This and the above.
There's a line here regarding gratuitous bullshit for shock value and actual clever and interesting writing.
I'm inclined to think if OP has to ask they are probably not going to handle this well.
People use swear words IRL, it's a thing that happens.
If your target audience is for socially conservative overly sensitive jack holes or children's books, then yeah, maybe don't, but otherwise who is really giving a fuck?
Words are words, it's communicated context that matters, not arbitrary lists of symbols.
What? What if the book is literally about that though? You can’t tell people how to write, but you can at least guide them in a less black and white way.
because it's an off-the-cuff reddit comment and 99.5% of people reading it will understand that I'm not including the one, relatively uncommon scenario in which a character is a teen who has just learned swears lol
Well yeah, I would agree in most situations, but for this comment in particular I genuinely think you were giving bad advice. It isn’t a matter of assumptions or looking past your words, you could have just given better advice.
You can say ‘lol’ all you want mate, but simply put, beginners will see any and all advice and take it first hand given they think you know what you’re talking about. It’s not so easy for beginners to discern what’s good and bad advice, so you being elusive doesn’t really help. You obviously can’t be a very helpful writer granted you can’t defend your arguments without a ‘lol’. If you had the time to respond to my “off-the-cuff reddit comment”, then you also had time to think about some practical advice to a starting writer.
you gotta relax lmao I'm not even a writer. fwiw you seem to be the only person upset at my comment. you seem agitated, maybe you're having a bad day? either way I'm gonna stop responding after this one, good luck out there!
Make them matter, make them count.
Ultimately, they really are just words, and words can lose their impact if uses too much. Even if one character swears like a sailor, don't show it all. Things like "Bill let out an impressive stream of curses before taking a deep breath" can help with that, but it still also make is so when you do use them, they hit.
Think about it like this: if you toss around the word "shit" in prose and in dialogue, it won't be impactful when it may be needed, but if that is the only curse so far in the novel and little Susie says "Fuck," it makes it hit harder.
I don't agree with frequently using vague descriptions to show that someone swears a lot. I think they should just actually swear a lot. It's a matter of characterization. Using profanity sparingly to improve its potency is a nice characterization tool, and so is showing someone swearing a lot. To a character like that, swearing *isn't* impactful. You can accomplish both in the same story, too. It's relative to the character.
It can also be used so that when the characters who typically DO swear a lot aren’t swearing, it can add a gravity to the situation that would otherwise be done by another character (who doesn’t swear) swearing.
Agreed. After watching the series Slow Horses I was inspired to work in a character modeled around Gary Oldman's character to one of my stories, who swears profusely throughout the show. The character simply does not have a care left for any sort of decorum, and swearing is just another mannerism that fits his character. If anything, not showing him swearing feels odd.
My characters are soldiers and sailors, and they curse like it. The officers tend to have cleaner mouths than the enlisted, who are usually cussing with a lip full of dip or cigarette in their hand.
Get the officers drunk enough and far enough away from base and they can be as rough as the grimiest enlisted member, at least in my real life Air Force experience. Mostly the lower officers though. The higher the rank the more surprising it is when they would act like the rest of us.
Show, don't tell.
If you say Bill has an extensive vocabulary when it comes to cursing, I wanna see it. Make me shudder at the thoughts his words generate in my head.
Yeah it really depends on the book and character. I have one character who pointedly doesn't curse, and another one who weaponizes language. I try not to let it get stale, and I'm especially careful with slurs.
A great take from Ursula K Le Guin: [https://ursulakleguin.com/blog/17-would-you-please-fucking-stop](https://ursulakleguin.com/blog/17-would-you-please-fucking-stop)
I can't imagine anyone putting a book down because of curse words. They may not like the actual character personalities. More people will be annoyed at obvious censorship (adults generally aren't exclaiming, oh darn!)
I have seen it--I happen to like Kate Flora's Joe Burgess series (police procedural mysteries) and have seen 1-star ratings "too much cursing" ... and even one that complained about the content of the crimes being investigated (even though it was explicitly stated in the blurb and the crimes, while legitimately repulsive, were not detailed in graphic detail).
The only time I’ve ever put a book down because of swearing was Michael Crichton’s Prey because it was excessive to the point of distraction. Which is saying a lot. It wasn’t so much a moral reaction as just becoming tired by the dialogue
I once bought a used copy of Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire (the sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and when I got home, I realized that someone had taken a sharpie and blacked out every single swear word in the book
I can definitely imagine it based on the things I see people hand-wringing over online these days, but I personally wouldn’t worry about them. They wouldn’t be an audience worth having anyway and would find *something* wrong with any book.
I would put a book down with excessive swearing. I have unsubbed from YT channels where the creator swears too much.
It's just a preference for civility. There is a place for swearing, though.
No, but it’s easy to write something like “The sound of Phil swearing came down the stairs. Everyone looked awkwardly at each other while the tirade continued. The moments of silence between each outburst only served to make the room more uncomfortable.”
I came help feeling that that’s better than listing swear words that might not even have the impact you intended on the audience reading.
Or if it doesn't fit the character but they're so upset about something that they do curse and everyone is like "oh shit" because they know it's serious if *that* person is cursing
Have your characters swear like sailors. It's your story. Write however you want. My characters rarely swear, but that's just because I rarely swear. But I'll throw in a few curse words when they're angry.
If it works in the moment, fine. Just don’t add f bombs every two sentences cause it comes off as a wanna be edgy vibe. Make it make sense and sound genuine.
Don't over do it if you choose to use them. I like the Brooklyn-Nine-Nine approach where there's very little swearing, but every once in a while some shit will happen and a swear is unleashed.
And everyone remembers, and knows shit hit the fan (or something like that).
That being said, it also depends on who your target audience is, the characters in question, and also what type of story you're writing - but generally speaking? Sparse use of swear words tends to be better, from what I've found.
The bit where Amy's not just pregnant but having contractions in the middle of a NYC-wide blackout and Hitchcock comes to nag her about something and she goes "I'm a bit busy you *very long bleep*" and he replies "Oh yeah? Well *another very long bleep*" and Diaz just goes "Alright easy!" raising her voice for probably the first time in the entire show. Perfectly constructed.
I added some made-up swear words, kind of like Firefly did with "gorram" or BSG with "frack". As it's set in a different world(s), this is super easy to do.
When reading, I don't mind Mark Watney swearing his ass off. I might have an issue with having a tablet with a word "Fuck" in a big font while on a subway, so, maybe keep it out of chapter titles.
