Contractions Used Outside of Dialog

[Wayne Mack]

From another thread and seems to be a better fit here.

I was always taught not to use abbreviated forms like he'd or they'd (unless it is in dialogue, of course). I'm curious to see what others think about this.

I'm curious as well. I had done a great deal of writing in business settings and learned to avoid using any contractions. I am now trying to retrain myself to use them. Should contractions be used only in dialog or do they help in the flow of descriptive text as well?

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

To make matters more complicated, I don't (geddit?) hesitate to use them in emails and general written communications. But I avoid them in reports and in my fictional scribblings.

 

[The Judge]

I agree that it's best to use more formal language in business reports and the like, and I would rarely if ever have used contractions at work in court documents, but I don't see any objection to using them in narrative nowadays, provided they fit the scene, especially if you're writing in close third, where the narrative can be seen as an extension of the character's POV.

The answer always is -- does it work? Use contractions if you want, or don't if you don't want -- personally I use them as occasion demands, not only for characterisation in narrative, but for rhythm and sentence structure -- but to my mind the overriding issue should be whether their use enhances or detracts from the prose and/or the story. (And in the Challenges, whether using them helps with getting under word count!)

 

[Ursa major]

Should contractions be used only in dialog or do they help in the flow of descriptive text as well?

It's your call, really. As with all "rules", they are guidelines: breaking them is okay when it works.

If one writes in third person omniscient, one would be writing as the (possibly/probably unnamed) narrator... possibly with one eye on how such things are currently dealt with in the genre of the story one is writing and another on the society in which the narrator might be living.

In my WiPs (close third person), the narrative is mostly a toned-down version of the way the PoV character would talk for that part** of the narrative would talk, with the degree of toning down also being PoV-character-dependent so, for some PoV characters, there's not much toning down at all, meaning that there are lots of contractions in their narrative, whereas with other PoV characters, the narration is much more formal.

I'm also quite keen on using Free Indirect Speech, which is, in effect, the thoughts of the PoV character but, instead of writing these in first person and present tense, they remain in third person and the tense of the narration. (I've written a post on Free Indirect Speech <link>. Jane Austen uses it, so it's not that new-fangled.) How close they are to the narrative style or the speech of the PoV character is, again, up to the writer.


** - I use multiple PoV characters.

 

[tinkerdan]

Formal writing frowns on contractions.
Narrative: in the past might have; however, I think it depends on the narrator voice you chose.
Mark Twain was free with contractions and all sorts of colloquial idiosyncrasies in much of his writing.

 

[HareBrain]

I don't see any objection to using them in narrative nowadays, provided they fit the scene, especially if you're writing in close third, where the narrative can be seen as an extension of the character's POV.

This is how I approach it, and I do vary it according to the character. I don't go so far as to try to make the character's close-third narrative mimic how they would speak, but contractions are one of the things I use, or don't, to give a bit of the right feel.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

As the guilty party of the original critique - I write as if I’m in the character’s thoughts and head and that means I use contractions as in dialogue. In a business report I wouldn’t do that but I do in blogs etc.

 

[Swank]

I've made an effort to use more double contractions in my writing. I've been told before that I shouldn't've.

 

[paranoid marvin]

It's your call, really. As with all "rules", they are guidelines: breaking them is okay when it works.

If one writes in third person omniscient, one would be writing as the (possibly/probably unnamed) narrator... possibly with one eye on how such things are currently dealt with in the genre of the story one is writing and another on the society in which the narrator might be living.

In my WiPs (close third person), the narrative is mostly a toned-down version of the way the PoV character would talk for that part** of the narrative would talk, with the degree of toning down also being PoV-character-dependent so, for some PoV characters, there's not much toning down at all, meaning that there are lots of contractions in their narrative, whereas with other PoV characters, the narration is much more formal.

I'm also quite keen on using Free Indirect Speech, which is, in effect, the thoughts of the PoV character but, instead of writing these in first person and present tense, they remain in third person and the tense of the narration. (I've written a post on Free Indirect Speech <link>. Jane Austen uses it, so it's not that new-fangled.) How close they are to the narrative style or the speech of the PoV character is, again, up to the writer.


** - I use multiple PoV characters.

This is it in a nutshell. In most cases the author of the story is speaking to the reader. As a generalisation, I would say that contractions make the style of writing more friendly and intimate, as though someone is speaking to you.

A quick reference to two of my 'go-to' books , Tolkien uses contractions in speech, but not otherwise. Douglas Adams uses contractions within and without speech.

Bilbo suddenly remembered that he'd left the front door unlocked.

Bilbo suddenly remembered that he had left the front door unlocked.

Does it really matter which of these sentences was used? And would anyone even realise (or care?).

 

[Rjalex]

In fiction I default to contractions because contractions are by definition shorter and usually with no loss of clarity. So my logical brain asks. “What’s the down side.” If I need to communicate a sense of formality then I won’t use contractions.

 

[mrmcduff]

I'd say that for a narrative, it depends on the non-spoken voice of the narration. It's similar to whether or not you'd use curse words in narration. Is your narrator an ai-driven courtroom recorder telling a story? Then probably not. But if it is meant to be "on the shoulder" of a teenager, you might even use text abbreviations.