01 Aug

Character Cussing: To F-Bomb or Not?

Author: Darcia Helle  //  Category: General Nonsense

My blog is being taken over today by the quite amazing reviewer and author Charlie Courtland. She’s climbing on her soapbox. I’ll remain silent as she rants, but let it be known that I am standing in silent support right beside her. :)

Character Cussing: To F-Bomb or Not?

by Charlie Courtland

First off, I apologize for my lack of writing rants this summer, but I decided to dedicate a greater amount of time to reading and reviewing. Come fall that may change. With that said, during my ventures in summer reading, I’ve stumbled across some interesting reactions, critique, advice, reasoning, or whatever you’d like to call it, in book reviews. I’m no stranger to the concept that book reviews are general opinions and because of this, everyone is entitled. I like the concept that there is no right or wrong, simply a response or experience. Of course, such an approach can ignite lively discussions, but often most writers and readers gracefully applaud or bid ‘ado’ depending on content.

Recently, I came across a review that was a one-line comment stating the person would have rated the book higher but didn’t care for the f-bombs. The reviewer felt they were unnecessary. I too, read the book and firmly disagree. This isn’t the first review addressing cussing, but it was the ‘unnecessary’ part that shackled my hackles and sparked my fingers to fire off this fine rant.

My opinion on this issue comes from a writing perspective. This topic is often addressed at a nauseating level during college writing seminars, and the general consensus tends to be that the decision to ‘cuss’ (in literature) is often influenced and based on the dialogue development of the character. Now, it is obvious authors come from a variety of backgrounds and choose to deal with cussing in a variety of ways; some never include it, some limit it to certain words (excluding the worst), and some let it all fly – nothing’s taboo because it’s all language. However, I was guided by writing professors and mentors, and wholly believe that when constructing realistic, authentic and believable dialogue a writer cannot, I mean MUST not censor language based on his or her own practices, beliefs or offensive potential. I think this is incredibly important to understand and should not be undervalued by a reader or writer. Will this cause internal conflict? Likely, but that is part of the exploration of writing, right?

Writers, when developing all aspects of a character consider many traits, behaviors and yes, even speech in advance. To put it as simply as possible: If your character is the kind of person who would drop the F-bomb, spew a racist comment, say something sexist or toss out an insensible line of profanity, then as a writer you better do it, or risk the criticism of self-censorship, unrealistic and/or restrained, unbelievable characters critique. As a reviewer, I specifically look for this. The minute I see restraint, I tense up. Fine, you don’t like this in a character – my advice is don’t create one in the first place. But, if you are going to go there, then commit, completely!

It’s important to remember it’s not the author dropping the all-offensive F-bomb or cuss word–it’s that nasty ass character. It is necessary if the character demands it. On the flip side, if the character hasn’t shown any reason why they would suddenly turn into a cussing brazen fool, then don’t do it just for ‘shock’ value. That is just as untruthful and the B.S. detector will surely go off (at least with this writer/reviewer).

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Charlie Courtland is the vivacious voice and founder behind Bitsy Bling Books. She has published three novels and reviewed over 100 books and counting. She graduated with honors from the University of Washington with a B.A. in English Literature with an emphasis on Creative Writing and a minor in Criminology, but apparently she can’t spell or edit. However, Charlie is terribly gifted when it comes to critiquing works of fiction, writing reviews, promoting and making other writers famous. It’s a gift really…just don’t ask her to type, facebook or tweet without committing typos. If you feel the need to point out a typo, she will feel the need to de-friend you immediately (unless you’re her editor). She currently resides in Seattle where she writes, reviews, complains about her neighbors, and is a full-time dog nanny.

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If you haven’t yet read anything by Charlie Courtland, you’re missing out on an unforgettable reading experience. Here’s a look at her books on Amazon, in both print and Kindle format:

You can also find her books on Smashwords, in formats for all ebooks and computers.

I hope you’ll take the time to connect with Charlie and read her books.

