I got into a bit of discussion about whether I should entirely avoid profanities in my writing. A friend of mine claimed that my MC can't be a lady and swear. It's fantasy, and the MC is an intelligent but passionate character. I feel that some creative profanities suit her.

Do you avoid using profanities?

Do they bother you when you read even if it is in character?

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@HeliaXyana I let my mum read my current WIP and she grumbled it has too much swearing. 😆

I find it adds character. Some will throw f-bombs into every sentence. Others never use them, but if they do, it tells the reader about their emotional state.

What is difficult is swear words can date a book. Also our swear words in a fantasy setting don’t always fit and jolts the reader out of the story.

@HeliaXyana No, because my characters of an age and time when profanities are inescapable.

@HeliaXyana

It depends. Most of my short works are cussword free bc swearing wouldn't for fit the characters.

But I put at least one F-bomb within the sample length of my books so people w/zero swear tolerance know to avoid them.

And this is my favorite review of all time: "Interesting book - The explicit language was a little disturbing, but the author has been using that since she was 2 years old. Her Mother and I never figured out where she learned it."

(from my granddad, fwiw)

@SJHoodlet

Ha! That's a good assortment!

@Emmacox

Ah, I do enjoy making them up, but there is something profound about a good 'fuck'.

I don't mind if that dates the writing a bit down the line. Such things don't bother me when I read. It can add a bit of charm as long as it's in character.

@kmherkes

Hahaha! Excellent!

@HeliaXyana It doesn't bother me when I read it if a character swears, but in my own writing I try to avoid it but mostly because I want my books to be read by all ages and it does bother me if children read it and learn swearing from my books 🙂

But that's a personal preference mostly because I have nephews and niecess that I'd like to read what I write ...

@HeliaXyana

I've never gotten the issue with certain words which mean the same as other words people are fine with or rhyme with other words. I can say intercourse or feces, or truck or duck or fit or wit and no one cares. Always found it silly & arbitrary to single certain words out to get offended by. My characters swear if the dialogue suits them or the situation. I avoid overuse like I avoid over repetition of any other word.

@crcollins

While there is a certain charm in coy euphemisms, I agree that we all know what they mean. So why avoid the real thing unless that is part of the story.

The Rascals initially mishear Freya say Fuck! and assume she said Sock! which works remarkably well.

"Sock you!" and "Sock it!" sounds like a odd threat.

"Go sock yourself!" sound like threatening to turn people into sock puppets.

Suddenly we're in a aggressive voodoo magic sock puppet world.

@HeliaXyana

Cute! I have characters who react badly to "cussing" like people do in our world. The words are a human cultural thing, mages never heard them until humans came, although they have their own form of swearing. I've not actually created mage swear words, but maybe I should sometime. 😀 Some mages have taken to the human terms quite well.

@HeliaXyana

I have a character, a Princess who has spent her whole life being told she must not swear, or the world will end.

When it feels like her whole world is ending anyway, she starts swearing. And realises there are things in this world that can only be answered with a four-letter word or two.

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@davidtheeviloverlord @HeliaXyana The characters in The Psychopath Club are (or are meant to be) typical teenagers and swear casually and un-selfconsciously.

At the other end of the scale, in Juniper’s Harp, I made a deliberate choice to have Juniper refrain from expletives for two-thirds of the book, in order to increase the impact when in a fraught confrontation, she tells an enemy to “go shit in your helmet”.

Cuss words are part of the palette, that’s all.

@klepsydra @davidtheeviloverlord @HeliaXyana

"Part of the palette." Love it!

Yep. I have characters who never do, those who do sparingly, & those who tend to use them more frequently. Depends on the person and situation. I have a mage who, at a point of peak frustration, uses what she calls "a favorite human curse word" to get her point across to these maddening humans.

@klepsydra @davidtheeviloverlord

That is the interesting function of swearwords.

They're a natural part of language, and I don't think there has ever been a culture completely devoid of them.

I like it when my main character swears. It reminds me of the rare occasion in which I've heard my mother swear. It really makes you pause if it's not at all part of a character's everyday speech.