Monday, September 6, 2010

Contractions – Go with the Flow

Part of the real skill behind good writing is to make it look easy. And it looks easy when it flows off the tongue with a sweet sounding rhythm that’s effortless to understand. So what is one way we can achieve this flow?

We use contractions. A contraction is two words turned into one. For example: ‘can not’ becomes can’t; ‘do not’ becomes don’t; ‘you are’ becomes you’re.

Written contractions work because they reflect speech which is the most common way we communicate with each other. It’s a natural sound we hear every day and so we’re comfortable with the shortened rhythms. When we write like we speak, we give the reader a familiar ground to visit our stories. They aren’t distracted by the writing.

If we decide to write every word in full, then our writing begins to sound stilted. We force the readers to stumble or pause because it’s not a familiar rhythm. Because of this the piece often gains an air of pompousness.

If you don’t want a natural flow to your writing, or you want to achieve a certain level of formality, then go for it. The full words work well in any formal document. You could have a character who speaks without contractions, but they will sound robotic – much like Data in the Star Trek Next Gen series. Sometimes it works, but you’ll find mostly it doesn’t.

Do you use all the common contractions all of the time? Do you mix it up? Or do you think too many contractions make a piece too informal?

36 comments:

Ashley Ashbee said...

Yes, "robotic" is the perfect word for the formality of not using contractions! I also totally agree that contractions definitely allow for more flow and more conversational prose.

Not using contractions is also a great way to add emphasis, as in: "You do NOT speak to me like that."

Charmaine Clancy said...

Good point. I use them mostly in dialogue and often in my descriptions, but use the formal style when I want to emphasise a point. Eg:
"I did! I did, I did." Shiela insisted. She did not.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Here's the contraction I do not (see how I did not contract for emphasis lol) like to see too much-- the 'd one. This is fairly new actually, you never used to see it and I think it was frowned on. But now with YA lit taking over the world, the 'd contraction is everywhere. When I'm editing, I take it out. Except in some dialogue where it fits. But definitely not in the narrative bits.

Anonymous said...

A few of my characters do speak in a more formal way, but even they use contractions. It IS possible to get away with some when you have a "pompous' character. For example, I always use "I don't understand" instead of "I do not understand," regardless of who's speaking.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Loveable_homebody, absolutely, great point. (I forgot to mention that). It's still not something you would use a lot though.

Charmaine, again, great point. It becomes an emphasis because it breaks the usual pattern.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

KarenG - Another great point. Language is something that evolves and in todays world it's becoming more and more popular to shorten/ contract words. The good thing is, there's not much call for 'd outside dialogue anyway (imo).

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Amanda, 'don't' is so common that it's natural for even the most pompous of characters to use it :)

Jemi Fraser said...

I use contractions most of the time in dialogue and a lot of the time in the narrative as well. I'm so NOT a formal person :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Jemi, hehe, I love the way you put that.

Al said...

I tend to mix it up. Some characters sound great contracting everything. Others who are more formal don't contract so much.
Nice to meet you, thanks to Karen G!

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Not something I've ever really thought about ...... until now. Thanks for an interesting, thought provoking piece.

DEZMOND said...

Well I feel I am British so I follow RP and usually do not use contractions and back when I was working as a professor I was encouraging my students not to use contractions. Off course, in books, using contractions in dialogues helps make it more natural as you said.
What do you think about using bad language in books? In my native language we do not use to many bad words in everyday speech (which does not mean we do not have a rich arsenal when swearing:) ) so I am always surprised when I see the F word all around in English books :))

Unknown said...

For me, it depends on the character and the mood. Those learning English rarely use them and neither do those who are angry and trying to enunciate every word.

CD

Unknown said...

"Part of the real skill behind good writing is to make it look easy." Couldn't have said it better myself.

I think it all depends on what I'm working on to whether or not I use them.

Talli Roland said...

I'm all about contractions unless I want to emphasise a point. I agree - it sounds much more natural.

Deniz Bevan said...

For some reason when I was younger I got it into my head that "real" writers never used contractions - thank goodness I know better now :-)

Great to meet you at Karen G's BBQ!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Al, great to meet you too! And yep it's good to mix it up. Variety is a good thing when done with care.

Petty, thanks

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Dez - yep, I was always taught not to use them, but the language has changed a fair bit since then and its a whole lot more acceptable to contract. It's in some article guidelines too recocommending the writer to use contractions for non fiction.

As for bad language, I personally don't need to be bombarded by f bombs in books. I guess I can be a bit of a snob in that respect. I can understand its use for certain horrible characters but I'm not in a hurry to read about those characters anyway. But that's just me.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Clarissa, yes! Another good point! Anger is a great example of not contracting your words. Nice one :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Jen - in my teens I got sucked into writing because I thought it looked easy. By the time I realised it wasn't, it was too late for me. I was hooked ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Talli, when I first started writing articles I'd not contract and I'd read it out loud and wonder why my articles sounded so stiff ;)

Deniz, I think that's what we were all taught in school -- Do not contract! lol. Times change. Language changes. Great to meet you!

M Pax said...

Depends on the mood and tone of the story how often I used contractions. But, yes, I use them.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

M Pax, definitely mood is an important factor to consider when using contractions.

RaShelle Workman said...

Hi Lynda - I so agree. Contractions are great! I use more formal speech for a character I'm writing back in 500ad, but for current day, I def use contractions. Great post!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

RaShelle, yes, the formality would work well for 500AD :)

vic caswell said...

for some reason, i thought this post was going to be about labor!!! :) jiminey, my brain is sleepy!

i use contractions often, but if i want to make a point stick out i separate the words to slow down the flow of the narration or dialogue for the reader and draw their attention to the bit.

Anonymous said...

I keep it simple. I use contractions in dialogue, bur rarely if ever while narrating. that's my rule of thumg. I think it looks unprofessional to read contractions anywhere other than dialogue.

Stephen Tremp

Rachna Chhabria said...

Good post, Lynda! Earlier I never used contractions, but my editor got me used to it. Now I just can't seem to write without them.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Aspiring, lol!! And yes, good place to not use contractions :)

Stephen, when I was writing a lot of articles, many magazines stipulate that they WANT contractions because of the easier way it reads. But that's non-fiction.

Rachna, hehe, times change. It's often a personal preference of a writer, but it's becoming more the norm.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Great post! I use contractions, but I mix it up depending on the character and audience. You're right about our writing sounding too stilted if we keep it formal all the time. :-)

Perri said...

It definitely depends on the tone I'm trying to achieve and the characters themselves. I don't have any set rules about contractions... though I find I do use them a lot.

There is a more formal feel to non-contracted prose.

Samantha Vérant said...

Amen, my sister from down under. I don't know how many times I've corrected this problem when beta-reading. It drives me nuts! Yes. I should not go out with Ted. He is a bad guy. Nooo! I shouldn't go out with Ted because he's a bad guy! Then again, I'm sort of attracted to the bad boys, but you get my drift.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Shannon, every rule about writing has an added amendment that can change depending on the feel we're after :)

Perri, yep, I use them a lot too. It just feels more comfortable for the type of things I write :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Samantha, lol, yep I get your drift :) And welcome :)

Stina said...

In my last wip, for some reason I missed making the "I'd" contraction. One agent had commented that my voice was slightly off but she couldn't figure out what it was. I never clued in what I had done . . . until my current wip. One of my crit partners pointed it out. Funny thing is I read my ms out loud (like you should), so I'm not sure why I didn't notice it. Maybe I was reading it as "I'd" instead of "I had".

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Stina, it wouldn't surprise me if you were reading it as "I'd". We naturally contract our words...even when we read.