I'm" instead of saying "I am" (like Data from Star Trek), that was the way we'd write it.

But what about the prose or narrative where no dialog is being utilized? Do you write using contractions or do you spell it out? Several beers are on the line based upon the consensus.

Richard · Jan 14, 2006

Hell yes. If contractions help the flow of a line, they get us'd. But then it depends - something like 'she had' may also work better than 'she'd' on the page.

maestrowork · Jan 14, 2006

That's up for debate. My thought is that it depends on the narrative style and the story. If it's a modern day story happening in New York, I'd say use them. If it's a Victoria romance, probably not. I'd use them in dialogue, though, because without contractions, it just sounds stilted.

loquax · Jan 14, 2006

If it's first person, then yes. I'm not sure about 3rd person narrative. Personally I wouldn't use them.
(But I probably do without noticing it)

Jamesaritchie · Jan 14, 2006

For me, it all depends on the narrative voice. If the narrative voice is neutral, as much of it is, then I very seldom, if ever, use contractions in narrative. If the narrative voice is atached to a character, then I go with how that particular character would speak, whether it's first or third person.

BlackCrowesChick · Jan 14, 2006

I probably do some, but your word count will be higher if you use less of them. I know that's not the only reason to not use them, but its a good one to not over use them. Maybe if they're in your MS too much, when you edit it you can change some of them and write them out, as long as it sounds okay that way.
I agree about the dialogue. They work better in that than in narrative parts.

crosseyed reader · Jan 14, 2006

Sorry. In my haste to get everyone's feeback, I forgot to state the parameters. This is for a third person narrative. Everyone in our writer's group agreed that if the narrative were in first person all bets were off and contractions were fine.

jules · Jan 14, 2006

Yep. Use 'em all the time. The only time I don't is if I'm writing specifically from the POV of a character who wouldn't. And even then I'll let a few in, rather than write a sentence that doesn't flow well because of it.

loquax · Jan 14, 2006

crosseyed reader said:
Sorry. In my haste to get everyone's feeback, I forgot to state the parameters. This is for a third person narrative. Everyone in our writer's group agreed that if the narrative were in first person all bets were off and contractions were fine.

I thought this was the case. Yeah, like I said before, I wouldn't. But then there are some third person pieces in which the narrator has a special kind of voice even if they're not a character. The way Lewis Carroll wrote "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" springs to mind. It's quite colloquial, as if he were actually telling you the story in person.

kmm8n · Jan 14, 2006

I think it has to do with the tone of the story. I do not use contractions in my writing generally, so when I had my ms. critiqued, many people noticed this. The tone was much too formal (like my dissertation, for example). So, I went back through my entire manuscript and changed to contractions. This fits my story better, because, frankly, my story is a mystery, not a dissertation.

So, unless I decide to write literature, I'm gonna use the contractions throughout my story.

ChunkyC · Jan 14, 2006

I'm in the "whatever suits the story" camp on this one. And be consistent, of course. I agree with what some have mentioned above, a lack of contractions can end up making the narrative feel overly formal and stiff. By playing around with how much you use contractions, you can 'tweak' this to achieve the desired result.

fallenangelwriter · Jan 14, 2006

if the narrator is a character, then as the character.

i would say that you can go either way with a third person narrator, but if you use third person past, it rarely comes up. apart form the occasional "he had" or "she would," both of which i would usually contract (to do otherwise suggests emphasis)

Jamesaritchie · Jan 14, 2006

Generally speaking, third person narrative should sound more formal than the dialogue. Contractions may read less formal, but they also take away from the tone of the narrative. Formality comes much less from whether or not you use contractions than from syntax, word choice, and sentence structure.

I think the best idea here is to read some of the better writers and see how they handle the problem.

Carmy · Jan 14, 2006

I think the basic rule is -- "Write the way people speak." I use contractions, except when a character has English as a second language. Most I've heard don't use contractions.

crosseyed reader · Jan 14, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
Generally speaking, third person narrative should sound more formal than the dialogue. Contractions may read less formal, but they also take away from the tone of the narrative. Formality comes much less from whether or not you use contractions than from syntax, word choice, and sentence structure.

I think the best idea here is to read some of the better writers and see how they handle the problem.

This exactly the argument I put forth to my fellow writers. Personally, I write with contractions in the third person narrative, but I also insure that the overall tone is more formal by my choices of syntax, word choice and sentence structure.

As a last suggestion before our beer bets were laid on the table, I recommended that we all look at the greats to see how they handed the dilemma. But then we had to agree on who "the greats" were. Oy, what a group! At least they always pay up when they lose.