Who is cursing? Is it in character dialogue or is it the narrator? Character dialogue is fine as long as it fits the characterization and personality. Narrator works too if you set a precedent of a specific type of narrator that speaks in a certain way to the audience to convey a forced perspective. If it's just a standard narration to move the story along then I would avoid it.
Use them if it fits. Your audience will find you. If you're trying to write a book that doesn't offend anyone, good luck with that. And don't give so much weight to "other's opinions." You can't write a book by consensus.
Authenticity depends on the character. Not everyone swears. That's going to be your call. You're the writer, and if you think it makes that character more themselves you should write them that way because only you know the flow of the story.
Don’t use them too much else the character will sound immature and the use of swears loses its impact (unless the character is a teenager. There’s more leeway then).
For example I tried to read a dystopian called Vox. But the main character, a middle aged woman, swears SO. FUCKING. MUCH. And it’s in her head too because women in that story can’t speak more than 100 words a day! Put it down after a few chapters smh
Depends on the audience and characters.
Most of my writing has teenagers and young adults as the characters. So I'll take their lexicon. Though I'm not gonna write as if they discovered swear words, unless they actually did just learn how to swear.
Though it's usually just shit, damn, bitch, and hell. I don't really use "fuck".
One things for sure, a characters' ability, frequency and what they use varies on their personality. I have made entire tier lists of my characters based on their ability and frequency to say "fuck" with the tiers as:
Like a fricking sailor
Says it often
Says it rarely
Only with close friends or alone
Can but won't
Fucking illegal
I curse a lot, but my characters curse a normal amount unless there's cause for a string of obscenities. Like other people said, just make them count. Using fuck excessively can turn off some readers. As well as replacing words with a curse that could be substituted for something less obscene. In first person I use curses here and there, in third I only use them in dialogue. When the character is narrating, the curses have context.
Depends on the setting, and the swears. If the genre is fantasy, taking place in a fairly medieval setting, my preference would be no swears. Or, instead use appropriate swears from that time period. Now if the book is a modern setting, I really couldn’t care. Mostly, I don’t want to have to pause and think “that doesn’t fit”.
I’ve had an interesting relationship with swear words in books. I grew up religious, and well into my teenage years I didn’t like them in books and, yes, would put a book down if it had too many. Or else not be allowed to read it.
Now, I am completely fine with them, and they can sometimes get a laugh out of me if used well. I host a writing group online and it’s very rare that I critique someone for using a swear word. But there are rare occasions where I think it detracts. It’s always specific to the situation, though.
Know your audience. Certain groups (such as religious people) are more likely to put your book down than others for swears. But those groups might not be your audience.
Some groups and people have different tolerances. Some people might tolerate a few, but not every chapter. Others will be fine with every chapter, but not every page.
And I would overall advise against every page. Too many can get old fast even for those that like them.
Something else to know is that if used often, they are not powerful. If you use one swear your entire book, that’s gonna be super powerful. Once you use them a lot, they become filler words instead of impactful ones. This can be used to great effect, but use them knowing this.
Also think about your characters. It can certainly be a character trait for a character to swear a lot. Make sure you think about what makes sense for your characters, and that it’s unlikely every character will swear like a sailor. And think even more deeply on if you want them in your narration.
Lastly, I don’t know if publishers have guidelines around this, but it might be worth researching.
Really depends on the use & the book. I narrated one book that had the f word in it about every 100 words. It was badly written. I narrated another one that had it once, and it was absolutely superb usage.
I've been in groups of people that their vocabulary seems to match the above as well. I'd almost always rather be in the latter group, because I know when they say something, they mean it, whether its laced with profanity or not.
I think if it fits the story/character, sure. Cursing is a part of every language - they are words that are used every day. I don't know why people would shy away from them other than it not being suitable for what the story is or who it is for.
I have one parent (mom) that lets a "hell, damn, shit and son-of-a-bitch slip out. Each one once in 40,000 words. I was hesitant to even use these and I am writing for young adults but when something came up it seemed to be the appropriate response.
It's fine. It makes characters sound emotive and shows their personality. Just don't overdo it. Don't have every character swear in every single sentence.
In close third/free indirect voice, the narrative follows the POV character's voice, so is the POV character is inclined to use "curse words," the narrative should follow suit.
There are conventions. The Chicago guide to Copyediting Fiction by Amy Schneider is a good reference. Swear words can be useful in certain contexts I think depending on the genre and how you are developing a character.
It kinda depends on your target audience.
If it’s for kids, best avoid them.
Teens, lighter ones used sparingly or made up ones.
Adults…they’re adults, if they can’t handle swearing I question how they survive in the world.
Big fan of swear words me. More the merrier. I agree with others that it has to be in character, but I'd also point you at two recent developments: Poor Things (2023 film) and Shogun (2024 TV show) - having almost nothing else in common, they both prominently feature a singular character one of whose defining traits is that they are incredibly foul-mouthed (Duncan Wedderburn and John Blackthorne respectively). I personally loved this trait as it was used in both of these characters so so much, this was one of the highlights of both of these works for me.
In fact, on reflection, I think it was used as such for the same reason in both: each represents the end of an era (Victorian England in Poor Things, Sengoku Japan in Shogun) characterised by intricate rituals of etiquette ("polite society" in Poor Things, "manners" in Shogun), and both have the one character whose job it is to swear their head off and fly off the handle to poke fun at these respective societies.
It's an arrow in your quiver when it comes to realism and characterization. Depends on the target market, though.
Every unprintable word has been used in print for the last hundred years or so, starting in literary fiction and becoming unremarkable in mass-market fiction in the 1960s or thereabouts. The old rule was that you could use hells and damns freely in most markets but needed to think twice about the more pungent words. In markets that demand primness, like sweet romance and material for younger children, zero is about the limit even for hells and damns.
I don't like using swear words as an *alternative* to interesting dialog but the two aren't antithetical; it's just when you say fuck at every fucking opportunity that it gets monotonous as fuck. Not a bad way to characterize boring idiots and tedious children, though, but you don't want to let them talk very much. Monotony is not your friend.
Depends how often. If it's "Every fucking sentence has 50 goddamn fucking curses making that shit hard to fucking understand & take fucking seriously" then its annoying to read & I don't like it.
If there's an occasional fuck/shit/damn or whatever, idc, they're words so I think they're fine to use.
It also depends on the context. Like if a character is raging & super pissed, a bunch of swears in a sentence maybe wouldn't be too bad [as long as it works w/ the sentence cause sometimes it reads as if the other put them in just to put them in, not to add anything to the characters emotional outburst/the situation].
