How to Use Profanity and Other Raw Talk In Your Fiction

[Caged Maiden]

I tend to be desensitized by the sight of blood. I've seen it more than most people, I actually enjoy the sight and feel of it, and I've had plenty of other people's on my hands.

I'm not sure what makes peopel nervous about blood. When my coworker's diabetic leg ulcer exploded at work one day, I carefully helped her to a seat, held her leg up for her, and put pressure on the wound while the manager tried to hand me paper towels with shaking hands. I told her to go call an ambulance, since the old woman who was bleeding couldn't apply pressure to her own leg. Nothing about that experience bothered me in the least. blood washes off and I merely saw a person in need of help.

I'm not sure whether people are squeamish about touching blood because of fear of disease or whether it's a fundamental instinct signalling danger, but it doesn't affect me.

That being said, I've also stitched a friend's arm, performed surgery on an insect (yeah, weird I know, but it lived), and treated all kinds of things for my dog when he was alive, including draining an aural hematoma. For me, medical things are simply things that need to be done. Sometimes it gets a tad gross, but it's just a part of life. Personally, bleeding makes me feel alive. Now what I HATE are burns. Oh man... I'm such a baby if I burn myself. Ruins my whole day.


In writing, I tend to be as true to injuries as I can be. My experience with certain things doesn't unfortunately allow for as much knowledge as I need to write other injuries, say, being shot with an arrow. I've never shot myself and we're too safe at the range to have had any similar injuries for me to observe first-hand.

So I have to rely on things I HAVE witnessed. When I was younger, I went with a friend to buy a snake from a guy. It was a 7-foot Burmese python and it attacked the guy who was selling it. The snake bit into his hand (it's head was about 5-6 inches long) and wrapped around his arm. My friends (three grown men) worked to try to get the snake off, but you could hear his skin ripping as the snake's teeth slid. Eventually, after twenty minutes or so of him screaming because the snake was constricting his arm, trying to separate his wrist from his arm. They eventually got the bath filled with cold water and submerged the snake until the cold weakened its muscles sufficiently to allow them to unwrap it... but it was a pretty tense time. I've never had an excuse to put a snake attack into a book but I use that experience to inspire other animal attacks.

The thing is... I figure if it can happen in my life, it can certainly happen in the lives of my more adventurous characters' lives.

I'm not adverse to blood in my writing but I try not to over-do it. I like to keep it for tense moments and since it takes so long to heal, I keep serious injuries to a minimum.

 

[Nihal]

As long it's not an obvious and unintentional anachronism it's fine. I wouldn't like to read, ahm, for the lack of a better example but not implying it's a curse word, some character exclaiming "Jesus!" in a world without the bible.

I'm going against the stream and say I don't have problems with made up terms either, as long it's well done. A random "By Grabthar's Hammer!" by a random character in a story Grabthar has no importance at all and is only mentioned once or twice is out of place. But if this story clearly shows characters worshipping Grabthar, he comes up in their minds regularly, so is he incorporated in their routine and culture... why not? Not only would be appropriated but readers are less likely to notice. However, it works better if you stay away from names and use only common words.

Examples:
In A Song of Ice and Fire you have expressions like "Gods be good!" and "Seven Hells!". Joe Abercrombie was mentioned here, and he uses "by the dead!", which doesn't seem to be a common English interjection (correct me if I'm wrong) a lot.

Now, talking of curses specifically, "You're nastier than an orc!" would work better than "You orc!". Comparisons allow you to use made-up elements without drawing too much attention to them by making them the solo star of your offense.

 

[Twook00]

My answer from a previous post on this subject...

If your characters are going to swear, then by golly they should swear. Swear words communicate and elicit emotion. They resonate. Sure, they can be offensive and off-putting, but they're supposed to be.

And just like in life, there should be some characters who find it offensive in your books. They can use the cheesy alternative swear words (see "by golly" above) or made up fantasy ones.

That said, I completely understand why someone would not read a book with swear words in it. If you find it offensive in life, of course you will in a book. And if you're not accustomed to it, you'll be thrown out of the story.

Maybe publishers should offer censored versions.

 

[buyjupiter]

Maybe publishers should offer censored versions.

Walmart has, in the past, *cough* edited versions of novels to take out the objectionable content, which is why I don't buy novels there.

 

[Penpilot]

Walmart has, in the past, *cough* edited versions of novels to take out the objectionable content, which is why I don't buy novels there.

Really? I did not know that.

 

[Hainted]

Curse words are a tricky thing, especially for fantasy. Offensive words rise out of a cultural perspective, and are indicators of what a person, or society finds distasteful, horrible, or repulsive. Take a look at our most common swear words and notice how they all seem to be related to sex, human waste, or family status. These are the things we as Americans still have hang ups about.

In a fantasy setting insults and swearing would have to take into account differences between the culture you write and this culture. Dwarves, for example, being clannish, and underground would have tons of insults and curses revolving around laziness, being alone, or living on the surface.

 

[Twook00]

Walmart has, in the past, *cough* edited versions of novels to take out the objectionable content, which is why I don't buy novels there.

Yuck. To do that without informing the reader is very different than what I had in mind. In my scenario, the author, publisher, and reader are all aware of the censorship, both versions are sold side by side giving the reader the final say. I think it would be interesting to try at least.

 

[Caged Maiden]

The thing is... when I write, I tend to extend the insult. So, for instance, rather than have my character shout one absurdly contrived insult... I tend to instead use posturing, insinuation and as a last resort, voicing it, to accomplish the insult.

