I've been researching the use of contractions in fiction and the more I explore the more confused I become.
There appears to be an acceptance of contractions when writing dialogue, which is a direct copy of how we speak (I'm ok with this one).
The main body of fiction (ie. not dialogue) however, seems to be mixed. Some authors will and others don't (or do not).
What is the correct method for today's literary world?
Thanks Paul for your valuable opinion! What you say makes sense, writing is constantly changing and becoming more modern.
I started with contractions in dialogue and long-hand for narration but found it tedious to read and a little old fashion. I went back and changed it all to contractions... then became unsure if I had done the right thing!
I appreciate all your comments and have decided to stick with contractions until I'm told otherwise by an agent or publisher!
Thank you all for your feedback
Dialogue should be natural and in most cases therefore containing a lot of contractions. You generally find people don't contract when they're either making an important point or perhaps angry though.
One interesting point is that people with higher IQ's and (dare I say it) of upper class origins, tend to use contractions far less than people lower down the pecking order. This, by the way, is no form of snobbery on my part; it's just something I've picked up when working around the globe and moving in different circles, where I realised my speech and mannerisms sometimes singled me out for silent ridicule. In fact, if you are speaking with someone whose first language is not English, then both of you will probably need to speak mainly without contractions.
As for the non-dialogue parts of the work, it would seem false and contrived to have no or few contractions, but there certainly shouldn't be as many as in common speech. That could give the impression of laziness. A lot of editors and reviewers get turned off if they perceive (perhaps incorrectly) that the author has been lazy. It's a capital offence.
So perhaps you're looking at anything from 2:1 to 3:1 in favour of contractions for dialogue, but possible 1:1 for non-dialogue.
Good luck.
PabloJ
Hi Carla and everyone else... I tend to write using contractions all the time unless I want someone to make a point in dialogue without them having to shout, and I use that same method for narration also. It does seem that writing is constantly changing and becoming more modern and the written word is getting closer to the way we speak, but I tend to write the way I speak anyway, so it's amazing anybody can understand.
Regards Paul
PS just the way I see it of course. Opinions, opinions all is opinions!