Do you agree with Charlie’s view of profanity in books? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading. :)

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  • Barbara

    Charlie/Darcia,

    I agree completely, this reminds me of a recent post by another of my fav authors. Telling a poster which books to read of his that have less violence. Seriously, you liked the book, but there didn’t need to be so much violence. The book/characters require what the authors write, that is why they are the authors! If the character is a lowlife, scumbag, criminal, he isn’t about to say shut the heck up, or I’m gonna kill you… we know what he’s gonna say!
    I’m liking Charlie Darcia, I guess I have to go check out her site!

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Barbara, you are so right! I love that you acknowledge that the author should know what the characters/situations require. Nothing turns me off a book more than when the dialogue doesn’t fit. I get that same negative reaction regardless of whether the badass character is being too polite with language or the normally polite character is suddenly spewing profanity for no apparent reason.

    I’m happy that you and Charlie have bumped into each other here in the cyber world. I’m a big fan and I think you’ll enjoy her writing style. :)

  • http://www.brownbrushbooks.com Joel Kirkpatrick

    Charlie makes a very good point; swearing for ‘shock’ value is as detectible as spoiled fish. My reads are primarily submitted MSs now, and I value realistic character dialogue. An otherwise good story can be ruined by characters that are not natural.

  • http://www.brownbrushbooks.com Joel Kirkpatrick

    - and as ‘detectable’ as typos. :) (Oxford rules.)

  • http://byathread-thebook.com Marty Beaudet

    I’m presently writing a novel with a protagonist who says “fuck” a lot. That’s just who he is. It’s really irrelevant if I want him to or not — or whether any particular reader wants him to — just as it’s irrelevant in real life. If someone wants to say it, they will. My job is to write characters as real people, not some idealized version of what society wants them to be. That would be a different kind of fiction: propaganda.

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Spoiled fish? Ewww…

    Joel, one of the many things I love about your writing is the dialogue. You remain true to your characters, as well as the time period in which you write.

    And spelling doesn’t count in comments. No points deducted. :)

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Marty, I remember your issue with this character when you first started writing the story. It’s a tough line to walk – do we risk offending a few readers with language or do we risk offending ourselves with compromise? In the end, it comes down to censorship, which is something I vehemently oppose.

    I’ve written books with quite a lot of profanity and books with virtually none. We have to stay true to the characters and their story – and ourselves.

  • http://bitsyblingbooks@gmail.com Charlie Courtland

    Good morning everyone! I’m excited to see a discussion going. I recently read Beast of Burden by Ray Banks. His dialogue style got me thinking (yes, it hurt). The cussing was center and extremely important to the core of the character. To censor it, or water it down would literary destroy the story. Sounds extreme, but it’s a great example of how cussing and language can be vital.

  • http://www.experimentinterror.com Wanderlusting

    Heh. This is awesome, Charlie. I saw that review (obviously) and I was a bit surprised that the reviewer would have rated it an extra star higher if Dex hadn’t used the f-bomb so much. As a writer, I couldn’t censor Dex even if I tried to, and I don’t think I, nor any other writer, should have to worry about if readers will find things offensive. It’s about staying true to the characters. If you’re true to your characters, you stay true to yourself :)

  • http://westofmars.com/ Susan Helene Gottfried

    At first, I thought you were referring to a comment left about Trevor’s Song, Charlie. I think you’ve followed my struggles to get the boy attention in an increasingly uptight world.

    So… you know where I stand on the subject. Thanks for speaking up about this. You’re right: the best characters are true to themselves.

  • http://bitsyblingbooks@gmail.com Charlie Courtland

    Susan I knew you and Karina would have so much in common! Your characters Dex and Trevor should hang out lol!

  • http://www.shamelesscreations.com Kevin Shamel

    This is kinda funny to me.

    I love swearing. I constantly do it. I love when people say things about intelligence and swearing being opposites, or that those who use expletives can find no more intelligent way to express themselves.