AdamH · Jan 14, 2006

Dialogue: Yes, unless the character needs to enunciate what he's saying, otherwise mostly yes, I'd use contractions. Seems like fake dialogue otherwise. Not many people speak without contractions. (There's always exceptions, of course)

Narrative: Everyone pretty much hit upon what I was going to say. It depends on the story you're writing. Myself, I've written narrative that has contractions and other different stories that don't. It depends on what I want to do with the story. It's a stylistic choice for me.

mkcbunny · Jan 14, 2006

Perfect Timing

I would just like to thank you all for having this discussion exactly when I came online to broach this very same topic. LOL. God bless the Internet.

September skies · Jan 14, 2006

Yes. What did we ever do before the internet? I can't imagine living without it.

And - At the newspapers, we take them out unless the sentence flows better with it. In quotes, I usually leave them in.

Tim Gasolene · Jan 15, 2006

Whether to use them or not is an established rule. What each of you thinks is irrelevant. The least you can do is stop considering yourself a master of the universe, then go out and check a published book. Such an action will also answer 90% of your other questions on writing.
Uh-huh.

JenNipps · Jan 15, 2006

crosseyed reader said:
No, no, I'm not talking about childbirth, but those lovely little contraptions that allow us writers to join two words together.

A bunch of us at our writer's meeting were discussing the merits and drawbacks of using contractions in our prose. We all readily agreed that if our character was the type to say "I'm" instead of saying "I am" (like Data from Star Trek), that was the way we'd write it.

But what about the prose or narrative where no dialog is being utilized? Do you write using contractions or do you spell it out? Several beers are on the line based upon the consensus.

My first impulse was to say yes, I would use them. But then I got to thinking. (Dangerous activity.) I would use them if it fit the personality of my POV character. Yes, even with writing in 3rd person (which I mostly do), I would still consider that.

JenNipps · Jan 15, 2006

Tim Gasolene said:
Whether to use them or not is an established rule. What each of you thinks is irrelevant. The least you can do is stop considering yourself a master of the universe, then go out and check a published book. Such an action will also answer 90% of your other questions on writing.
Uh-huh.

Would you mind pointing the way to that established rule, please? This is something that comes up quite often between myself and other writing friends. If it were something we could actually point to as a verifiable answer, I think it would solve most of those discussions.

Though I do have to say I disagree about checking a published book will answer 90% of other writing questions. People do frequently break the "rules" and what would be correct and good in one book would not be in another.

katiemac · Jan 15, 2006

I'm in the middle of a Jennifer Weiner novel and while it's written in first person POV, there are all sorts of different contractions.

For example, something like:

"He's nice," Samantha'd said.

Also, there was one, while not quite a contraction in the usual sense, having to do with tupperware:

With ten pounds of Tupperware'd turkey, potatoes and cranberry sauce...

Etc. The first example caught me off guard, at first, but probably only because I'd read this thread beforehand.

Anything can work as long as it's the right voice.

Vomaxx · Jan 15, 2006

[QUOTE
"He's nice," Samantha'd said.

With ten pounds of Tupperware'd turkey, potatoes and cranberry sauce... [/QUOTE]

Good lord! Are there no editors anymore?

JenNipps · Jan 15, 2006

Vomaxx said:
Good lord! Are there no editors anymore?

It's one of those things where you would actually have to read Jennifer Weiner's work to get the gist of it. It isn't bad and fits very well -- IMO -- with her voice and the flow of the story.

I remember that particular book katiemac is referring to.

crosseyed reader · Jan 15, 2006

Tim Gasolene said:
Whether to use them or not is an established rule. What each of you thinks is irrelevant. The least you can do is stop considering yourself a master of the universe, then go out and check a published book. Such an action will also answer 90% of your other questions on writing.
Uh-huh.

I'm not sure where anyone implied that they were the master of anything, let alone the universe, but I'm certainly willing to give it a try. This is, what I thought, a friendly writing forum and I didn't see my question worthy of such a response. If you don't like the question, then don't partake in the discussion. I see no reason to come in and chatise people for a simple dialogue.

Suggesting that formatting and sytlistic decisions may be found in 90% of the published books strikes me as naive. Editing decisions are as fast changing as fashions. What used to be unacceptable in published works no longer holds true, as can be seen in the usage of commas. Time was that there was always a comma placed before the word "too." That is changing - just talk to any editor of any reputable publishing house. Yet you still see it printed both ways in books. So, what would you have us do, Tim?

I have yet to see any fast rule regarding the use of contractions in a third person narrative, hence my question.

Contractions

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Fear the Death Ray

I verb nouns adverbly

Uptown Girl

Bored fanatic

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It's hard being green

Pumped Up Kicks

Bufflehead

cloud watching

pyromancer

Have you JHS today?

Have you JHS today?

Five by Five

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