Though it may not make much of a difference at first, in the long run, avoiding contractions while writing can be quite helpful.
Don't, which is one word, can immediately become do not. What do you know, that's two words. I'm becomes I am, won't become will not, shouldn't becomes should not, and the list just keeps going.
Though you should be avoiding contractions in your writing anyway, (cough) I was thinking more along the lines of your dialogue. I only noticed this recently, which I had a particularly nasty string of dialogue, and everyone kept repeating you're and I'm.
Yay, handy tips.
----------
40,003 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 19 20
But what about characterization? You can't have ALL your characters stuttering versions of Data.
----------I just finished, at 40k. I'll be adding a prologue.
9,130 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 19 27
Yeah, I thought of that. That's what December editing is for!
14,071 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 19 31
I definitely needed this. I don't really think about, so contractions are everywhere in my story...and amazingly, I'm not 10 bazillion words behind.
----------But now, I suppose it'll wait until December. Yes, I am that lazy.
2008: Ember of Ice (failed majorly, 12K out of 50K )
2009: Behind the Clouds (about 13K; wheee!)
NaNo '09 Updates:
Number of Long Dream Sequences to Fill Up Word Count: 3
Number of Characters Killed: 0
Times Wanted to Throw my Computer Out the Window
50,037 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 01
I can't allow myself to avoid contractions. I don't want my novel to have prissy "do nots" and such on every page... Sigh.
----------32,055 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 14
Definitely! I'm trying to get rid of mine without making my story sound old-timey-ish.
39,158 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 36
My story has royalty so Can not will not are okay for it.
I did the find and replace thingy on Microsoft word and I replaced as many contractions as I could think of and I got 155 more words! :D
----------Days in: 19
Number of characters killed: 8 secondary characters and a whole bunch of un-named ones.(I'm feeling blood thirsty)
70,430 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 21 29
Too bad can't becomes cannot, which is still one word. :'(
-----------Kate
i'm not broke but you can see the cracks
you can make me perfect again.
when i was all messed up and i heard opera in my head
your love was a lightbulb hanging over my head.
50,583 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 21 34
Why should we be avoiding contractions anyway, haha?
----------Having been called in here very many times over the past few months to answer for this or that misdemeanor, Oliver was well acquainted with the room's nuances and eccentricities – most of them fungal.
50,567 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 22 07
I deliberately avoid contractions during NaNo. I know it sounds stilted in November. But I smooth things out in November.
I also use long strings of words denoting some of my main characters. My view point character is Lin, daughter of King Arthur/the Pendargon. So now, whenever she mentions him it is: "my father, who is also the Pendragon." I know it is clutzy and not necessary. But that's 5 extra words every time thae character comes up. And it is a lot!
My other word padding genious is through another character--Dafydd. In earlier books it is established that Lin and Dafydd grew up believing they are siblings. It turns out they are not. So in this NaNO I have come up the brilliant word string for when Lin mentions Dafydd: "who was my foster brother but the brother of my very heart and very soul". 15 words at every mention of a rally important character.
Adverbs are also your friends in NaNo. Things your Inner Editor tells you to avoid are great sources for word padding. You can always cut them later.
And in NaNo, whenever I use dialogue tags it's: I said (to him) or he said (to me), etc.
----------Debra Kemp
The House of Pendragon continues
The Firebrand
The Recruit
The Warrrior
50,567 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 22 12
That is the preferred way now, but it really is acceptable either way--one word or two (at least it has been in the past). And in NaNo it is: can not . And who's to know in your MS during the month of November?
Debra Kemp
----------The House of Pendragon continues
The Firebrand
The Recruit
The Warrrior
Debra Kemp
The House of Pendragon continues
The Firebrand
The Recruit
The Warrrior
47,161 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 02 56
I used to do that, but this year contractions are my friend. I tend to switch between the contracted and non-contracted form while in dialogue, because that solves the issue of repeating everything. In this NaNo, however, I don't shun contractions like I used to. It helps pace the story for me.
----------hope is more than a postponed disappointment.
49,154 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 04 24
I actually lucked out in this department this year. The character I'm writing from the point of view of was one of the MCs in my previous book and one of his personality quirks was that he spoke very proper and never used contractions. The scenes in his POV for that book never used them either, as they were written as his first-person journaling.
That said, since the book is actually being written like that to be read like that, I have to really consider the wording of sentences so that they flow easily while still sounding proper. It slows me down a bit, but I still get the words out of it.
----------2008 - A Body of Stars (Finished - 110k)
40,835 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 12
Hm, I'll give this a try. Let's see what happens when I use Find/Replace to change some of my contractions into two separate words.
Isn't- 4
didn't- 1
doesn't- 5
wouldn't- 6
I'm- 28
you're- 14
we're- 3
I'll look for more contractions later. Those amount to 61 new words, and keep in mind that I've already been consciously avoiding contractions to up my word count!
In truth, it probably would have taken me the same amount of time to write 61 words as it did to find and change those contractions, but when I'm really stuck and I want to up my word count in any way I can, this will be a great way to do so!
Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but here is a broad list of contractions organized in chart form: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/contractions/list.shtml
----------My first year participating in NaNoWriMo.
Day 24 of 30.
79% of the month is completed. 80% of my novel is completed.
I have ingested about 6 GRAMS(!) & 357.8 mg of caffeine.
I have ingested about 15 alcoholic beverages.
Next goal: 50k by November 26
50,232 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 29
Hmm, maybe I will do that near the end of the month. I'll save it as a new file, and find and replace to expand my contractions. That way, I still have the file WITH contractions to reduce the amount of editing needed later.
----------I don't expect to be under 50k with contractions though.
Donate & get your own shiny halo!
46,605 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 53
I've been sort of flitting in and out of using contractions. I hate my dialogue without them, but I'm going to put them back in after November. But if I'm already ahead on my wordcount I use as many contractions as I want.
----------Writer's block is for pansies. That's right, I said it.
51,961 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 54
I'm avoiding contractions in the narrative part of things. I didn't realize how much I used them tehre. IN characters' speech patterns, I am having them use contractions as they normally would. I like how it's working so far, not just for word count but for making the narrative bits seem more important than they otherwise would have been.
----------If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise – attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it. (H. G. Wells)