    I write books. My books are filled with swearing. I just flipped through my first one to find an example of me using the word “fuck” in the prose. Because I’m pretty sure it’s in there. I found lots of instances of “shit” and other dirty words in it. I found a pageful of fuck and fucking in dialogue between a rat and a drunken bird.

    I read a lot of books where there’s plenty of swearing–in and out of dialogue. I love them. It’s more realistic to write like you speak. It shines through to the reader.

    If I’m going to walk down the street and tell a story, I’m most likely to tell a friend, “And then a fucking wasp stung me inside my fucking nose!” So that’s what I’d write real dialogue. It’s weirder in my world to find someone who isn’t free with their words. I DO have some Mormon friends who claim not to swear, but they make up fake swears like, “fetch” and “emmer effer”.

    It’s language. Not using it is wasting it.

    I wrote a book called, Porn Land, recently. I’ll bet the word “fuck” shows up in there a few times…

    Anyway, swear it up, authors.

  • http://www.experimentinterror.com Wanderlusting

    “Susan I knew you and Karina would have so much in common! Your characters Dex and Trevor should hang out lol!” – now THAT would be a book with a lot of swearing ;0)

    Great post, btw!

  • http://www.bizarrojones.com Kirk Jones

    I just went back and looked through my book like Kevin, and found that my protagonist doesn’t use curse words very often, if at all. But the antagonist uses them quite frequently. This is something that just happened and I never thought about it while writing the book. Looking back, I think it would have been terribly awkward for my protagonist to utter curse words.

    I’m in agreement with Charlie, and it looks like most of us are. Sometimes swearing adds to a character. It is part of characterization, just like avoiding curse words would reveal something to the reader about a character as well.

  • http://www.bradleysands.com Bradley Sands

    Like everyone else, I definitely agree, although I’ve read a few books that seemed like they would have been better if they had less profanity in the dialogue because it was often felt excessive and unnecessary for the character. I have one novella (Cheesequake Smash-up, which appears in the blue edition of The Bizarro Starter Kit) where the protagonist is against swearing, so he uses silly alternatives in their place (while one of his antagonists rarely speaks a sentence that doesn’t contain an expletive).

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this lively discussion – and to Charlie for starting it all. :)

    Kevin, you had me laughing. Profanity in dialogue between a rat and a drunken bird? I have got to check that one out! You’re right about people who don’t actually say the swear but replace it with some other nonsensical word. If we all know what it means, isn’t it the same thing?

  • http://www.zequeattajaqus.com/ Zequeatta Jaques

    I have to agree with you, Charlie. My last book I censured one of my character’s vocabulary as I worked. When I would reread my WIP at the end of the day, the feel just wasn’t right! The character wasn’t herself. Once I decided to change all my censured parts the book flowed.

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Zequeatta, I can relate. I can’t get my characters to behave to suit me. They pop into my head and say, “This is who I am!” :)

  • http://the-fourth-brother.com/ the fourth brother

    I have been following this discussion and feel compelled to comment. I myself am not an author and therefore have not experienced what you feel or go through in the process of creating your works of fiction. I know that I will probably be dismissed because of this reason. My only qualification? I’m a reader.
    I completely disagree with everyone of you on this topic. I’ll tell you why.
    There are people in this world who try to live to a higher standard than what the world produces daily. The “just because everyone is doing it, makes it relevant” argument is little more than moral relativity and I consider moral relativity to be nothing more than sin disguised.
    I wrote a review on Wilbur Smith’s Those in Peril. I loved the book except for the porn.
    You may say that “hey, people have sex or people get raped” so therefore if my character is this kind of person, I have to be true to my character and include it in the narrative. I do not agree.
    If your story includes a rape scene or a sex scene, you can write about it without being graphic. As a reader I don’t need to be told what the person’s genitalia look like for me to know they have it. In my opinion it should not be included. Tell the reader the couple made love or let the reader know the victim was raped. It is not and never will be necessary to describe it in detail. The same applies to cussing.
    I can know a person has a foul mouth without having to be subjected to it. I don’t need to hear their curse words to understand why they are using it or how they are making their point.
    For an author to use foul language in their prose under the excuse that “my character does it so I have to include it” is doing nothing but hiding their own desire and pleasure in using it. It isn’t the character who needs to cuss; it’s the author.
    Now that I’ve stepped on everyone’s toes and made them mad I am sure to get blasted. Before you start having at me just remember, no matter the number – there are readers out there who won’t enjoy a book that includes foul language or graphic sex, even if the character demands it. They also spend their money accordingly.
    That’s just my opinion. Okay – fire away :)

