I've been told I should use more contractions in my writing - something my formal, old fashioned schooling seems to rebel against.
Is 'd'you' as in 'do you' acceptable ? even grammatically correct?
I've seen it in published books, I suppose it's okay in dialogue - but it grates on me I seem to have a lot of do you's in my novel and I'm thinking should I change them ?
Help! Any thoughts on the subject gratefully received ?
Contractions help to individualise characters as does formal speech. I use both. But only one of my characters uses formal speech.
I agree with the above too. Contractions help speech to sound more natural, unless you purposefully want a character to sound very formal & stilted.
I also struggled with contractions in my first draft and agree with Carla that it's best to read the passage out to see how it sounds - that's certainly worked for me. Also some of my characters use them and some don't, so as I'm learning more about the characters I'm finding it getting easier. I do think it is more natural in dialogue, but again it depends on the character. Sorry, that's probably a bit confusing but I hope it helps a little!