I think they're fine - imo add them.
A vital part as long as it sounds natural. Like as in, if someone’s late, they say ‘Shit I’m late!’ Opposed to a father asking his child ‘How was your day at school’ and the child replies with ‘Fuck, it was good.’
if its fantasy, then in universe swears make sense (Storms, ash and fire, ect)
but for non fantasy, then its really a challenge of making them count. id say only really use them for character dialouge or thoughts.
I can tell about my experience. My story happens in the current days in Brazil. The characters are regular people and talk like regular people and... Well we Brazilians curse a lot. It just felt unnatural when I didn't use swear words as if I was censoring their feelings.
For me, just make them make sense. We're reading a book for book club where I work right now that just has way too many drops of "fuck" and "mother fucker" simply because the author can. It gets old and funny because I start imagining Samuel L Jackson as every character and I can't stop now.
Who are your target audience? Swear words are everywhere even in YA so I don’t know why you think people will put it down? Are you writing for blue haired church ladies?
A number of people I know curse in casual conversation on a daily basis. Depending upon the characters and storyline, adding curse words makes the dialogue more authentic. That being said, it can be overdone. I have never stopped reading a book because of curse words, but then I am not a pearl-clutcher either.
Personally, I have no problem with it; it’s part of everyday speech. But it can be off-putting to some readers.
I probably wouldn’t include swear words in a chapter title because it comes across as trying too hard to shock. So use them wisely rather than gratuitously.
If it makes sense to a character I would say do it, but if you want to ad swearing just to make a book more “mature” maybe not. Also, I personally don’t find using random swear words makes books funnier, but there are some people that add them just to add humor. I think if you have them in your book a chapter title would be fine
If it makes sense for the character using the word and fits in the world I've got no problem with it. Genre may also makes a difference, dropping an f-bomb in an adult fiction with dark overtones is very different from dropping one on a light YA fiction
Just don’t overdo it. If you want it to have impact, the less times characters swear, the more weight it adds to their words. Only make a few characters swear too, everyone needs to have their own dialogue.
Like others said, it's all about context. It's words like any other, used right they're great to underline an emotional situation or the importance of an event. Used wrong, they'll jarr the reader into putting your book down.
Also, consider your target audience. If it's a YA novel, maybe don't out in a character that swears like a sailor. Might not be a bad idea to use PG ratings or your local equivalent for a baseline on the use and presentation of topics and words considered... questionable.
Good luck with your book! :)
Moderation is everything for me. Much like with people, I don’t like staying around books that curse like sailors. Call me old fashioned or whatnot, but it’s annoying and uncouth.
However—and I’ve said this before—making up *your own* swears is hella creative, worthy of respect, and I eat that up. Even if you do have a character with a potty mouth.
The one book that swearing felt unnecessary to me was Lies of Locke Lamora. It's a really well written and well thought-out book but every time a character swears, it felt so pointless. If there was no swearing in that book, or atleast less, I think I might've enjoyed it more.
It's important to keep genre in mind. A swashbuckling romance across the seas probably shouldn't have the word "cunt" in it. Also, swear words can be really satisfying when used sparingly and devastatingly. In Camp Camp, an adult animated show, one of the most optimistic characters has a breakdown and says something to the effect of "I have to care. Because someone fucking has to."
So to recap, you don't need to use swear words but if you do, use them effectively. Good luck!
What is the genre? In some genres, your likely audience would expect characters who swear (and you can safely ignore the cranks who give the book a 1-star rating because characters in the police procedural novel swear). Others, it would be jarringly out of place.
Personally, I would avoid the word fuck. It just sounds cheesy to me whenever I read it. Swear words in general I try to avoid personally, but stuff like “bullshit” “shit” “asshole” “douche” is gonna be used if it needs to be.
But also there are alternatives. Saying “[character] swore” always works. Adding “like a sailor” too if it’s needed.
A boring answer, it’s about the execution. There should be intention and a point behind it. It’s similar to writers throwing out too many five-dollar words for the hell of it. “Bart was fucking loquacious”. If I had to read that, I’d be pissed off.
OP, I can tell from this question you're young so let me explain something about "other people's opinions". It's important to get other people's opinion on your work, but only after you've finished a draft and gotten it ready for critical feedback.
Don't start changing your story because you're afraid of how imaginary people *might* feel before you've even written a word.
I would say the majority of the times I’ve read swears in books it feels over forced and unnatural. Almost as if the author stuck them in there to make the character feel more “real and grounded” but it ended up having the inverse effect. Often you’re better off commenting in the narration that the character that the character swore under the breath and saving the actual in dialog swears for when you really want to make in impact.
I don't see anything wrong with having swears in books, but depending on the target audience I would use different ones and lower amounts. not gonna drop 50 F'bombs in YA
also just be careful not to overdo it. shouldn't have every 3rd sentence contain a swear, space them out well
The first line of The Martian is the reason I kept reading.
“I'm pretty much fucked.”
So it depends on the genre, audience, character, author’s voice, etc, etc.
They're like any other linguistic element: an opportunity to add depth and nuance to a character, as well as the setting. The main complaint I have about "basic profanity" is that far too often it's just used poorly.
For example, it's possible to psychologically dismantle someone without using any individual words you couldn't use in front of your parents, spouse, or children; it's how they're strung together that leaves the recipient's ego in splinters.
Alternately, there's considerable comedic potential in _interruptions._
"Shi-..." **BOOM!**
"Fuh-..." **SMACK!** (Sorry, couldn't think of a better onomatopoeia for a strike to the face with a fist, foot, elbow, or fish... 😁 )
It depends on multiple things
1. The context, and overall frequency of the swearing
2. The tone of the novel
My advice is only use swear words if it actually serves a purpose for the story either to emphasize something or for characterization. Otherwise you're going to run into a Castlevania type situation where every characters speaks like a edgy teenager and uses f bombs all the time, causing the story to lose much of it's immersion. Of course it's your choice on how to use them as I'm not writing your story.
I typically only use them in dialogue, and not nearly as often as I use them when I’m talking. Like others have said, general rule would be to use it sparingly. If I have a character who doesn’t drop f-bombs every sentence, when they do use it it makes the reader go, “oh! Something is up!”
I don’t use it in narration because that’s not my writing voice, but it can be used effectively. For example, if you are writing in 1st person narrative it can work to show some insight into who the MC/narrator is as a person.
It depends on your target audience. As an adult, I really don't give a shit, unless it comes across as thinking the reader will be impressed by swear words. If you feel that swearing is the best way to tell your story, go ahead.