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    I would never blast anyone for having an opinion. Reader or writer or both, we are all entitled to the way we feel.

    Obviously, I don’t agree with everything you’ve said. I won’t get into my religious beliefs and whether I feel profanity is a sin. That’s a whole other discussion.

    I do not agree at all that the character’s need to curse is actually the author’s need in disguise. Of course, if an author is littering the entire book with profanity, then yes, he/she probably likes those words and that has nothing to do with the characters. The dialogue, though, belongs to the character. I might not need to use profanity in the narrative but if I have a gang member speaking, he is going to curse. That’s the reality of life.

    I don’t go around swearing randomly. That’s not my normal vocabulary. But I study people, always have, and people do curse. Certain people do so more than others. I know my characters and I’m well aware of which ones would and which ones would not. My fiction mimics my reality.

    The type of book you’re describing, when the author circumvents the details, is found in the cozy mystery and other such subgenres. Those books intentionally leave out the gory, the vulgar and the details that make life ugly. Some of my books fit that description, others do not.

    Not everyone wants reality mixed with their fiction. That’s why it’s vital for the reader to be aware of the genre he/she is reading, to read the book’s description, and to choose wisely based on his/her taste. We cannot expect an author to censor his/her work to suit each reader’s taste.

  • http://the-fourth-brother.com/ the fourth brother

    Darcia, you said: My fiction mimics my reality.
    I understand this reason, but I still have to disagree. Propagating foul language for the sake of keeping your fiction real is still not necessary.
    A person who studies other people does not need to engage in the observed behavior if it is immoral. Profanity in fiction is nothing more than this.
    There are many works of great fiction that do not incorporate profanity in it’s pages in spite of having characters that if portrayed as they really are, would cuss.
    Please don’t take my comments as an attack – they are not. I truly believe great fiction can be written without profanity. And there are those of us relieved to be able to reach such without skimming over the F-bombs.
    For me, it isn’t about “who is your reader and what do they want” or even censoring to other’s taste. It is about adhering to a higher standard. This is possible even for authors who use profanity in their private life. Profanity doesn’t need to be said or written. That’s my 2 cents.

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    You are certainly entitled to disagree! I do agree that there is some great fiction with no profanity. I also know of some great fiction that does use it. In fact, many of the words within the great classics are now considered vulgar and/or profanity.

    I am a great believer in showing, not telling, when I write. For instance, I could tell readers within the narration that Suzie is a P.T.A. mom who is much loved within the community but uses a lot of profanity at home. As a reader, you’ll have that image in the back of your mind but it won’t make a big impact on your feelings for Suzie. Readers will likley still respect Suzie for her standing in the community and her shiney surface. But, if I show readers Suzie out with the other P.T.A. moms, being nice and well-spoken, then show her again at home cursing her kids about their homework, readers are forced to see the entire reality of who Suzie is. I absolutely do not believe that being told something has the same effect as being shown.

    One of the reasons why I write is because I want to shake people up. I want them to question their assumptions of the homeless man and the well-dressed attorney.

    I totally understand and respect your feelings on content. What you describe as your ideal is most easily found in Christian fiction and I don’t write Christian fiction.

    On the other extreme, I’ve had negative reviews on a couple of my books because I did not, in the reader’s opinion, elaborate enough on the sex scenes. Those readers wanted detail. That’s fine, if that’s what you want. But that’s erotica and I don’t write erotica, either.

