diff --git a/src/fallback.rs b/src/fallback.rs
index 05fe8ed..2ce32f1 100644
--- a/src/fallback.rs
+++ b/src/fallback.rs
@@ -734,17 +734,31 @@
     }
 
     pub fn string(t: &str) -> Literal {
-        let mut s = t
-            .chars()
-            .flat_map(|c| c.escape_default())
-            .collect::<String>();
-        s.push('"');
-        s.insert(0, '"');
-        Literal::_new(s)
+        let mut text = String::with_capacity(t.len() + 2);
+        text.push('"');
+        for c in t.chars() {
+            if c == '\'' {
+                // escape_default turns this into "\'" which is unnecessary.
+                text.push(c);
+            } else {
+                text.extend(c.escape_default());
+            }
+        }
+        text.push('"');
+        Literal::_new(text)
     }
 
     pub fn character(t: char) -> Literal {
-        Literal::_new(format!("'{}'", t.escape_default().collect::<String>()))
+        let mut text = String::new();
+        text.push('\'');
+        if t == '"' {
+            // escape_default turns this into '\"' which is unnecessary.
+            text.push(t);
+        } else {
+            text.extend(t.escape_default());
+        }
+        text.push('\'');
+        Literal::_new(text)
     }
 
     pub fn byte_string(bytes: &[u8]) -> Literal {
diff --git a/tests/test.rs b/tests/test.rs
index f5660c0..370392b 100644
--- a/tests/test.rs
+++ b/tests/test.rs
@@ -80,9 +80,21 @@
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn literals() {
+fn literal_string() {
     assert_eq!(Literal::string("foo").to_string(), "\"foo\"");
     assert_eq!(Literal::string("\"").to_string(), "\"\\\"\"");
+    assert_eq!(Literal::string("didn't").to_string(), "\"didn't\"");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn literal_character() {
+    assert_eq!(Literal::character('x').to_string(), "'x'");
+    assert_eq!(Literal::character('\'').to_string(), "'\\''");
+    assert_eq!(Literal::character('"').to_string(), "'\"'");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn literal_float() {
     assert_eq!(Literal::f32_unsuffixed(10.0).to_string(), "10.0");
 }