Writing like Austen: contractions

It has often been observed that if one wishes to talk like a Jane Austen character, one must first eschew contractions. And you can imagine that for someone writing a Jane Austen/Sherlock Holmes mashup, I want to obey the rules. But leaving out contractions is powerful hard, and Austen herself does use them — sparingly.

Examining Pride and Prejudice, I find that won’t is used once, by Mr. Bingley: “It may do very well for the others,” replied Mr. Bingley; “but I am sure it will be too much for Kitty. Won’t it, Kitty?” However, the construction “will not” is used 73 times (both in dialog and in descriptive passages), so obviously Miss Austen showed great restraint.

In Sense and Sensibility, however, won’t is used 14 times, for instance in Chapter 20 by Mrs. Jennings: “Come, come, this won’t do, Colonel; so let us hear the truth of it.”

“Will not” admittedly appears 42 times, so again great restraint, but still a significant percentage.

I believe S&S was started in 1795 and P&P in 1796, with novels finally published in 1813, so I can’t see that the usage of contractions would have changed from one book to another. For all I know, it could be the fault of the pesky editors that have come to vex Austen fans. I simply claim this as ammunition for my own use of contractions. I think they were far more common than is apparent in an Austen novel.

In neither novel, however, I find no use of isn’t and didn’t, so I think I shall steer clear of those, but I shan’t avoid shan’t, used several times in each.