    You said that for you it isn’t “who is your reader and what do they want”. Nor is it that way for me. I don’t write with any particular reader in mind. I write the story that my characters need to tell, in the way that is true to my characters and myself. In the end, if I can’t be true to myself, I can’t be true to anyone.

  • http://www.scottsemegran.com Scott Semegran

    Hi all! Great discussion. I am guilty of writing some fiction with a foul-mouthed narrator. It’s true. His name is Simon Burchwood and his narration is chock-full of f-bombs, cursing, profanity, and verbal tirades that would make a pirate blush. As the narrator of two of my novels, you get an unvarnished glimpse into the mind of this character. Simon even professes that he never curses out loud, particularly around children. The self he presents to the world is very different than his internal self. It’s this contrast that was very intriguing to me when exploring Simon’s personality.

    I’ve had some reviewers make issue with the use of profanity in my novel and some have held back a “star” because of it. In fact, I had one reviewer tell me that he couldn’t get past page 50 because of the sheer amount of foul language. Ha ha! That’s unfortunate for him, I guess. The fact of the matter is, the way my character speaks to the readers is very integral to who he is and was vital for me to flesh out his personality. Simon spoke to me in his unique, foul-mouthed way. Does all of my fiction have profanity? No. Was it vital for Simon to speak this way? Absolutely!

    In contrast, I’ve had several fantastic reviews of my novel and they all had one thing in common: Simon Burchwood has a powerful, unique, funny, and interesting narrative voice. That was one of my main goals: I wanted Simon to be unique. One of the reviewers, Red Adept, even defended Simon’s propensity to let the f-bombs fly. She stated it better than I can at this point. So I will let her have the floor:

    “I have noticed on Amazon many reviewers who give very harsh reviews for books that have bad language in them. I generally disagree with them. Personally, I do not cuss very much at all, and, when I do, it is very mild. However, I do not mind it in books and movies when it is necessary for honesty in the tale.

    This book is mostly comprised of the thoughts of a grown man. I think that many, many people cuss in their thoughts, even if they don’t say the words out loud. As a matter of fact, Simon actually avoids cussing out loud. He also espouses the viewpoint that people shouldn’t cuss in front of their children. Like all of us, though, his thoughts are very different from what comes out of his mouth.

    Could the writer have left out all of the bad language? Possibly. But the integrity of the work would have been lost. The voice would not have been nearly as powerful.”

    Read the full review here: http://redadeptreviews.com/the-meteoric-rise-of-simon-burchwood-by-scott-semegran/

    Then she gave The Meteoric Rise of Simon Burchwood 4 1/2 stars. Nice!

    Thanks,
    Scott
    –
    Scott Semegran
    ————–
    ScottSemegran.com
    Twitter.com/scottsemegran
    Facebook.com/scottsemegran.writer.cartoonist
    Smashwords.com/profile/view/scottsemegran
    Amazon.com/-/e/B002DMIIFC
    Barnesandnoble.com/c/scott-semegran

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Well said, Scott. One of the most important things in writing is to be true to your characters.

    That’s a fantastic review. It’s always a great feeling when a reader truly understands a character/story.

  • http://garrettdennert.com Garrett Dennert

    I don’t think this could’ve been said any better. In my work I swear, mostly through my characters, but also in the narration, depending on what the tone of the story calls for. For example, I have a story where a police officer is sleeping with a hooker, and I really wanted that story to be absolutely grungy because it’s a close third-person POV, centering on the police officer. The words are technically my own, I guess, because it is not 1st person and it is not a piece of dialogue, but at the same time I feel it adds something to the setting. Good post.

    ~Garrett

  • http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com Darcia Helle

    Garrett, I write in a close third-person, as well. Most often, the narration is coming from the character’s head the reader is in, not from me. I’m not a big fan of writer interference. So of course if the character would swear, there is swearing within the narration as well as his/her dialogue.

    I love your definition of your story – “absolutely grungy”. That alone makes me want to read it! :)

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