Comments on: Pardon My French

By: John Bowers

John Bowers — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Brennan makes an interesting point, but taking a dump is something we usually do in private, so it doesn’t need to be described in the average novel. Swearing is something we may do in private or in the presence of others. So while Brennan’s rather humerous point is valid to some extent, I think it hardly merits being taken seriously.

And yes, I have occasionally described someone draining the lizard in my novels.

By: Keira Kroft

Keira Kroft — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:55:44 +0000

I believe that works of fiction are better told with a healthy dose of realism. However, when you first introduce your self in life, you don’t swear, you don’t say it’s so F’n nice too meet you. So I feel although vulgar language and as we were told as kids, “Bad words” are allowable and okay. But, not on the first page of your story, because that’s your introduction.

By: Michelle Gagnon

Michelle Gagnon — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:04:09 +0000

I agree, the language needs to fit the characters. In my books, the cops, special forces guys, and younger adults (college kids especially) are the biggest pottymouths. I don’t advocate littering the text with it, but on our blog someone gave a great example. He was watching THE MATRIX on a plane, and when Trinity realized that they’d been set up and agents were en route to kill them, the dubbed version had her hanging up the phone and screaming, “Darn it!”
It simply doesn’t have the same impact of what she originally said (mind you, I’m not saying that airplanes shouldn’t dub. But what if that had been the original response in the film?)
I’m not a fan of sanitizing work simply because a few people complain. And in my experience, a few people ALWAYS complain about something, sometimes about things that surprise me.

By: alkalar

alkalar — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:56:01 +0000

Folks. This is a public blog. Please keep the actual 4-letter words in your manuscripts and not here. I don’t want to sound like a prude, but one of those 12-year-old’s might read it in front of his mother and then we’ll all catch “heck”.

By: Brennan Harvey

Brennan Harvey — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:24:26 +0000

On the other hand, people go to the bathroom several times a day. Isn’t it unrealistic for your hero to not stop and drain the lizard? If the story takes place over several days, why aren’t these scenes scattered throughout the novel? And what about dropping a log or two. I do it once a day, but don’t feel compelled to include my characters doing it. Unless, of course, it’s important to the story.

I’m not saying that a character that doesn’t poo or wee every other page is a cardboard character and not based in reality. I’m simply saying, why deal with it unless it’s important to the story. Swearing is like that.

Dialogue in a story is a fictionalized type of dialogue anyway, and doesn’t reflect how real-people speak in real-life. So, why include all the swearing, unless it aids in building character? Putting excessive swearing in a story can be like including all of the “um” and “er” words that are useless in succinct dialogue, but are rampant in “the real way people talk.”

Your dialogue has to be true to your story, so a die-hard marine fighting the enemy may need to swear quite often, but a 12-year-old exploring a make-believe world behind a brick wall doesn’t need to say “fuck” on every page, just as he doesn’t need to say “er” or “um” on every sentence. Or, that he has to poo once a day.

By: John Bowers

John Bowers — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:16:28 +0000

THANK THE LAWD AND HALLELUJAH!!!

It’s about time someone got it right, and Michelle got it right. Characters in novels who do not swear are completely one-dimensional, because in the real world that’s how REAL people talk. Not all of them, but most of them.

I disagree that it says anything negative about our culture because it’s nothing new. Swearing has always been a part of the human experience and always will be. Anyone who is offended by reading it in a novel should stick to children’s literature, say the 4-8 crowd.

School kids also swear, and spectacularly. Every little angel does it, usually starting around the 5th grade, no matter how righteous his parents, so maybe a reality check is due.

Go Gagnon!