Cussing - out?

Sorry for another thread in such a short time, my brain is just rolling tonight.

Okay, so BACKGROUND: I work in an industry where everyone regularly drops F-bombs, C U Next Tuesday’s, BEACH’s, and anything else in between or worse that you can think of. It’s normal for me and while I really don’t like some (one in particular, the Tuesday) of the words, they’re totally normal to me and I don’t get offended or ever think about offending someone else by using them.

As you might imagine, this attitude spills into my writing. Not out of place or needlessly, after all, most of my Characters are gang members, so it’s not like it’s unusual for them to swear. However, I do want my novels to be acceptable and accessible to the majority of the North-American population.

So my current problem is this: how much/what kind of swearing is acceptable?

After reading the rules about no swearing for this site, I don’t want to post any of my current writing that even has words I consider extremely mild, like one particular synonym to the word ‘crap’.

Also, a few of my characters speak other languages. I frequently use that for them to swear inoffensively to the mass English-speaking population, even though it’s still often made obvious that they’re swearing. I saw rules stating that all posting here must be in English, so I can’t post that either, but is that an interesting or annoying concept to most people?

I'm just curious what everyone thinks of swearing in fiction; what's okay, what's annoying, etc..

Thanks in advance

 

I'm pretty sure as long as it fits the tone of the book, you're fine. Like you said, your characters are gang members. I think it'd be weirder if they didn't swear. Unless you're writing for children under age 14, it's not a big deal.

I swear a LOT in my writing, and--okay, I'm not saying I'm a successful author here or anything--but I've never had anyone, either beta readers, friends and family, or industry professionals, remark on it. It fits the characters' voices, I think, so it works. (On the other hand, I had one character, a teenage girl, who very consciously never swore, and one beta reader did think that was unrealistic, lol. Hmph, I didn't swear when I was a teen...)

 

I could be wrong but I don't recall any swearing in the godfather movies! I could be wrong!

In my opinion, swearing as we see it is generally unnecessary. But I suppose like @Dragon Turtle said it depends whether it fits or not.

 

I think in general it's the unnecessary swearing, that can get to people. I get annoyed with swearing for the sake of swearing.
I've seen it done in books, film and tv shows and it can be annoying. I don't mind an on word but I don't like five minutes of two characters swearing at each other cos the writer couldn't think of anything better to write. But it doesn't improve the story.

I would expect mobsters to swear, be crude or derogatory, be violent. Cliches can be good but so too can the unexpected.

Remember you can imply as well as use a word or phrase.

 

I tend to both read and write stories that involve very stressful situations and young people, so I write and read a lot of swearing. When I read it, I expect it in stressful situations, and for particular types of characters, but I may also find it tedious for those characters. I'd likely get annoyed reading "mother fucker" every few sentences just because gang members sometimes speak like that, but to be fair, that kind of speech annoys me in person too.

Also, there are far worse things to talk about than simply swearing. Context matters. In Stephen King stories, if there are any children involved, they tend to talk about some pretty nasty things, way worse than the adults swears. He also expressed his own annoyance at people who complained about the language in his writing in a scene in Misery where he has an argument that everyone speaks the way he writes except or the most stuck-up.

 

I work in a swearing profession, too. (And I agree with you about Next Tuesday.) I swear all the fucking time here...<<<That one was gratuitous, but I do swear in my Progress Journal, as well as in other threads too, if it fits, because the writing voice I use to post here is the way I would speak with friends.

In my writing, it has to fit the character. In my current WIP, my female MC doesn't swear. My male MC swears occasionally, though rarely in front of women, because he works in an environment where there is swearing and he's a fan of American movies, but his Old-World manners won't allow him to swear in front of women. In my next novel, there will be a lot of swearing, because it takes place in the music business in the 80's. The anti-swearing Christian soccer moms aren't exactly the audience for the rock and roll novel, so I can't see myself catering to their whims on that one. As to the current WIP, if an agent expresses interest, I'll decide then, but the swearing is already so minimal it would surprise me if there was a problem.

There are preferences within specific genres, as well as of specific publishers. But honestly, I'm not really too worried about it right now. My main concern is about being true to the characters and to their situations.

 

I say, if it fits, do it. Since you're writing about gang members, I would buy the book expecting that there will be some cussing. Just don't overdo it. No one wants to read a book where every character is constantly dropping the f-bomb even when there's no reason too. That would be annoying.

As long as you're not writing for children or middle grade, I think you'll probably be fine. Even in YA, I believe some cussing is okay. I feel like your novel probably isn't for any of those three groups, so I think as long as the cussing isn't, like, every sentence in the whole book, you'll be okay.

 

I've had a good amount of swearing in my books since so far I've had MCs who have been chefs, hit men and rock stars - all occupations where swearing seems appropriate for the characters. I also love using raunchy dirty talk in my sex scenes, so it gets sprinkled around there as well. In my genre it's not a no-no by any stretch, but it does have to be used in a way that fits the characters and what's happening in the story at the time the cursing is happening.

 

People swear a lot more than other people realize.

For the past two years I've worked in childcare and childcare providers have the dirtiest mouths. They might not swear around the children, but once they're away from the children then it's all game.

I figure as long as there's some coherent sentences between the cursing than it's all good. I don't write a whole ton of swearing, but I'm also not very creative when it comes to curse words.

 

I think your gang members must curse, but you need to be careful and use it for emphasis, rather than transcription of the way people like that really talk. For example, in GTA V, the first scene introducing the African-American characters uses the N-word twenty-one times in two or so minutes. That may be natural speech, and I'm not offended when the word is used in the appropriate fictional context, but since it was a script, it bothered me.

 

Damn skippy,

Spoiler: because obvious

you minge tickling munter fucker.

That said, as much as I enjoy swearing, I usually dont' write them a lot unless they're organic to who I'm writing or the situations they're in because I think over using them strips them of the impact they can have when used appropriately. I view it a lot like violence in writing.