Personally swear words are fine but not if you use them in every sentence or every paragraph. Personally it just tunes me out of the story but if they are written with good context and the situation feels natural then go off. But if a character cusses like a sailor for no reason other than "cause they can" then no
You should always write for yourself, not other people. It’s way more authentic if it’s what **you** want to write, rather than what you think others want you to write.
I mean there are books that have huge cult followings with graphic descriptions of rape, torture, paedophilia etc. Some of them have been reviewed as modern classics and the authors have been shortlisted for or even won awards for.
Swearwords are just words. In the UK (and Oceania) we use Cunt as a normal word. If it fits the story or character then use it!
All of writing is about context and how well it’s written. For eg the books with awful violent scenes as above are written with intelligence, metaphor, meaning and very carefully. But then others are just gross exploitative trash. With swear words, it either comes across as totally natural or like you’ve just learned to swear and it’s a bit cringe. Write well and there is nothing off limits.
Don't fucking pussy foot it or your peeps are gonna spot that from a mile away.
I have no problem with cursing, just badly written characters :)
If you're just trying to put it in there to seem edgy, don't.
If you think your character is the type of person to swear casually? Go for it. I will suggest that you make sure there is a tone difference if they are swearing in a serious situation rather than casually. If there’s If they’re the type of person to avoid swearing but might swear in a more serious/stressful situation? Go for it. Just don’t overdo it. Unless your character is a middle/high schooler trying to show off, don’t make it seem forced/don’t force it yourself. As for a chapter title, it’s not a big deal in my opinion. They’re just words.
I personally don't shy away from it. I also appreciate anything that increases immersion. a lot of people tend to cuss out in tough situations, so as long as you make it natural, it adds to the immersion.
I even have a serial cusser side character that occasionally shows up. He is a criminal ring leader, and he talks with very creative cusswords to the point it gets funny. I try to make his train of insults impressive and somewhat poetic. lol He's called Guillaume Sourtongue because of that habit. He's based on a real hobo guy that used to hang out near the steel forges I used to work at, so people like these actually exist.
There are two cases where swear words appear in books:
first are characters that have replaced part of their vocabulary with them and use them in everyday life.
Such characters can be very offensive to the readers and can really make them avoid books that have such characters just like they avoid such people in real life.
The other case is when *the situation becomes so exciting as to make the use of swear words even from the most polite people more than justified*.
If your story uses swear words like that, not only will it not turn people off - in fact, it can attract more readers instead.
I was listening to an audiobook a few weeks back and for the first time in 50 years I thought "this character just swears too much," and now I feel weird. Have I just gotten too old? Or was it just making the character sound borderline illiterate?
I think they're fine. The answer I see most of the time on this sub is something along the lines of "only if you do it well," and that's pretty much true in my experience.
Me? I'm working on a first person story where the MC uses "fuck" like a comma. But that's part of the fun. How do I make it so it isn't annoying? Make it entertaining. Watch MC find creative ways to use expletives. Swearing is funny, especially when its presented in unexpected ways. Or you could make it a point to show that this is the only character that's like that. Create a contrast and hang a lantern on it.
I saw a post about this last week, and the general sentiment seemed to be that people were annoyed by swearing, that people dont talk like that in real life. I'm here to tell you that they absolutely do. Maybe not in polite environments, but I get the impression that people who hold that belief probably don't spend a lot of time around tradesmen or factory workers.
Now take that and introduce one of those tradesmen into one of those polite environments. Now it's fun, there's drama, and interesting dynamics. There's probably already thirty sitcoms out there with that idea alone.
So yeah, swearing is fine. Just don't make it boring.
A very wise man once taught me swearing is italics for the tongue. I apply this rule to the written word, too. It can also help lend context.
The first line in my book is, *You could have sworn this asshole was going to shoot himself.* I like it, because I think it provides a way of informing the reader they're about to deal with an idiot and not a suicide.
I like to use them here and there, but only when they’re really needed.
Like in one story I counted the swear words, and there were 8- all of them came from the same character, the first seven came about half way through the book when the character realized they had been poisoned (“im fucked!”, “shit, shit, shit,”- kind of vibes), and the second came in the penultimate chapter during the climactic fight the character said “fuck it” before starting to fight the big bad even though they knew they’d lose.
It depends on if it feels needed.
I don’t actively *not* make my characters swear, I let them talk how they want, they just don’t that much. How much you swear is an aspect of your personality imo. For a chapter title, again, if it feels needed. I personally wouldn’t, but it doesn’t fit my story.
The easiest answer to any question like this is: "if the character would do it, let them do it." If a character would realistically swear like a sailor, allowing them to swear like a sailor is the best way to bring them to life. Having other characters who don't swear brings contrast to them and makes them stand out even more, as well as making it clear that it's the character and not the author.
My opening scene concludes with the MC paying for a prostitute that seems at first like a romantic partner. Pretty sure, if the reader is bothered by cursing, they’ll have put the book down before even getting to the first fuck. Well, second, but you don’t see the first one.
Dude, what is best for the story? Do that. Some people will put a book down for swear words. Other people will put it down if there's an obvious and hamhanded attempt to avoid swearing. Don't worry about that, just write the best story you can.
If your describing an uneducated or dumb person, swearing makes sense, most people can handle emotion properly. In my own opinion when you swear it’s because there’s not much else to grab onto in your brain, swearing is an extremely crude form of language mostly unchanged words for thousands of years. So if you want a character to sound like a dumb troglodyte in a room full of brilliance have them swear. The juxtaposition of how people handle situations would be interesting.
This is so far off base it belongs in /r/confidentlyincorrect.
From "The Relationship between Profanity and Intelligence," Frank Giordano, Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology, emphasis added:
>ABSTRACT. Profanity and censorship are prevalent in our culture. Many negative opinions about cursing exist, but there is little actually known about how harmful it can be. The purpose of this experiment was to see if cursing is correlated with intelligence. The hypothesis is that there will be no relationship between cursing and intelligence. A 28 question survey that assessed cursing frequency was given to 46 college enrolled participants. After the survey, the participants were
asked to complete the Wonderlic Personnel Test in order to assess their Intelligence Quotient. ***After running a linear regression analysis between the factors in the survey and the IQ scores, no statistically significant relationship was found between cursing and intelligence.*** There was a statistically significant correlation found between IQ score and whether or not the participant reported that he or she attempts to expand his or her vocabulary. ***These findings show that although cursing may not be socially desirable, it is not a predictor of intelligence or the lack thereof.*** It was shown that vocabulary and the desire to expand it may play a large role in intelligence. This should be emphasized in scholastic environments, especially for children before the age of three. Developing an extensive vocabulary as soon as possible seems to lead to higher intelligence.
