Well actually... 'voice' has one But I agree, hissed is not warranted, for the reason you gave, and also because it's just annoying when people try to avoid 'said' for no good reason. Yeah, you're right. Don't know why no one has mentioned that before
I see no reason why hissed shouldn't be used here. It's more like whispered adding irritation to the noise.
Not really. 'Hissed' is an onomatopoeic word that can ONLY be used when the sentence contains sibilants ('s' sounds) - you physically cannot hiss a word that does not contain any. Just try to hiss the sentence 'I have not got any honey' - you can't. You can whisper it, but you cannot hiss it.
Correctamundo. In fact, you cannot hiss a phrase unless it consists solely of sibilants. "Shhh!" she hissed. <-- Okay "Sorry," he hissed back. <-- Nope.
I don't think anyone is saying that the OP "needs" to use curse words in their story-telling, only that there is a duty to write realistic characters and realistic dialouge. The examples you listed are a bit of an exception in my opinion -- they're works of fantasy where characters don't necessarily mirror regular human life. A talking lion may very well not curse, but that's fine since no one on planet Earth has encountered one; there is no precedent for comparison. I don't know what genre the OPs story falls under, but if it takes place in the real world and has real humans that express real emotions, fears, etc, then there shouldn't be any kind of pandering to one's conscience. And there shouldn't be any "dodging" of words if that is what the sort of character you're writing would say. The truth comes first. Your conscience comes second... just my $0.02
Conscience comes second? No, that's not true. Art is good, but is not the end all be all. If you're comfortable with cursing, fine, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to be. Besides, artistic restraint only builds the writer up, because they find better ways to bring interest rather than resorting to cheap gimmickry. Cursing does not make writing better, and many times, censorship actually makes it funny. One thing I would like people to never do is encourage someone to go against their conscience. That is not cool. I understand you're just trying to say the character needs to be realistic, but that's not required.
It really all depends on what you're going for from a style point of view. In any case, I don't think using realistic dialogue/expression, be it profane or not, is in any way "cheap gimmickry", and if you're writing in a realistic setting or context -- particularly where there's elements of action, suspense, edginess -- to not do so is not "artistic restraint", it's injecting your morals into the narrative. That's fine, if that's what you want to do. But don't be surprised when readers stop reading.
