I'm writing a piece where the MC does use a lot of profanity. It fits with her character and wouldn't make a lot of sense if she didn't really. My question is, if the swearing is useful in how the character talks, would agencies be put off by a lot of profanity?
If it's in dialog, it wouldn't ruffle too many feathers. If it's first-person exposition, it gets tricker, but would still pass if not overdone. If it's in a story-teller's exposition, my feeling is that agencies would be put off by it. The danger is that profanity only conveys the emotional associations of the situation, but isn't a substitute for description. So many writers use it as a cheap way out of having to set a convincing scene.
Okay that makes sense. The MC is a rather angry person who uses a lot of swearing. I suppose i can go back through it and make sure it fits into what shes saying at the time instead of just being thrown in there
Don't be too hasty to cut anything out! The part I've seen seemed to be from a letter or like the character was talking to someone, and that's in character voice, so is completely acceptable. I would also strongly recommend, before you go cutting anything, be sure to make a copy of your manuscript and label it 1st draft, then call the copy 2nd draft or v2.0 or something. So you don't lose anything you've already written. It's a shame to make lots of cuts and later think you'd like to see the original and it's gone.
Good point! Ill save it as a first draft, write how i want it to be written and see what the feedback is like!
In the whatever-first-iteration of my story, I, too, used a lot of swearing. It fit the character, and I couldn't imagine him not using swear words. A lot. Thing is... after two years of not looking at the thing, I took a peek. And I was appalled. As @JLT said, swearing is no substitute for explaining a character's motivation for swearing properly, and, if you manage to get the reason behind the swearing into writing, the justification for the swear word mostly disappears. I've found swearing to be a substitute for lazy writing and erased swear words out of my vocabulary, used only in extreme circumstances and for emphasis.
I wouldn't shy too far away from swearing, honestly. Depending on the author, a lot of contemporary literature is riddled with it, especially those depicting characters in our current time. It's part of the language. Now, others are certainly right from shying away from it in the expository lines, as it doesn't convey your message especially well. Small uses, or very character specific uses, tend to be the way to go. Most things have profuse swearing now, especially in the literary fiction and horror world, so I wouldn't be to shy about it. General public acceptance and salability of the work with cursing is higher than its been.
Thank you for the tips everyone! I would agree to an extent if it fits but say for example, Irvine Welsh does it quote well, well on top of that he tends to write in an accent too so i suppose it all depends. I guess its like you say, if i wrote it, relooked at it and thought "well this is ridiculous" i can always rejig it a bit but i get why a lot of people wouldn't enjoy reading that sort of thing. Good point. The other characters in the book don't tend to swear really, mostly because she ends up surrounded by people quite unlike her and it does start to help some of her lesser nice characteristics like her anger so the use does stall a lot. I guess i can always write it and see how it fits anyways
Unless you're writing a "Mr Men" book or a book aimed at juniors and young adults, you're good-to-go. It's an agent, if they could make money out of an author that specialises in covering pages in spit, they'd be cool with it. All they care about is making money.
My impression is that agents would not be put off if this was appropriate for the reader base they sell to. SlayerC79's example is spot on - if you're shopping this to agents who pitch Grade School or Christian Inspiration it's doomed. If you're trying to get interest in the hard boiled detective segment, the absence of profanity would be a problem. I had an experience in a writing circle that helped me with this. There where a few pearl clutchers who gave their feedback about there being too much profanity in my sample chapter. The instructor made a point of telling me in private afterward that it's OK to thank them and say, "Duly noted," then just go ahead and appreciate these are just not readers for this story, and change absolutely nothing. Wrong readers, not wrong words, if that makes any sense.
I think you can get away with swearing within the MS, but since I haven't seen anyone mention it, I think it's also worth noting: Avoid swearing in any blurbs or query letters unless its light (s-words, for example, no slurs or f-words). They are still technically business letters and agent tolerance for profanity in such letters could be completely different from their tolerance for such language within an artistic work.
