Using coulda in dialog (or shoulda or woulda)

ToWhom

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I know one answer to this question is that I can use any method I want to use in my own writing. Aside from that, is there an accepted way to use those 3 slangy terms within dialog? Or, put another way, do most editors agree upon one method?

I've seen it printed as coulda and coulda', both of which trigger spell-checker, and they are, in fact, misspelled words. Plus, they just look funny.
Could-a, on the other hand, seems to me to be a clean way to handle the problem. It's two correctly spelled words connected with a hyphen, and it sounds exactly as it does in casual dialog, but I've never seen it used in writing.

How do you spell woulda, shoulda and coulda within your dialog?

Thanks, Tim
 

Borad

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Google:
"I woulda" About 1,030,000 results
"I wuda" About 23,100 results
"I wouda" About 15,100 results

I'd use woulda.
 

Ari Meermans

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I know one answer to this question is that I can use any method I want to use in my own writing. Aside from that, is there an accepted way to use those 3 slangy terms within dialog? Or, put another way, do most editors agree upon one method?

I've seen it printed as coulda and coulda', both of which trigger spell-checker, and they are, in fact, misspelled words. Plus, they just look funny.
Could-a, on the other hand, seems to me to be a clean way to handle the problem. It's two correctly spelled words connected with a hyphen, and it sounds exactly as it does in casual dialog, but I've never seen it used in writing.

How do you spell woulda, shoulda and coulda within your dialog?

Thanks, Tim
[Bolding mine.]

Exactly like that; and, there is precedent in published works for the use of "shoulda", "woulda", and "coulda" in dialogue.
 

talktidy

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My two pennorth. I think you are over thinking this. Personally, I would go with coulda, shoulda, woulda. Just stay consistent throughout your manuscript and tell your spell checker to take a hike.

In fact, teach your spell checker to accept the spelling, so it will stop highlighting it and distracting you. In dialog wacky spelling is fair game. If your book is accepted for publishing, you will likely have to bow to the house style, but now is not the time to worry about that.
 

VeryBigBeard

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Dialogue is privileged, which means it has a higher threshold for an editor to correct it to standard English. You really can do whatever you want, irrespective of Google results or spellcheckers. Spellcheck is not a good way to determine word choice. It's not even a good way to determine accurate spelling. Get a good dictionary and thesaurus.

With coulda and the like, specifically, you're really dealing with idiom and dialect. If the character would say coulda, write coulda. If he'd say cuda, do that. Be aware that a little dialect goes a long way--you're almost always better off conveying a character's diction through word order and, to an extent, syntax, rather than onomatopoeic spellings. But sometimes you do need the jackhammer, and it really is up to you how it sounds.

Don't worry about this kind of thing until revision stages. Do worry about your reader, and try to write for their enjoyment. If I can't tell what the word is, it's probably not the most effective word choice.
 

ToWhom

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Lots of food for thought. Thanks for all the replies.
 

Sonya Heaney

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What the others said. One of my books has a main character who speaks in a very distinct way, and I wrote it as it sounds. My manuscript was chock-full of red squiggly underlines but no editor had an issue with it.
 

Sonya Heaney

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Dialogue is privileged, which means it has a higher threshold for an editor to correct it to standard English. You really can do whatever you want, irrespective of Google results or spellcheckers. Spellcheck is not a good way to determine word choice. It's not even a good way to determine accurate spelling. Get a good dictionary and thesaurus.

With coulda and the like, specifically, you're really dealing with idiom and dialect. If the character would say coulda, write coulda. If he'd say cuda, do that. Be aware that a little dialect goes a long way--you're almost always better off conveying a character's diction through word order and, to an extent, syntax, rather than onomatopoeic spellings. But sometimes you do need the jackhammer, and it really is up to you how it sounds.

Don't worry about this kind of thing until revision stages. Do worry about your reader, and try to write for their enjoyment. If I can't tell what the word is, it's probably not the most effective word choice.

Also, I like this. One of my biggest worries with my character was that she would annoy readers. I just tried to be consistent with her dialogue and hoped for the best!