To curse or not to curse?

[Steerpike]

Is it? Certainly the legal system of the western world is judeo-christian based but can you really say most of the western world is christian? Still? The religious right gets louder and louder (and more politically mobilised) but their per capita numbers are shrinking in most Anglo-Saxon societies. The most recent Australian census established that only around 50% believed in god and only a proportion of those are christian. I daresay it comes down to who you mix with, but I personally know hardly anyone who is (what I would call) a committed practising christian, and not many more who would call themselves believers in god, even a vague amorphous non-denominational god.

I guess this discussion ought to go on another thread but it's likely to be very contentious.

Well, something like 78% of Americans self-identify as Christian. If you head south to Mexico it is something like 98%. Much of central and South America is similar. Even a very secular place like Holland has numbers a bit above 50%. I think it is still safe to say that "most" of the Western world is Christian. North, Central and South America by themselves, population-wise, are going to really swing those numbers.

 

[Steerpike]

Ninjaed!

Returning to topic.

I don't mind cursing if it is in character. That is, if it seems like it is consistent with how the character would react. I think the character should drive this, as others have pointed out.

 

[studentofrhythm]

Well doggone it, this makes me want to go dig out that paper I wrote on the history of vulgarity and profanity for college linguistics. I'd forgotten about the Dutch provenance of the F-word, but I do remember reading that "poop" also comes from Dutch.

If I recall aright, Peter Fryer's Mrs. Grundy : studies in English prudery was of great help. I think that's where I read about the ancient age of the C-word.

Delany's Return to Nevèrÿon series deals with curse words on occasion. There's a whole subthread running through two of the books about one particular term and its meaning.

I'm Mormon and read Ender's Game when I was about 10. I was appalled to read such bad language in a book written by a fellow believer, but my skin has thickened over the years so that now I'm more likely to be put off by circumlocution. I'd rather the author show me what the character says. About the only time I like to read something like "he let loose with a stream of foul curses" is if there's a first-person narrator who is squeamish about repeating obscene language.

 

[Chilari]

For my personal preference, when I'm writing I usually go with "She swore under her breath" or whatever, but occasionally write the actual naughty words if it better suits the tone of that section. If she's sneaking around in the dark and drops the matches, that's when I say "she swore"; if she's riding a horse that's just decided it really doesn't want her on its back, then I'd be writing out exactly what she says. As for when someone, say, learns information which is surprising or sees something unexpected or astounding, I prefer to use religion- or myth-based exclamations - the specific world's equivalent of "Mary Mother of God" or "by the sword of Damocles."

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Huh, for some reason I thought I had a lot more cursing in my NIP. Two F-bombs, two S-words, and in both cases, they're in the same chapter. And that's it. There's a few other more mild terms.

 

[The Dark One]

There is heaps of swearing in my stuff - clearly my characters are appalling scumbags (as opposed to their mild-mannered creator).

One of my brothers in law likes challenging guests to his house by handing them my first book and saying: "I'll give you $50 if you can find a page with no 4-letter words."

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

I think swearing is a great tool for giving a slightly more adult edge to a book. There are few things that annoy me more than fantasy being generalized (normally by people who don't read it) as a primarily youngster's genre. In response I often try to give my fantasy a slightly grim or gritty edge, but keeping it accessable.

 

[Ireth]

My characters typically don't swear a lot. I removed two out of four uses of sh*t in an early draft of Winter's Queen (all of which were said by the protagonists), but left in a couple derogatory uses of b*tch for dramatic effect -- one by one of the heroes, another by the villain. Characters in Low Road occasionally use the word b*stard and sh*te. My characters never take the Lord's name in vain, and I've used exactly one F-bomb and one "d*mmit" in all of my many writings (not my novels) when a lesser word simply wouldn't do. Other times I use "dangit" or "freaking".

 

[nlough]

My personal opinion on the matter, and it's kind of been said throughout the forum, is swearing is fine just as long as it fits the situation, it's something the character would say and you don't have someone swearing every time they open their mouth.

 

[SeverinR]

FIne, this thread has done it,
I am friggin fed up, I don't give a shuba-duby, for cripes sakes, you know son of Gosh? His mother Geas Luoise,
Holy moly, I don't want to go to heck so I'll shut up.

Sean Morey:

Sean Morey - Make A Stand - YouTube

 

[David Ivanov]

I have no qualms at all about injecting profanity into my dialogue if it fits the character or the flow of the story, but I don't think I've ever done so for humorous effect. For the most part I use it sparingly, only as needed to add a touch of grit or realism. As far as incorporating this as a significant aspect of this character, I'd be a little hesitant mainly because delivery is all-important in humor, and will come across differently on the printed page as compared to other media. I would recommend getting multiple opinions from some disinterested readers to make sure they're picking up on the humor you're trying to convey, and be prepared for some nuanced rewrites if they're not.

 

[The Dark One]

If you're not sure it's funny then chances are it's not. If it makes you laugh then chances are it is funny, at least to some people.

They say that humour is hard but I, for one, am lucky enough to have always been comfortable with it. There's always been a bit of humour in my stuff but I don't overdo it - in fact I cut the funniest scene from my most successful book because it didn't add enough to the plot to retain. The only time I had trouble with humour was when writing a routine for a stand up comic within a novel. I was concerned that after the 300th read through it no longer seemed funny to me, but I wanted to keep it for plot and characterisation reasons. So my solution? I had the MC peevishly saying the comic wasn't funny. That meant it didn't have to be funny, but if any reader laughed it was a bonus.

 

[Bear]

In my first book the characters cursed a ton. My second book was about druggies and they cursed a ton. In my third book I only used the f bomb twice but it was gory as hell. In my latest work I'm going back to the characters that curse more, similar to my first book.

I think the tone of the story helps determine how much I use profanity.