Gonna and wanna

How do you feel about quoting people exactly? Do you leave it as gonna (or wanna) or change it to going (or want to)?

 

We've been over this several times.

If you actually quote the way people pronounce words, you'll have them sayin' waddaya know and struck 'im out and I don't b'lieve it and get outta here and doin' the right thing and so on. And that's before you get to people for whom English is a second language.

Gonna, gotta, wanna, etc., are not words. They are lazy pronunciations of going to, got to, want to, etc. You write what people are saying, not how they pronounce it.

 

Agreed. You wouldn't add the long pauses into a quote because it's not what they said. It will also build a rapport with sources who know you won't make them look foolish in the story.