42 thoughts on “Should You Use Profanity in Your Writing?”

1. I think profanity has to be used if it fits the character and the situation, but I agree that it can be used sparingly and sometimes the actual words don’t have to be used, e.g. “He swore and threw the glass.”

   • I agree, Linda. It needs to be done with intention.

     • Thank you again for having me, Sue. Im learning a lot from the comments.

2. Sue, thanks for inviting Joy to the Zone. Good guidelines on a touchy subject.

   My thrillers are on the gritty side. One main character in particular refuses to stop swearing. In first drafts, I let him cut loose. On rewrite, I rein him in somewhat but have to stay true to his character. Sometimes other characters comment on his language.so it doesn’t necessarily need to be quoted b/c readers can infer he’s swearing…again.

   Thanks for a good start to the writing week, Joy and Sue.

   • I do the same, Debbie. Let ‘em fly on first drafts, then clean it up a bit.

   • Thank you, Debbie. I have had other characters comment on the profanity too. I have also reduced it in editing. It’s a balancing act.

3. Everybody has their own approach but profanity laced books cause me to put them down. I consider the approach to profanity the same as the way writers treat the fact that just because people may use a lot of “um” and “uh” in their daily speech, it doesn’t mean that we write it in our stories. And I think there are ways to express people’s frightened, aggressive, or angry emotions without going over the top with language.

   One of the things I look for in reviews are things like warnings about language. With so much to read and so little time, that clues me in to move along and find another reading option.

   • We all have our tastes on what we want and don’t want to read in books. Gratuitous sex is a red flag for me.

   • I can appreciate your feelings. Thank you for your comments.

   • I’ve spent time around 20 and 30 somethings. Although they try to tone it done when I’m around, it is very prevalent in their casual friend conversations to throw in profanity. I have not found it is lessened by educational level either, but they are the epitome of professionalism in business and other public situations. Do you capture that cultural difference or not? I guess we have to decide for ourselves.

4. I don’t mind it. I use it in real life, and my characters sometimes swear. If it’s appropriate, I let them. Heck, listen to most television shows these days.
   Honestly, I’d rather see an F bomb than “alright.” But that’s me.
   I’d also rather see the actual word than some kind of writearound that makes me stop and think about what the actual word was.

   • “Hamilton” on Broadway has three F bombs. The TV adaptation of the performance only has two. Three would have given it an MA rating.

   • Exactly, Terry. I agree.

   • I’ve spent time around 20 and 30 somethings. Although they try to tone it done when I’m around, it is very prevalent in their casual friend conversations to throw in profanity. I have not found it is lessened by educational level either, but they are the epitome of professionalism in business and other public situations. Do you capture that cultural difference or not? I guess we have to decide for ourselves.

5. The TV show Law & Order managed to make things gritty without explicit language. It can be done. For me, the ROI on being overtly “”realistic” is not worth it. It loses more readers than it gains. I prefer writing seductive believability.

   • Yes, it can, Jim. My serial killer never swears. Bad language offends him.

     • A serial killer offended by bad language…proves that even a bad guy should have some good qualities.

       🙂

   • And I really like how your characters say bad words without me having to read the bad words, Jim!

     🙂

6. A good friend was a lawyer for the Teamsters. He hated the movie “Hoffa”. He had been to Jimmy Hoffa’s house many times and said Hoffa would never have used that language near his family.

   • True, Alan. Sometimes it’s way over the top.

7. Thanks for addressing this topic. I’m struggling with it right now as I write a women’s fiction novel. I’ve written more than 30 books for Christian publishing houses where we weren’t allowed to even say “pissed off” or “sucks.” The majority of my existing readers won’t pick up a book with obscenities in it even if it’s in their preferred genre. They don’t watch TV shows with them either. I wrote 8 romantic suspense novels & never used a cuss word. The character simply cussed or cursed. But in my current WIP, some of the characters just naturally seemed to want to throw in an occasional dam or crap–mild by today’s standards. PO’d and sucks are also in there. The first scene the POV character (a 16 year old girl) talks about sitting on the back of her boyfriend’s “piece-of-crap pickup.” That’s enough to turn off my existing readers, but not the audience I want to reach in this genre. It’s enough to make me want to tear my hair out! Any thoughts?

   • You’re right to consider your target audience, Kelly. Thriller readers may be more forgiving than, say, cozy readers. If it fits your character, there’s nothing wrong with damn, IMO.

   • I think I would consider the age of your readers. I try to be very careful in my YA mysteries even though most YA are read by adults. It’s not worth it to alienate your audience. Thank you for your comments, Kelly.

8. I had a mild expletive in the draft ms of my first novel that I sent to my editor. She explained to me that it probably wouldn’t gain me any readers, but might cost many, so I removed it. My readers often comment that they’re grateful to read clean mysteries, so I’ll keep it that way.

   • If they’re more cozy, your editor did you a favor.