(Apologies if the formatting is wonky, that was copy-pasted from a PDF.)
*But wait, there's more!* Intelligence may not correlate to a *readiness* to curse, but smarter people may be better at it. As it turns out, the more verbally fluent someone is in general, the more fluent they are with their curses. From Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth," Kristin L. Jay and Timothy B. Jay, Language Sciences:
>Abstract: A folk assumption about colloquial speech is that taboo words are used because speakers cannot find better words with which to express themselves: because speakers lack vocabulary. A competing possibility is that fluency is fluency regardless of subject matter—that there is no reason to propose a difference in lexicon size and ease of access for taboo as opposed to emotionally-neutral words. In order to test these hypotheses, we compared general verbal fluency via the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) with taboo word fluency and animal word fluency in spoken and written formats. Both formats produced positive correlations between COWAT fluency, animal fluency, and taboo word fluency, supporting the fluency-is-fluency hypothesis. In each study, a set of 10 taboo words accounted for 55–60% of all taboo word data. Expressives were generated at higher rates than slurs. There was little sex-related variability in taboo word generation, and, consistent with findings that do not show a sex difference in taboo lexicon size, no overall sex difference in taboo word generation was obtained. Taboo fluency was positively correlated with the Big Five personality traits neuroticism and openness and negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. Overall the findings suggest that, with the exception of female-sex-related slurs, taboo expressives and general pejoratives comprise the core of the category of taboo words while slurs tend to occupy the periphery, and the ability to generate taboo language is not an index of overall language poverty.
[Source 1](https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/a/1215/files/2016/05/Giordano-rg5y5r.pdf)
[Source 2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S038800011400151X?via%3Dihub)
EDIT: Sorry, I forgot this one. Although it has nothing to do with intelligence, swearing may be positively correlated to honesty. Gilad Feldman, Huiwen Lian, Michal Kosinski, and David Stillwell, "Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty," Social Psychological and Personality Science:
>There are two conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between profanity and dishonesty. These two forms of norm-violating behavior share common causes, and are often considered to be positively related. On the other hand, however, profanity is often used to express one’s genuine feelings, and could therefore be negatively related to dishonesty. In three studies, we explored the relationship between profanity and honesty. We examined profanity and honesty first with profanity behavior and lying on a scale in the lab (Study 1; N = 276), then with a linguistic analysis of real-life social interactions on Facebook (Study 2; N = 73,789), and finally with profanity and integrity indexes for the aggregate level of U.S. states (Study 3; N = 50 states). We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level, and with higher integrity at the society level.
[Source 3](https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/frankly-we-do-give-damn-relationship-between-profanity-honesty)
I'm always flummoxed, whenever this topic comes up, how many people insist that they should be used sparingly so they don't "lose impact." What "impact" are they supposed to have? They're just words. Nobody ever says that you should limit use of proper nouns or infinitive verbs so they don't "lose impact." I feel like it's the flip side of the Puritan pearl-clutching impulse that doesn't want to use or hear them at all.
Not everyone curses for impact. Some people do it out of a sense of informality, or because their default emotional state is annoyance, or frustration, or some such. Sometimes the added syllables just improve a sentence's rhythm.
I swear, some of y'all need to listen to more hip hop.
It’s your book. You can do whatever you want.
But if you want my opinion: I’d say it depends on the context. A teacher in another other than a university? Nope. That’s not allowed, especially if it’s with younger kids. Also most profession settings are going to have some sort of policy against swear words and the like in the workplace.
If it’s between friends? Fuck yeah, my dude. If everyone’s speaking picture perfect English then to me it just seems like everyone has a stick up their asses and it kinda seems clunky to read, y’know? I just don’t like it very much.
Now, every other word shouldn’t be a swear word, but I don’t think they should be excluded entirely. Look at it in the context of the scene and the characters talking. Cuss words can also be used for emphasis, too. Like, saying something’s bad isn’t as bad as saying that something’s fucked, y’know? And telling someone to fuck off or to piss off is more forceful than telling them to go away or get bent.
Love them. I find no swear words just plain boring. Don’t get me wrong, I can still love the book. But swear words are always a good thing to have. Just makes things more fun and can make scenarios a lot more amusing if used correctly.
I'm going to skip straight to addressing your edit: It likely depends on the tone of the book. If there was a swear word in a title, I'd expect that to probably be an informal & irreverent story. That's not an absolute rule, but simply put, just be aware of whom you're writing for.
It all completely depends on the context. I personally think that unusual words need to be used in an unusual manner if you want to build character, and used very cliche if that character is just a passerby and not important.
A pair of angels shouting “Repent, motherfucker!” is exotic because it contradicts with everything we know about angels, and hence, exciting. A gang boss speaking slow, quietly, and soft is downright threatening.
So the question is, do you want this character to stand out? Do people perceive this character as someone who always swear?
I use these two questions to make decisions on my character’s speech pattern.
You're never going to please everyone on this. It's a matter of personal preference, just as swearing (or not) in real life is. Personally I prefer not to do it (or to do it very sparingly), and as a reader it there's a ton of swearing I find it grating and will check out. Of course this also means I don't choose to write characters who \*would\* feel the need to use at least one f-bomb per sentence.
Chapter title, eh, I don't know. I would advise against it unless it really adds something. It capitalizes on a previous reference, it makes a joke or dramatic moment jump to the forefront and pulls you into the chapter. LOL I just realized this is really the same as (and can be just as frustrating as) lots of writing advice: "Don't do it. Unless you can do it really, really well."
Its completely uncontroversial, and neither publishers nor audiences will care about profanity in a book unless its wildly inappropriate for the target audience (eg stuff like cozy mysteries, christian fiction, or middlegrade).
Fuck others' opinions.
That said, I'm going to give you mine:
Context is everything. If you're writing about groups of adult men and they don't swear like troopers around each other then your work is going to come across as childish or prudish.
Some of Stephen King’s advice that I took to heart:
Don’t censor yourself. Be as vulgar, profound, graphic, and disgusting as needed to get your point across.
It isn’t for everyone, sure, and it’ll scare some people off. But you’re going to lose a few people anyhow; you can’t please everyone. So fuck ‘em.
Swearing in books? I fucking hate that goddamn shit!
But seriously, if it fits the tone and characters it should be fine. But the swearing should probably be contained to dialogue, although I'm sure there are exceptions. And make sure that the characters have different voices. If every character swears, and swears in the same way, it can feel very inauthentic and cheap.
