posted
I had someone read the first part of a story I am working on and one of her criticisms was about my dialogue. She felt I should use more contractions. She said it would sound more like conversation. My argument in defense was that my story is in a fantasy setting in a made up world similar to the middle ages of earth and I am not sure that they used a lot of contractions in their speech. To me excessive use of contractions make the dialogue too modern. I used some, but not a lot. Regardless, I wanted some opinions on the topic.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Do what's best for your story. A lot of people will tell you to do dialog one way or another----then all your characters would sound the same. If formal speach is what is used in your wrold then use formal speach.
posted
Sometimes 'tis useful to use alternate contractions, in other cases it may become necessary to use constructions that do not lend themselves to contractions. Either will give your language a decided 'accent'. But simply avoiding the use of any contractions might be making your dialogue seem rather stilted.
Contractions are a natural part of all human speech, though it is not common to all written languages (particularly those with traditional orthographies). Back in the days of middle English, contractions were actually more common in writing (more com'n'n' writin') than they are today.
On the other hand, if only one critic is bothered by the lack of contractions, then it is probably not a problem. Any given critic will give you flak over something that no one else is going to care about at all. But if others also have trouble with it, then you definately need to give thought to changing it.
posted
Contractions date back to Old English, I believe. For examples of contractions in the middle ages, just pick up some Shakespeare. Of course, you probably don't want your characters to sound like that. I guess you just have to use your judgment--not so many that it sounds modern and slangy, and not so few that your dialogue sounds stilted and fake.
Posts: 83 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
The point is that it's your world. While based on the Middle Ages, do what yuo like. Personally, when writing fantasy, I use contractions. I think it makes the reader a little more comfortable. Take a look at David Eddings who does one of the best jobs creating a fantasy world (never getting that much credt for doing so though) and one of the most enjoyable thing about his writing his you feel like part of the world without heavy descriptive prose and natural flowing dialogue which sounds time appropriate, but still uses contractions and the such.
posted
I think the use of contractions is a broader topic, which is: do we want our reader to have it easier, or do we have her to do some more work. I mean, contractions make it easier to read, but so does the use of shorter sentences. How about that? I think we all have to make this desicion at some point: how to find this balance for your fiction between too complicated and too easy reading. It's a fragile thing, I am not sure it's dione consciously. Janna
Posts: 5 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I forget who, but someone said that swearing in Galactic Standard four-thousand years from now, translated into current English, would sound like...someone swearing in current English.
So I would say not to worry about whether the contractions fit into the period you are writing about, but rather whether the contractions fit into the character you are writing about. Does it make him seem lazy, uneducated, or relaxed? Is that what you want the reader to think about him? Whether both the educated and uneducated used to say "ain't so" back in your time period, to the modern reader, only the uneducated would say "ain't so." So consider the reader's reaction.
Of course, if you have a modern character dealing with Medievel characters, then the point of contractions is how the modern character responds to them. Or, if you are trying to portray a different culture, then more or fewer contractions could give that sense of difference. (Like the way Data in "Star Trek, the Next Generation" never used contractions.) Or even if you want it to be authentic to the period, and don't mind confusing the reader.
But all else being equal, I'd say consider the effect on the reader.
posted
Writing dialogue is tricky stuff. It's also important, because when it doesn't ring true to the story and characters, it really throws the reader off.
On the flip side, using different things in your dialogue can really "set the mood" for whatever it is you're trying to get across.
For example, public oration in the US Congress has gone from being very high-brow to being fairly conversational in the last couple hundred years. But the Senate still sounds different than the House- if you can stand it, watch some debate on C-Span and C-Span 2 sometime.
Okay, forget that. Bad idea.
Seriously, I think that your dialogue needs to move the story along while setting the mood. Striking the balance between setting the mood is a tricky thing, but it's a matter of style- if we all did it the same way, nobody would read books, because they'd all sound/look/feel the same. And they'd suck.
I'd say write by *your style* and then, as Survivor said, if everyone who reads it comes up with the same criticism, it's time to consider changing it. If it's just one person, ignore them.
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