Or the character might be trying to sound formal or highbrow. Or a character might come from a country where contractions aren't common.
For instance, someone in the habit of writing or speaking in formal settings, such as a professor, might use fewer contractions. You can definitely write a character who doesn't use contractions or rarely uses them. That's why the above phrases “how is,” “it is,” and “I am” all feel a bit clunky and awkward. use contractions the majority of the time. There are times people choose to speak without contractions, usually for emphasis: “I did not take that last cookie.” (I didn't, really.) “You are not going out again tonight.”īut most, though not all, English speakers in the U.S. All can be easily fixed.įirst, the dialogue includes no contractions. There are a few things here that make the dialogue distracting and hard to read.
“Yes, that is so terrible!” Jack exclaimed. Did you hear there was a fire in the grocery store?” “Hi, Sharon, I am happy to see you, too,” Jack commented. Here's an example of a dialogue section I made up that's a little extreme but isn't far from what's in the book: Which is too bad, as it's a mystery/thriller, and I love its concept. Recently I read a novel where the dialogue and dialogue tags distracted me to the point that I almost couldn't finish the book.
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