I believe that a writer helps immerse the reader when the characters act truly human. Hand gestures, especially rude ones are important, as are implied insults. You don't need someone to come out and say, "You're a bastard and your mom's a whore..." if you can imply it by saying, "What was your father's name again?" or "At least I didn't grow up in a house with a red lamp on the porch."

I think little things like implied insults carry more weight and authenticity in certain scenarios. It really depends. In the heat of the moment, uttered vulgarities certainly fit. In a calmer setting, I think I try more for using those moments for character-building as well.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Yuck. To do that without informing the reader is very different than what I had in mind. In my scenario, the author, publisher, and reader are all aware of the censorship, both versions are sold side by side giving the reader the final say. I think it would be interesting to try at least.

Like the "clean" versions of songs? I find those distasteful, like the music has been gutted. I always buy explicit versions, because I want the whole song as the artist intended.

 

[Twook00]

Like the "clean" versions of songs? I find those distasteful, like the music has been gutted. I always buy explicit versions, because I want the whole song as the artist intended.

Same here. BUT, others appreciate it. A publisher might consider those who find it offensive and take measures to provide them an alternative. Not saying it's a great idea, but something I'm curious about.

 

[Steerpike]

Seems unlikely Wal-Mart was editing novels, though if they were I'd like to read up on what they did. With music, they won't stock CDs with explicit content. It is up to the publisher to decide if they want to produce a clean version for sale there.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Seems unlikely Wal-Mart was editing novels, though if they were I'd like to read up on what they did. With music, they won't stock CDs with explicit content. It is up to the publisher to decide if they want to produce a clean version for sale there.

That's interesting. We've seen romances at Walmart by authors known to write explicit sensuality, as well as Laurell K Hamilton of our own genre fame - trying to edit out explicit content from her later books would result in some very short books, indeed, unless they just redact lines of text like a Top Secret document. I can't see how an f-bomb here or there makes much of a difference.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Was-mart sold the Fifty Shades trilogy. I never read it, but from my understanding if they redacted those books, you'd be left with about 30 pages.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

And, oh yes, let's not even get me started on the social acceptability of graphic violence over sensuality in this culture. They carry plenty of violent material with apparently NO qualms what-so-ever.

 

[buyjupiter]

The last time I check that Walmart was selling versions that had the explicit content expunged was 8 or 9 years ago. I'd used a Stephen King novel that I'd just finished as a litmus test, and there was a distinct lack of cursing and I remember a few scenes missing. (Not the Stand, as I know there are at least two versions of that. I can't remember what I used.) And nowadays Stephen King is seen as pretty mild. It may have just been the policy at my local Walmart, as I was in a highly conservative area at the time. It may no longer be the policy, as Anita Blake and 50 Shades are really popular and I think corporate bottom line speaks louder than potentially outraged customers. The only concession to proprieties that I can verify is shrink wrapping some of the more erotic content that they sell and not even this is done consistently. (Though, to be honest, I have never seen anything more explicit than a Harlequin romance novel at my Walmart.)

 

[Abbas-Al-Morim]

For my Fantasy world I prefer to use old English profanities over made-up ones. "Damnation!" is a popular one. It sounds a bit gimmicky but it fits well in the world. Not all characters use it though. "Blast!" is a good one for science fiction, I'd say. "Bloody..." remains popular as well. Even "Curses!" is a good one.

I don't like overly long profanities though. I hate "By Odin's Beard!" or anything in that genre.

Dan Abnett made up a profanity that I do enjoy. He uses "fething" as an equivalent to our... I thought it was quite clever. I hate seeing the f-word (I actually hate the "f-word" more than the actual word) or the s-word (I hate the "s-word" even more!) in fantasy fiction. It seems so anachronistic to me. It pulls me out of the world and reminds me that it was all written by a (relatively) contemporary author.

 

[Hainted]

Smeg remains my favorite made up curse word.

 

[The Dark One]

Smeg is not a made up word. It's short for smegma...which is not very nice.

Just like in real life, you have your characters say what you are comfortable saying yourself in comparable situations. When my first book came out it included vicious football hooligans, Irish mafia and angry footballers. How did they speak? Exactly as you would expect them to, and my mother cried when she read it. Mind you, she said she couldn't put it down, despite the frequent use of words she'd never heard me utter.

My latest book also has lots of swearing but also lots of sex and drug use. I seriously considered using a nom de plume for that one but decided I'd be stupid not to cash in on my (admittedly small) fan base from the first book. The reason for the nom de plume is that the main character is a (very naughty) lawyer - as am I - and I was concerned that the lawyers group I work for would take a dim view. To my surprise however, lawyers seem to take a perverse pride in the MC's antics and the book has sold quite well in legal circles.

 

[MVV]

I try to use real world profanities when needed (which, in my books, is quite often). However, I always try to think about the ethymology. When the profanity comes from a specifically Christian-influenced language or somewhere too specifically earthly. Yet, this is very tricky. When we set a story in a completely different world (as opposed to alternate Earths and fantasy taking place on 'our' Earth), we usually assume (I think) that the characters are speaking a completely different language which we translate into English or Czech or German or Polish or whatever. And we need to translate it so that it can make the reader feel what the characters feel. Then, it's better to use the profanities the reader is used to read, hear or say in similiar situations. Creating your own profanities, I believe, has only a comical effect - which is good when you want the reader to laugh but it's a bummer when you want them to feel drama, horror, or shock.

 

[skip.knox]

I've been enjoying how Patrick O'Brian handles this. Of course, he did immense research into the Napoleonic era, so he's not making stuff up. But he uses it gracefully and effectively.