No, not that kind. 
I’m reading a contemporary, single-title romance, and it’s been a long process. 1–because it’s my “truck book” to read in drive-thru lines and such, and 2–because there aren’t any contractions! What is THAT? I understand the “southern” feel that maybe she was going for, but I’ve been south of the Mason-Dixon line and y’all use contractions. 
I thought it might be fun to decontract a few lines from a slice of one of my own scenes and see what it sounds like:
“What?†Was it not just her luck to bump into a cute guy whose elevator did not go all the way to the top? “Look, pal, I am not in the mood for any games right now, so if you move your cart I will just leave, okay?â€
“That is my car.â€
“What? I do not…†She looked over her shoulder, and the words died on her lips. Her travel mug was red, not blue. And her center console had not been that organized since it left the dealership.
“This is not my car!â€
The man smiled at her—cautiously, as if she might bite. “Like I said, it is my car. But there are a lot of them out there, so it is an easy enough mistake.â€
The tears welled with renewed vigor, and she flicked her wrist at the freshly abused fender. “I beat up your car.â€
Kind of sounds like Kevin Costner should be reading the hero’s lines. Like in Robin Hood when he says “You truly are a great one” in the most wooden line ever spoken in a movie. Blech.
I couldn’t write like that. It drives me batty right now just rereading that passage. It makes me wonder–does the author not think in contractions? And yes, I know the rhythm of speech is different, but still–not one single contraction?
Luckily, the power of copy and paste lets me put it back:
“What?†Wasn’t it just her luck to bump into a cute guy whose elevator didn’t go all the way to the top? “Look, pal, I’m not in the mood for any games right now, so if you move your cart I’ll just leave, okay?â€
“That’s my car.â€
“What? I don’t…†She looked over her shoulder, and the words died on her lips. Her travel mug was red, not blue. And her center console hadn’t been that organized since it left the dealership.
“This isn’t my car!â€
The man smiled at her—cautiously, as if she might bite. “Like I said, it’s my car. But there’s a lot of them out there, so it’s an easy enough mistake.â€
The tears welled with renewed vigor, and she flicked her wrist at the freshly abused fender. “I beat up your car.â€
In my book, voice and ease of reading trump grammar. 
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Okay, proper grammar rant over. *sigh* Just go with what sounds good.
Isn’t the whole idea of grammar to just give us a fairly consistent style of writing so that we can all understand what is trying to be said? Never mind that I’m a midwesterner and it is quite grammatically proper to end a sentence with a preposition. :neener:
Nicole
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Rant well taken. :cheesy: I think what I was going for was the presumption that the author sacrificed ease of reading for what she felt was proper grammar. But who knows? That might actually be the way she thinks and writes–just her voice.
I guess grammar use is an individual thing. Some people are very formal. Some people try to be good. And some just mangle it. Some even just make up words and grammar rules to suit their purpose. (Who knew decontract wasn’t a word? I did, but I used it anyway. :razz:)
I guess formal grammar in popular fiction just doesn’t ring true for me. Every single time the author doesn’t use a contraction when she could (should) have, it jerks me out of the story. It even effects the pacing.
But there are people who might read what I write and think “Geez, did she even get through eighth-grade English?”
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My DH read a couple of chapters for me the other day, and he made the comment that there were too many contractions! I had to argue with him and say I disagreed (of all the crits I’ve ever gotten from other people who actually write, that’s one thing that no one has ever said to me).
But, until I start hearing people actually say “Was it not” I’m going to stick with “Wasn’t”:grin:
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Oh, there definitely is a lack of grammar being taught in school. I think that’s just awful. I think the main reason I aced Modern Grammar in college was that I’d read so much. I couldn’t understand why people had so much trouble with it.
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:wtf: I CANT STAND NO CONTRACTIONS ya’ll
I mean I really truly can’t (which probably explains why I don’t read historicals much). It’s just not nat’ral. It makes my skin crawl. I still yell at a writer friend for not using them and she writes contemporaries. Waht was the name of that book so I don’t buy it?
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Unfortunately, there are some books I can’t name names on because of the day job.
But it’s not a new release, and chances are if you were going to read it, you would have.
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The first one kinda sounded like a conversation between the Coneheads or some alien race trying to get used to English.
It’s damn hard to write without contractions. I do that in my faeries and elves fantasy series because I’ve set it in a medieval time period and the language works without contractions. But to write witihout them deliberately makes my brain hurt.
People don’t speak without contractions. People don’t think without contractions. One of my biggest beefs with critiquers and editors are those who try to turn my mss into an English textbook. :wtf:
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The only place I’ve made a deliberate attempt to use less contractions is in my Frenchman WIP, in his POV. The slightly more formal language suggests a foreign inflection, IMO.
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