Don't, can't, didn't, wouldn't, shouldn't, and more...

This post is all about writing with an apostrophe, and I don't mean the technical use of said punctuation mark- I mean the way we write with words like, won't, can't, couldn't, shouldn't, didn't (etc.). 

I grew up in a world where the phrase "can not" was an acceptable way to write. It was formal. It was preferred in certain circumstances. When I became a real writer, my editor asked me why the hell I "did not" use apostrophes... 

Yeah, you thought this post was about something else. I tricked you. This post is about contractions!

I resisted it for a long time because I was taught that they were informal writing in most cases. The truth is this; they are informal, and that is their value. A novel is informal writing, and one of the crucial things that makes a book readable is its flow. Contractions make that flow more enjoyable and easier to read. Humans don't speak in completely formal language. 

I write novels, but for a long time (and it can still be seen in my earlier work, such as "Patchwork Indigo"), I built a habit of avoiding them. I read them differently in my head, they sounded okay to me, not true for everyone else. Other people found them awkward and hard to read. Often they would tell me that there was something about the flow that made them cumbersome. For a long time, I didn't know what that was. 

As I wrote more and more and started having my work read back to me, it became apparent that my stories were missing contractions. In turn, they sounded robotic. Contractions, such as the list mentioned above, made them easier to read, comprehend, and sound better- especially the believability of the dialogue. When I started using contractions in my work, my writing improved exponentially. 

There are a few instances where not using them can benefit the writer. Not using a contraction in a passage where the writer wants to add some atmosphere can improve the reader's interpretation of the passage and add a "mood" to it. This is especially true where said dialogue is happening, and the intent is to make something sound more important, more intense, or creepy. 

Some other examples are period pieces where the language wouldn't match with contractions. Sometimes we may want to slow the reader down. Lastly, robots. Robots don't use contractions, or at least it was thought they do not. 

We'll see when our robot overlords arrive. 

So there you have it, another tip for all you writers out there, get to know and practice the use of contractions. They can make your writing more palatable.  

Cheers, and keep on creating!