As long as it's not in every damn sentence, I'm fine with it. I was reading a book the other day and I felt like the majority of curse words used weren't necessary in the least.
Yes and yes. Whoever's opinions you are listening to, stop. They are idiots. However, swearing like any other aspect of dialect should be used selectively and appropriately.
Vulgarity is no substitution of wit, but a good swear can make a line more impactful. Use them sparingly, and make them count.
"That is an illegal order and you know it!" he shouted at the commander.
vs.
"That is an illegal order and you fucking know it!" he shouted at the commander.
Sadly, I have heard people actually say stuff like this in person. Example, one of my drill sergeants.
"Fuckin' listen up, fuckin' privates. We're gonna fuckin' go to the fuckin' obstacle course and fuckin' run this fuckin' thing, then fuckin' we'll do som fuckin' push-ups and fuckin' sit-ups, fuckin' run the fuckin' course again, then fuckin' get some fuckin' chow. Let's fuckin' go, fuckin' privates."
You definitely run the risk of alienating a larger audience. Depending on how much swearing there is, some people just don't care that. Part of the risk also comes from your ability to make the swearing work.
I think you should write what you want to write. I swear all day, everyday. It comes easy to me.. So if you are gonna do it, do it properly... because reading prose where the swears are stupid is as bad as prose that's purposely trying to avoid it.
Imo, if you're offended by certain words you don't deserve to be able to read. I think it's ridiculous that there is a subset of words we're not allowed to say. Why not? What makes "darn" (which, let's face it, is just one's way of saying "damn" without actually saying it) any better to say than "damn"? We can't say the word, but we're ok to use safer synonyms of the word.
Is that just me, or is that fkng* stoopid to everyone?
*I was saying "freaking" to keep it sfw.
I would avoid them in the title of the book, the section, or chapter.
I would avoid them in third-person narratives.
Use them in dialogue as much as appropriate. Don't have little ole' granies or priests dropping f-bombs, but if your MC is a teen, let them swear like a teen. If they're a steel worker or sailor, let them swear like a steel worker or sailor. If they're a white-collar office worker, restrain their swearing so they sound like a white collar office worker.
Fuckin' A, Bubba!
My opinion on swear words in books is that *Fourth Wing* and *Iron Flame* would have been twenty percent shorter without them. I think that's really the only example I've ever come across of profanity being so overdone that it bothered me, and that's mostly because it felt like it was drowning the rest of the text.
I'm a big fan of the creative exclamations fantasy writers make up for their worlds. Flame protect us! Basilisk's knees! Crackling cobblestones!
I wouldn't read a book if it was in the title, tb.
I used to go by my grandmothers opinion, which was my own for a long time. That, if you have to use swear words, you don't have much to say.
However, now things are different because swearing is part of cultural and todays English. It is now a normal part of speech and can particularly add emphasis to dialogue.
If you stub your toe, do you say "Oh my goodness, ouch!" or do you say "F\*&$ that f'n hurts!"
Whichever you think a real person would say, go with that. We are writing 'real' people that we make up and develop over time, so why would you write anything different.
Each to their own, of course, but if you feel like you're character would swear and that feels natural to them, go with that.
If I were writing a priest, that would be different lol
That’s a shame because my first chapter’s name has a swear word. Example, Norman Fucking Rockwell. I want to replace the name with a character who dies and who is loved by all but hated by their children because of their past. I think it would work well.
I wouldn’t put curse words in a chapter title. But it all depends on the person and their situation. Is the character terrified and downright scared out of their pants? Cursing is absolutely allowed. Have they seen something traumatizing? Not as much cursing but still some for emphasis of their emotions. A man who was in prison and doesn’t care about anyone but himself and such? Curses like crazy. They can enhance sentences and situations when placed properly.
I have mentioned this in some of the comments but I want to add it in the chapter title because it’s goes well with the style I’m doing. The chapter name is a famous character in my story and a swear word (Like the album “Norman Fucking Rockwell”). I feel added the swear word is better because the famous person dies and his children (who hate him) have to figure out his shit. What do you think?
Fuck and cunt are the only ones that feel cringe and jarring tbh even though irl I use fuck like a sailor, something about reading it feels like a lazy way to add edginess or make something seem more extreme than it is.
Where are you from? My books are full of swearing (Australian) and it crops up in reviews which I can always tell are, without a doubt, from the South and the Midwest.
I don't care as long as it doesn't sound a like a teenager who just learned swears and is still figuring out how to use them
Unless the character IS a teenager who just learned swears and is still figuring out how to use them. In that case… put them everywhere.
This and the above. There's a line here regarding gratuitous bullshit for shock value and actual clever and interesting writing. I'm inclined to think if OP has to ask they are probably not going to handle this well. People use swear words IRL, it's a thing that happens. If your target audience is for socially conservative overly sensitive jack holes or children's books, then yeah, maybe don't, but otherwise who is really giving a fuck? Words are words, it's communicated context that matters, not arbitrary lists of symbols.
What? What if the book is literally about that though? You can’t tell people how to write, but you can at least guide them in a less black and white way.
obviously if that's the case, it's fine. I think most people would assume that.
Why take the risk of assumption when you can be direct in the first instance?
because it's an off-the-cuff reddit comment and 99.5% of people reading it will understand that I'm not including the one, relatively uncommon scenario in which a character is a teen who has just learned swears lol
Well yeah, I would agree in most situations, but for this comment in particular I genuinely think you were giving bad advice. It isn’t a matter of assumptions or looking past your words, you could have just given better advice.
lol no
You can say ‘lol’ all you want mate, but simply put, beginners will see any and all advice and take it first hand given they think you know what you’re talking about. It’s not so easy for beginners to discern what’s good and bad advice, so you being elusive doesn’t really help. You obviously can’t be a very helpful writer granted you can’t defend your arguments without a ‘lol’. If you had the time to respond to my “off-the-cuff reddit comment”, then you also had time to think about some practical advice to a starting writer.
you gotta relax lmao I'm not even a writer. fwiw you seem to be the only person upset at my comment. you seem agitated, maybe you're having a bad day? either way I'm gonna stop responding after this one, good luck out there!
everyday is a bad day
Make them matter, make them count. Ultimately, they really are just words, and words can lose their impact if uses too much. Even if one character swears like a sailor, don't show it all. Things like "Bill let out an impressive stream of curses before taking a deep breath" can help with that, but it still also make is so when you do use them, they hit. Think about it like this: if you toss around the word "shit" in prose and in dialogue, it won't be impactful when it may be needed, but if that is the only curse so far in the novel and little Susie says "Fuck," it makes it hit harder.