9. Used sparingly, profanity doesn’t bother me. Like stated above, it’s all around us on a daily basis. But I’m afraid that sometimes, it’s like when my kids were young teens. They didn’t get away with much, but sometimes they peppered me with locker-room language just to get a reaction out of me. It usually didn’t go well for them. Some authors use bad language the same way, like violence, just to shock and awe.

   Having said that, if I turn on a movie I haven’t watched and there are F-bombs blowing up the screen in the first 5 minutes, I’m likely to move on. Same with a book.

   I like the analogy of seasoning. A little goes a long way.

   • I definitely try to use it sparingly. I am not using it in my current thriller. Thanks for your perspective, Deb.

   • Agreed, Deb. Swearing should never be included for shock value.

10. I used some profanity in my Empowered series, because it reflected Mathilda’s attitude and background, as well as that of her best friend, Keisha. However, I prefer not to these days–I like Jim’s “seductive believability” instead.

    Great post! Thank you, Joy, for being here today, and thank you, Sue, for hosting her!

    • I definitely try to use it sparingly. I am not using it in my current thriller. Thanks for your perspective, Deb.

    • If it fits the character, use it sparingly, I agree. Hope you enjoyed the pink moon, my friend!

      • We were clouded out that night, alas, but the following two nights I’ve been able to image a couple of deep sky objects, as well as view the now waning gibbous Moon (which still looks basically full 🙂 Hope you have a great week!

11. On the page, I am a reformed profanity spewer. I haven’t dropped an F-bomb in print in 15 years. I used to do it all the time, but then I got complaints from readers. A LOT of complaints from readers. “I wish I could share this book with my mom, but there’s too much cursing . . .”

    Those who are familiar with my work will attest that I write gritty, realistic books with some pretty rough-hewn characters. Never once have I received a complaint from a reader that the lack of cussing was somehow unrealistic.

    • Very good points, John. I’m not using it in my current thriller.

12. My readers would probably tar and feather me if I had even a damn in my books. While I don’t necessarily put down a book because of profanity, I’ve never thought the profanity made it better. In fact, I’ve always thought profanity showed laziness in a writer–it’s much easier to insert a cuss word than to write a gritty response.

    I often think of a writer who wrote for Love Inspired Suspense. She had a scene where a wife responded to her abuser husband’s taunt that she couldn’t make it without him with a “You go to hell.”

    The editor wouldn’t let her use the phrase and she rewrote it this way: The husband tells the wife she can’t make it without him. Instead of telling him to go to hell, she spit in his face. I’ll leave it to others whether it showed how she felt.

    • Haha. Yeah, it’s definitely a no-no in some genres.

    • Great example of an alternative that makes its point, Patricia!

13. I have the dubious honor of being the only writer to have “gotten away” with an F-bomb in a romantic suspense for a publisher very restrictive about swearing. It was said by a villain, and I wrote it because it’s what he would say. But knowing their policy I also had the full intention of going back and taking it out before sending it to my editor. But obviously, I forgot.

    My editor missed it. The copy editor missed it. The proofreader missed it. No one caught it, and it was published. Only then did the reader mail start coming in to them about it.

    My opinion is that it was the right word in the right place, or all those people wouldn’t have read right past it without a thought!!

    • “The right word in the right place.”

      Exactly, Justine.

14. Profanity is a choice, and the kind and frequency are choices the writer makes.

    It has become distressingly common to hear characters on TV use religious-based profanity – and I don’t think it is warranted. If the screenwriters used swear words from different world religions, there would be an uproar – but Christianity seems to be preferred for the thoughtless kind.

    It seems also to say to a certain fraction of the adult population: “We don’t want your values, or your consumer dollars, either,” which is shortsighted.

    Just as you rarely see smoking portrayed in TV and movies any more, and I don’t miss it, a cleanup would probably not even be noticed much, and would affect no one. There are plenty of expletives left.

    I use some – because my characters do – but there has to be strong provocation, and it is used like exclamation points, very parsimoniously. In some books and TV and movies, even when appropriate for a character, the fewer the better – we get it.* One of the bloggers I follow dings authors by taking away a review star for ‘gratuitous profanity.’ He didn’t ding me.

    I never heard my mother swear except for a certain short phrase in Spanish indicating a much longer one, and my father never said anything much beyond, “For crying out loud!”, except for one famous occasion.

    —
    *It also seems weird when there is none – for some stories and some audiences – because all kinds of people get angry and swear: in real life. I’ve noticed a small amount in my own language around the kids, now that they are all in their 30s, because adults try harder when there are minors listening.

    One of the bloggers I follow dings authors by taking away a star for ‘gratuitous profanity.’ He didn’t ding me.

    • Agreed, Alicia. Profanity is a choice.

15. Thank you for your comments, Alicia. I have turned off many movies for gratuitous profanity and violence. Actually the violence is much harder for me to watch, so I usually don’t.

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