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Ah, the age old discussion…
I, personally, do not mind reading occasional swearing or ‘bad language’ so long as it is significant in it’s use and does not take God’s name in vain.There are a few times, I believe, that it is okay to use harsh words in a story, but only certain ones. As @warrioroftherealm has stated before, the D-word is not as bad as some others. Does that make it right? Not really… but I agree that it is not as terrible as some others I know. From what I’ve seen in the posts, it seems like most everyone else also agrees with this.
Now, I do not go around spilling bad words all over the house, but there are a few occasions where one slips up. I know it is wrong, and I am certainly not proud when it happens. But it happens sometimes, nonetheless. Therefore, we must assume that it can happen to our characters as well.
In certain situations, I believe it is passable -not necessarily right- but passable, to use a word such as “damn” or “darn”. Even “bloody” or blasted”, as @anne-of-lothlorien mentioned above, are not as awful as the S-word or worse-ones which I will not mention.
If you have an acceptable reason to say it, then say it, or rather, have your character say it…
I feel as if I’m beginning to stray off into the discussion of whether or not swearing is bad -forgive me for that. Yes, swearing is wrong, and I am not trying to say otherwise. I am just trying to point out that, I believe, in certain situations, swearing is tolerable in a story. And, if you are really worried about some readers taking it to heart, one way to get the message across that swearing is wrong would be something like:Aron almost flinched as well, at his sharp words. They had a bad taste in his mouth, and he instantly regretted saying them.
It’s not much (nor a great example 😛 ), but reading Aron’s reaction gives the impression that the words are wrong, or at the very least, not good, and that’s better than not saying anything about that fact that he just swore, and ultimately leaving the reader to ponder whether or not you, the author, approve of the swearing.
This is definitely not a set-and-stone, solid theory (this is my first time even explaining it). It can definitely be explored further, and it should be. But it is what I believe when it comes to using coarse language in books.
I know that not everyone has the same views concerning this. So, if anyone has anything to add (or contradict), please do. 🙂@daeus
I’m late to the discussion and didn’t have time to read everyone else’s posts, but I’m answering anyway because it’s something I’ve thought about before, so I apologize if I’m just repeating what everyone else said.
This is a tricky subject. I know that many examples of classic literature have quite a few swear words in them, and when reading such things, I’ve found that, while they shock me at the beginning of the book, by the end, they seem almost normal. Now, I have never been swayed by this so much as for it to seep into my verbal language, but if I read more books with swear words in them (I usually avoid them), I would be more concerned about that.
That being said, I think frequency is important to take into consideration. You said you only had five or six instances. I don’t think that’s enough to set a pattern of thought for someone. Also, think about your target audience. Something may be highly offensive to a twelve-year-old that a eighteen-year-old would’ve heard enough times to understand you are trying to convey a certain character type or dialect or emotion.
There is something to be said for “spoken” dialogue. Think about how your characters would really respond. If you have a character who does not honor the Lord, and he takes God’s name in vain, your Christian audience cringes but understands, and does not consider it your fault as the author. (At least, that’s my perspective. Because, in real life, people do this all the time. It’s awful, but if you want to convey reality, that’s reality.)
You mentioned using “hell” in metaphors. The Bible does that, so I think it’s fine. Especially if you are trying to follow an older or more classical style of literature, in which that was a common thing to liken a highly unpleasant thing to.
In short, swearing is wrong. So is murder, but characters need to murder sometimes. So is stealing, but characters need to steal sometimes. There are sins that are better to keep out of literature, particularly literature for teens, but swearing, when your characters do it infrequently and you are using it to express their personality, emotion, state of relationship with Christ, etc., is not something that makes me as a reader upset with the writer.
Hope this was helpful.YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.comThanks @his-instrument @faithdk (at least I think that’s you, Faith. I can barely see you from way up here though. Haha!)
Yeah, I mostly agree with you, but I’m kinda leaning toward the safe side. It’s hard though, because I have an instance or two where it’s not just a character being frivolous. There’s a reason for it. I don’t think it’s wrong myself, but I’m hoping to find a different way to get the point across. Hopefully that will work, but if not, I’ll just slap a content advisory on it and call it good.
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Fun fact y’all. I’ve managed to replace all the language in my book. There was one place where I felt like it was slightly better before, but the difference was minor enough that it’s quite worth it to me to keep my novel language free.
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YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!
*very seriously* This makes Dragon Snapper very pleased.
😛☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@Daeus YES!! Congratulations. *pumps your hand enthusiastically up and down*
@daeus That’s wonderful! And way to go! Thanks for sharing!
https://rolenahatfield.com/
@kate-flournoy Er, well, I’m honored. …At least I think… Do you normally have a policy of pumping other people’s arms? Anway, it’s all good because my arm needed a workout. Typing just isn’t enough.
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@kate-flournoy ooooooooooohhhh… 😛 I had a totally different picture, which was good becuase it was incredibly comical.
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Glad you got this resolved @daeus 🙂 I am looking forward to reading your completed manuscript 😉
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
@daeus It’s great that you were able to sort it out! 😀
Currently reading Les Miserables
Thank you all! I’m pretty happy about it too.
@christi-eaton Well… It pretty much is done. I’ve just got some minor tweaking to do.🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
@Daeus That is a very fun fact indeed. 😉
I’m really glad.
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