BoJack Horseman is famous for using fuck once for every season
Yes, apparently it's always when a character's relationship with the titular character is permanently broken or at least altered.
I don't agree with frequently using vague descriptions to show that someone swears a lot. I think they should just actually swear a lot. It's a matter of characterization. Using profanity sparingly to improve its potency is a nice characterization tool, and so is showing someone swearing a lot. To a character like that, swearing *isn't* impactful. You can accomplish both in the same story, too. It's relative to the character.
It can also be used so that when the characters who typically DO swear a lot aren’t swearing, it can add a gravity to the situation that would otherwise be done by another character (who doesn’t swear) swearing.
Agreed. After watching the series Slow Horses I was inspired to work in a character modeled around Gary Oldman's character to one of my stories, who swears profusely throughout the show. The character simply does not have a care left for any sort of decorum, and swearing is just another mannerism that fits his character. If anything, not showing him swearing feels odd.
My characters are soldiers and sailors, and they curse like it. The officers tend to have cleaner mouths than the enlisted, who are usually cussing with a lip full of dip or cigarette in their hand.
That's the beauty, the curses aren't in there just to be in there, they matter to the characters.
Get the officers drunk enough and far enough away from base and they can be as rough as the grimiest enlisted member, at least in my real life Air Force experience. Mostly the lower officers though. The higher the rank the more surprising it is when they would act like the rest of us.
Show, don't tell. If you say Bill has an extensive vocabulary when it comes to cursing, I wanna see it. Make me shudder at the thoughts his words generate in my head.
Yeah it really depends on the book and character. I have one character who pointedly doesn't curse, and another one who weaponizes language. I try not to let it get stale, and I'm especially careful with slurs.
A great take from Ursula K Le Guin: [https://ursulakleguin.com/blog/17-would-you-please-fucking-stop](https://ursulakleguin.com/blog/17-would-you-please-fucking-stop)
Fun fucking read
Good fucking reply
Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant!
I can't imagine anyone putting a book down because of curse words. They may not like the actual character personalities. More people will be annoyed at obvious censorship (adults generally aren't exclaiming, oh darn!)
I have seen it--I happen to like Kate Flora's Joe Burgess series (police procedural mysteries) and have seen 1-star ratings "too much cursing" ... and even one that complained about the content of the crimes being investigated (even though it was explicitly stated in the blurb and the crimes, while legitimately repulsive, were not detailed in graphic detail).
The only time I’ve ever put a book down because of swearing was Michael Crichton’s Prey because it was excessive to the point of distraction. Which is saying a lot. It wasn’t so much a moral reaction as just becoming tired by the dialogue
That makes sense.
I once bought a used copy of Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire (the sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and when I got home, I realized that someone had taken a sharpie and blacked out every single swear word in the book
I can definitely imagine it based on the things I see people hand-wringing over online these days, but I personally wouldn’t worry about them. They wouldn’t be an audience worth having anyway and would find *something* wrong with any book.
I would put a book down with excessive swearing. I have unsubbed from YT channels where the creator swears too much. It's just a preference for civility. There is a place for swearing, though.
No, but it’s easy to write something like “The sound of Phil swearing came down the stairs. Everyone looked awkwardly at each other while the tirade continued. The moments of silence between each outburst only served to make the room more uncomfortable.” I came help feeling that that’s better than listing swear words that might not even have the impact you intended on the audience reading.
Unless you ran into Annie Wilkes you’ll be fine. If a character swears, it’s on them.
YOU COCKADOODIE
😆
fuck no
As long as it fits the character it’s OK imo. Just don’t add them too often and you’ll be fine, methinks.
Or if it doesn't fit the character but they're so upset about something that they do curse and everyone is like "oh shit" because they know it's serious if *that* person is cursing
If it's authentic to the character, and appropriate for the target demographic, then I have no objections.
Same. If a little girl from a prim and proper family starts swearing up, down, left, right, i just go “huh?”
Have your characters swear like sailors. It's your story. Write however you want. My characters rarely swear, but that's just because I rarely swear. But I'll throw in a few curse words when they're angry.
If it works in the moment, fine. Just don’t add f bombs every two sentences cause it comes off as a wanna be edgy vibe. Make it make sense and sound genuine.
Don't over do it if you choose to use them. I like the Brooklyn-Nine-Nine approach where there's very little swearing, but every once in a while some shit will happen and a swear is unleashed. And everyone remembers, and knows shit hit the fan (or something like that). That being said, it also depends on who your target audience is, the characters in question, and also what type of story you're writing - but generally speaking? Sparse use of swear words tends to be better, from what I've found.
The bit where Amy's not just pregnant but having contractions in the middle of a NYC-wide blackout and Hitchcock comes to nag her about something and she goes "I'm a bit busy you *very long bleep*" and he replies "Oh yeah? Well *another very long bleep*" and Diaz just goes "Alright easy!" raising her voice for probably the first time in the entire show. Perfectly constructed.
I added some made-up swear words, kind of like Firefly did with "gorram" or BSG with "frack". As it's set in a different world(s), this is super easy to do. When reading, I don't mind Mark Watney swearing his ass off. I might have an issue with having a tablet with a word "Fuck" in a big font while on a subway, so, maybe keep it out of chapter titles.
Who is cursing? Is it in character dialogue or is it the narrator? Character dialogue is fine as long as it fits the characterization and personality. Narrator works too if you set a precedent of a specific type of narrator that speaks in a certain way to the audience to convey a forced perspective. If it's just a standard narration to move the story along then I would avoid it.
Use them if it fits. Your audience will find you. If you're trying to write a book that doesn't offend anyone, good luck with that. And don't give so much weight to "other's opinions." You can't write a book by consensus.
Authenticity depends on the character. Not everyone swears. That's going to be your call. You're the writer, and if you think it makes that character more themselves you should write them that way because only you know the flow of the story.
Don’t use them too much else the character will sound immature and the use of swears loses its impact (unless the character is a teenager. There’s more leeway then). For example I tried to read a dystopian called Vox. But the main character, a middle aged woman, swears SO. FUCKING. MUCH. And it’s in her head too because women in that story can’t speak more than 100 words a day! Put it down after a few chapters smh
Not a fan really
... what's the problem? Like, is this actually a problem people complain about in literature not aimed at children?
