My guest today has a fresh perspective on the use of profanity in fiction. Should we? Shouldn’t we? Is there a happy medium? Please help me welcome one of the most supportive writers I know.
If you’re unfamiliar with Joy York, she grew up in Alabama but has spent much of her adult life in the Midwest, currently living with her husband, Terry, and their golden doodle, Loki, in Indiana. Inspired by a family legacy of oral storytelling, she began creating stories and adventures for her son when he was growing up. With encouragement from family and friends, she began to write them down.
Her first book, The Bloody Shoe Affair: A daring and thrilling adventure with the jailer’s daughter, a YA mystery set in the rural south in 1968, was published in 2015. It became a series, The Jailer’s Daughter’s Mysteries, when The Moonshine Murders, Book 2, was released in March 2024. Genuine Deceit: A Suspense Novel was published on Amazon in May 2021. Protective Instinct: A Thriller (World Castle Publishing) was published in January 2024.
Welcome to TKZ, Joy!
Thanks, Sue!
Whether or not to use profanity in your writing has been a much-debated subject. In recent years expletives have become much more prevalent in writing to add realism. Some more conservative thoughts are that profanity of any kind detracts from the quality of your writing and should not be used under any circumstances. Others feel it reflects poorly on your credibility.
In an article published by Nathaniel Tower, Managing Editor of Bartley Snopes, Should Writers Use Profanity? he offers some excellent guidelines. He agrees that it can add realism but using too much can lessen the quality. Context is key. It can enhance real life situations portraying rough, gritty characters and emotionally charged scenes. He cites Wolf of Wall Street as an example of liberal use of profanity to depict the “high-stakes and fast-paced atmosphere.”
It is important to consider your purpose for the use of expletives. Is it for shock value or to show explosive emotions in a scene or is it to show your character’s edgy personality? Gratuitous use can take away from your story and put your readers off. You must consider your target audience.
Most other resources agree with Tower’s assessment of when not to use profanity. Children’s books, fantasy, and academic or informational writing. Other include religious writings.
Cole Salao wrote an article for TCK Publishing, How and When to Use Swearing. He believes you can learn a lot about your characters personality, background, and mood from their choice of words. To ignore the language that would portray a gritty character would make them sound unrealistic. My interpretation is if you have a scene with a drug dealer getting ripped off by a buyer, I doubt he would say, “Please sir, give me the money you owe me before I get really mad.”
Salao’s lists some appropriate uses:
- Emotional Impact
- Swear words can be used as an enhancer. It can depict emotions like anger, frustration, and extreme joy.
Establishing Voice or Tone
- It helps define your character and adds authenticity.
Connecting With Your Audience
It can make the reader feel like the writer is having an honest, unfiltered conversation with them. It can especially work well with personal essays, memoirs, or blogs. Don’t forget the audience you are trying to reach. Beware that some cultures and regions interpret words differently.
Salao’s Tips for usage
- Use profanity intentionally. Will it fit or ruin your purpose? I love this quote he uses to explain his meaning. “Think of it as a seasoning. A little enhances the flavor, but too much can overwhelm your readers and dilute your message.”
- Less is more.
- It should be natural to your character’s personality, though using it to show them breaking a rule or making an out of character statement can make an impact.
- Check your publication guidelines.
- Sometimes using subtext instead allows the reader to fill in the blanks.
- Swearing is usually only used in non-fiction if it is a personal story, quoting accuracy, or emphasizing a point.
Ultimately, whether you decide to use profanity is up to you. If done well, it can add authenticity, emotion, and impact to your word.
I have used profanity sparingly in my two adult thrillers. In one book, I felt it was natural to the characters and situations to show heightened emotions in a scenes. In the other, it was to show contrast in personalities between characters. I received a review challenging me to not use profanity in my future books, but they gave me a very good review. Another gave me a good review but warned others in the text that there was some language. I suppose I will never know if anyone put my books down when they read the first swear word.
Have you used profanity in your books, or do you steer clear?
When self-absorbed, international bestselling author Sebastian Bartoli refuses to write the biography of the infamous, mob-connected Maximillian Fontana, the consequences turn deadly.
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