My first poll experiment – contractions in fiction

I’ve never run a poll before. As I’m planning to write a blog focusing on what I’ve learnt about editing, I thought this little experiment might be fun.

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When my editor, Alison Williams, first mentioned to me ‘There are places where your writing sounds a little too formal, a little strained, usually where you haven’t used contractions’ I was a bit confused. I’d always thought you could only use contractions in dialogue.

I headed straight to my overflowing bookcase and checked out my favourite fantasy authors (David Gemmell, Robin Hobb) and a whole selection of other novels in every genre I own. I checked old and newly published works, and of course I researched the subject online. I was amazed to find that authors have been using contractions all this time and I hadn’t realised. It’s one of those things you just don’t notice unless you’re looking for it. I hope I’m not alone in my confusion, it certainly seems to be a much covered topic on the internet.

Please join in the poll, share and comment. If it works, I’ll be writing about the results next week.