I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

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  • I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

    Okay very quick question... perhaps more a poll really.

    What's your collective views on using words like 'Wanna' or 'Gonna' in dialogue.

    I use it sparingly and it tends to get a mixed reaction.

    But to me the simple fact is that very view people actually say...

    'I'm going to do something.'

    I count myself as pretty articulate and I say

    'I'm gonna...'

    Same with Want to...

    'I wanna...'

    Is just more natural in this day and age. They're even recognized words in a lot of dictionaries now.

    So what's the general consensus?

  • #2
    Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

    I'm OK with gonna, use it myself sometimes depending on setting.

    Wanna puts me in mind of a spoiled little kid, I wanna do this, I wanna do that, I wanna.

    Neither is suitable for middle or upper class British characters.

    -Derek

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    • #3
      Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

      The characters in my scripts who speak that way must speak that way.

      Corona
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      Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

      Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
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      • #4
        Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

        That's what I thought.

        See the way I see it 80% of the english speaking world, use this kind of lazy abbreviation. Especially us slightly younger inarticulate rabble.

        It just feels unnatural for a character to say...

        'I'm going to be someone one day. I'm going to set the world alight.'

        The correct use of english lessens the impact of the line. When--

        'I'm gonna be someone one day. Gonna set the world alight.'

        --has so much more punch.

        Fact is I don't think I've ever written a character who would ever say 'Going to'... Cause I don't think anyone actually does (apart from period piece dramas or English upperclass as Derek said).

        So general consensus, to date.

        Usage of Gonna - 3
        Avoid like the plague - 0


        NOTE - Percentage statistic above plucked entirely from the air. It's only 50% likely that 80% speak like that......and that's only 50/50.

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        • #5
          Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

          After reading your post and saying back the lines you used, I found myself saying "going to" more often than gonna. I'm a 42 year-old female from the midwest...college educated...stay-at-home mom...

          I think that gonna and wanna tend to be for younger people. Lyrics in songs use gonna and wanna more than regular speech in my opinion. You may want to have people who fit your characters read some of the lines and get their opinions to see if that is what they would say...I'm just sayin'

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          • #6
            Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

            Originally posted by Harbinger View Post
            'I'm going to be someone one day. I'm going to set the world alight.'

            The correct use of english lessens the impact of the line. When--

            'I'm gonna be someone one day. Gonna set the world alight.'

            --has so much more punch.
            And there's the danger: The first line reads as a Brit or an educated Yank waxing mildly poetical ('alight' sounding a little archaic sometimes) ...

            But it works.

            The second one, to my ear, is a jumble: UNLESS it's a song lyric, no one who sez 'gonna' would then say 'alight'

            If yer countin' votes, innumerate me amongst those whut shout out agin' it, lil feller!

            The characters in my scripts who speak that way must speak that way.
            They crowned him because he spoke wisely.

            Maybe write the correct English, and let the actor add the nuances, accents, etc. SLANG or JARGON are different issues, imo, but gonna/shouldah/nuthin' vs nuh-un ... comes a little close to reading and sounding like Brer Rabbit!
            sigpic
            "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -
            that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves."
            -Mahatma Gandhi.

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            • #7
              Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

              Abbreviation and slang are perfectly acceptable.

              "Let's do dat."
              "I dun wanna."
              "Aw, c'mon."
              "Ok."

              As for wanna and gonna, I'd rather just spell out want to or going to so the character doesn't inadvertently come off as sounding like a redneck, but I still use them sometimes.

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              • #8
                Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

                read almost any elmore leonard or thomas wolfe's bonfire of the vanities. I can't imagine those books without the language used in dialogue. if you want a character to speak a certain way you've gotta(heh) write it that way.
                "everything a writer learns about the art and craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. in the end he knows all the tricks and has nothing to say."

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                • #9
                  Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

                  'I'm gonna be someone one day. Gonna set the world alight.'
                  Why does this line remind me of Death Of A Salesman?

                  Anway I use gonna and wanna as well in real life most of the time...going to run a search in my scripts and see if I've used them there.

                  Okay: in the script I'm writing now I have 1 use of "gonna", no "wanna" and no "gotta". In my last script I have 4 uses of "gonna", 2 "wanna" and 8 "gotta".

                  Mind you the last script has characters in their 20's and the tone is less serious...whereas in the one I'm writing now the tone is more serious.

                  What has this proved? Probably nothing.

                  IMO It's a character thing and it's a tone thing.
                  One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. - French Proverb

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                  • #10
                    Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

                    In the South we're always fixin' something. Fixin' to go out for dinner,
                    fixin' to make a call, fixin' to get to our homework. Just make sure that's
                    the way your character talks. They can't say gonna then say going-to.

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                    • #11
                      Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

                      a.) I'm going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild.
                      b.) I'm gonna beat you like a red-headed stepchild.

                      'b' tends to pack more punch, IMO.
                      si

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                      • #12
                        Re: I wanna use em so I'm gonna.

                        Acceptable so long as it fits the character's speech patterns.

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