Before I discuss whether proper grammar is important in fiction writing, I would like to give some information about my evolving relationship with grammar. Discussions about grammar on the internet have often become as heated as those about religion or abortion, which is why I feel it so important to disclose my bias. No matter what you think about grammar, please read the following with an open mind.
I was educated in a school that was extremely strict about proper grammatical usage. I spent hours every day for years analyzing the grammatical structure of sentence after sentence. At the time and for many years after, I was very particular about grammar. The mathematical simplicity and elegance of it appealed to me. Making a coherent sentence was only a matter of following a formula. No complexity. Just words in the right place. Since that time, I have re-evaluated the emphasis we place upon correct grammatical usage, especially in fiction writing.
When my use of the subjunctive and putting the comma before a “For” clause were edited out by other equally enthusiastic grammarians, I began to question. I had thought the rules were cut and dry but the more I read, the more I learned how many grammatical rules are debated. Many of those rules have no more justification than personal preference though the people debating them are convinced otherwise (see absolutely any debate about the Oxford comma). The fervour in these debates really made me wonder. If it is so important to use correct grammar, then why are the rules so easily debated? And how can one be expected to use correct grammar when the rules keep changing?
Finally, I learned in my Linguistic Anthropology courses that the natural state of any language is change. New ways of speaking replace the old and those new ways are not necessarily any better or worse. More importantly, I learned how important informal language is to comprehension. When IQ tests were presented in vernacular, students tended to score higher than when proper English was used. If the entire point of grammar is to ensure comprehension, then it appears to fail at its only task.
Then what is the point?
To figure this out, I began to question when poor grammar had affected my enjoyment of a story. I have stopped reading some books because the grammar was so poor I could barely comprehend what was happening in the story. In other cases, I was able to ignore atrocious violations of grammatical rules simply because something else about the story captivated me. Am I an exception in this ability to enjoy a grammatically lacking story?
Many who think of themselves as “real” writers often bemoan the popularity of such authors as Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer. Indeed, a search for “poor grammar Twilight” brought up 162,000 hits. Yet, the Twilight series is one of the most financially successful series of all time. It is not just financial success either; the fan base for the Twilight books is immense and includes all ages. Regardless of what you think of Twilight (it is not my cup of tea), Stephanie Meyer must have done something right. She is not the first to write a paranormal romance that includes both werewolves and vampires. That genre is decades old. Why have her works hit the jackpot while others have not? Could it be that her writing style, with all its grammatical errors, connects more easily with most readers than books edited ad nauseum?
Recently, I have begun to feel that is exactly what is happening.
I write fantasy of all types. Some of my work I have painstakingly edited, had several others well versed in grammar and style edit them, and then re-edited them myself. For others, I deliberately tried to avoid such a focus. I have received the most positive of feedback for work in the latter category. One comment I received was that the reader cared more about the characters. They found it easier to connect because the work just flowed, whether or not it followed the rules. I felt awkwardly liberated after receiving those comments and have since tried my best not to focus upon grammar though I still fight an internal struggle over it. I have forced myself to keep mistakes when it seemed correcting them would not enhance the soul of the work.
Does this mean we should never care about grammar in writing? No, but we do need to look at it differently. We need to ask ourselves who our audience is and what genre we are writing.
If your intended audience is the average person, a strict adherence to grammar might be alienating. Being unaware of grammatical rules is not the same as being illiterate. Authors need to remember that distinction when considering a wide audience. However, if your intended audience is highly educated English majors who will understand every technical element employed in your work, ignoring grammar is obviously a bad idea.
As for what you are writing, the principle is the same as when choosing music for a movie. Nothing kills the mood of a movie faster than poorly matched music. High epic fantasy with 80s pop music can turn an enthralling story into a cheesefest. The same can be said of grammar. If you are writing an urban fantasy about street kids trying to save the world, chances are that strict adherence to grammar would take away from the feel. However, if you are writing a high epic set in a historically-inspired period, modern vernacular would come across as embarrassing.
Please note that I am not talking about characters’ speech but the entire text. Many authors would agree that it is acceptable to include poor grammar if it is a quirk of speech of a specific character. I am arguing for allowing poor grammar throughout the text to ensure that the author’s way of speaking comes through. We need to emphasize the unique character of each story, not hammer every one into a contrived grammatical formula. To do that would ensure every story sounds the same.
I am likely not the first person to suggest this rebellious approach. Indeed, there are endless literary examples of authors flouting these rules to great affect (e.g. The Colour Purple). Despite this, blog after blog, writing manual after writing manual, purports that nothing kills a good story faster than poor grammar. In my view, nothing kills a story faster than such strict adherence to grammar as to destroy a story’s individual soul.
Do we always have to know what the rules are before we throw them away? Many of those who applaud deliberate use of poor grammar would argue such knowledge is essential. Even until a few days ago, I too thought it was but Stephanie Meyer’s success proves otherwise.