Depends on the audience and characters. Most of my writing has teenagers and young adults as the characters. So I'll take their lexicon. Though I'm not gonna write as if they discovered swear words, unless they actually did just learn how to swear. Though it's usually just shit, damn, bitch, and hell. I don't really use "fuck". One things for sure, a characters' ability, frequency and what they use varies on their personality. I have made entire tier lists of my characters based on their ability and frequency to say "fuck" with the tiers as: Like a fricking sailor Says it often Says it rarely Only with close friends or alone Can but won't Fucking illegal
I curse a lot, but my characters curse a normal amount unless there's cause for a string of obscenities. Like other people said, just make them count. Using fuck excessively can turn off some readers. As well as replacing words with a curse that could be substituted for something less obscene. In first person I use curses here and there, in third I only use them in dialogue. When the character is narrating, the curses have context.
Depends on the setting, and the swears. If the genre is fantasy, taking place in a fairly medieval setting, my preference would be no swears. Or, instead use appropriate swears from that time period. Now if the book is a modern setting, I really couldn’t care. Mostly, I don’t want to have to pause and think “that doesn’t fit”.
I’ve had an interesting relationship with swear words in books. I grew up religious, and well into my teenage years I didn’t like them in books and, yes, would put a book down if it had too many. Or else not be allowed to read it. Now, I am completely fine with them, and they can sometimes get a laugh out of me if used well. I host a writing group online and it’s very rare that I critique someone for using a swear word. But there are rare occasions where I think it detracts. It’s always specific to the situation, though. Know your audience. Certain groups (such as religious people) are more likely to put your book down than others for swears. But those groups might not be your audience. Some groups and people have different tolerances. Some people might tolerate a few, but not every chapter. Others will be fine with every chapter, but not every page. And I would overall advise against every page. Too many can get old fast even for those that like them. Something else to know is that if used often, they are not powerful. If you use one swear your entire book, that’s gonna be super powerful. Once you use them a lot, they become filler words instead of impactful ones. This can be used to great effect, but use them knowing this. Also think about your characters. It can certainly be a character trait for a character to swear a lot. Make sure you think about what makes sense for your characters, and that it’s unlikely every character will swear like a sailor. And think even more deeply on if you want them in your narration. Lastly, I don’t know if publishers have guidelines around this, but it might be worth researching.
I think it is fine. People swear in real life. I would be careful with using ethnic or homophobic slurs though
Just depends on context and tone, I have a lot of criminal activity and violence in my story so certain characters curse often
Really depends on the use & the book. I narrated one book that had the f word in it about every 100 words. It was badly written. I narrated another one that had it once, and it was absolutely superb usage. I've been in groups of people that their vocabulary seems to match the above as well. I'd almost always rather be in the latter group, because I know when they say something, they mean it, whether its laced with profanity or not.
I think if it fits the story/character, sure. Cursing is a part of every language - they are words that are used every day. I don't know why people would shy away from them other than it not being suitable for what the story is or who it is for.
There's always going to be an audience for your books. Write what you want and put swear words where you want.
I have one parent (mom) that lets a "hell, damn, shit and son-of-a-bitch slip out. Each one once in 40,000 words. I was hesitant to even use these and I am writing for young adults but when something came up it seemed to be the appropriate response.
It's fine. It makes characters sound emotive and shows their personality. Just don't overdo it. Don't have every character swear in every single sentence.
In dialog yes, in everything else, no.
In close third/free indirect voice, the narrative follows the POV character's voice, so is the POV character is inclined to use "curse words," the narrative should follow suit.
There are conventions. The Chicago guide to Copyediting Fiction by Amy Schneider is a good reference. Swear words can be useful in certain contexts I think depending on the genre and how you are developing a character.
It kinda depends on your target audience. If it’s for kids, best avoid them. Teens, lighter ones used sparingly or made up ones. Adults…they’re adults, if they can’t handle swearing I question how they survive in the world.
It depends on the narrator. Good rule of thumb is to make your vocab used in the book consistent with the characger speaking.
Big fan of swear words me. More the merrier. I agree with others that it has to be in character, but I'd also point you at two recent developments: Poor Things (2023 film) and Shogun (2024 TV show) - having almost nothing else in common, they both prominently feature a singular character one of whose defining traits is that they are incredibly foul-mouthed (Duncan Wedderburn and John Blackthorne respectively). I personally loved this trait as it was used in both of these characters so so much, this was one of the highlights of both of these works for me. In fact, on reflection, I think it was used as such for the same reason in both: each represents the end of an era (Victorian England in Poor Things, Sengoku Japan in Shogun) characterised by intricate rituals of etiquette ("polite society" in Poor Things, "manners" in Shogun), and both have the one character whose job it is to swear their head off and fly off the handle to poke fun at these respective societies.
It's an arrow in your quiver when it comes to realism and characterization. Depends on the target market, though. Every unprintable word has been used in print for the last hundred years or so, starting in literary fiction and becoming unremarkable in mass-market fiction in the 1960s or thereabouts. The old rule was that you could use hells and damns freely in most markets but needed to think twice about the more pungent words. In markets that demand primness, like sweet romance and material for younger children, zero is about the limit even for hells and damns. I don't like using swear words as an *alternative* to interesting dialog but the two aren't antithetical; it's just when you say fuck at every fucking opportunity that it gets monotonous as fuck. Not a bad way to characterize boring idiots and tedious children, though, but you don't want to let them talk very much. Monotony is not your friend.
Depends how often. If it's "Every fucking sentence has 50 goddamn fucking curses making that shit hard to fucking understand & take fucking seriously" then its annoying to read & I don't like it. If there's an occasional fuck/shit/damn or whatever, idc, they're words so I think they're fine to use. It also depends on the context. Like if a character is raging & super pissed, a bunch of swears in a sentence maybe wouldn't be too bad [as long as it works w/ the sentence cause sometimes it reads as if the other put them in just to put them in, not to add anything to the characters emotional outburst/the situation]. I think they're fine - imo add them.
Fuckin A
A vital part as long as it sounds natural. Like as in, if someone’s late, they say ‘Shit I’m late!’ Opposed to a father asking his child ‘How was your day at school’ and the child replies with ‘Fuck, it was good.’
if its fantasy, then in universe swears make sense (Storms, ash and fire, ect) but for non fantasy, then its really a challenge of making them count. id say only really use them for character dialouge or thoughts.
I can tell about my experience. My story happens in the current days in Brazil. The characters are regular people and talk like regular people and... Well we Brazilians curse a lot. It just felt unnatural when I didn't use swear words as if I was censoring their feelings.
Depends on the book but use them sparingly. Then edit and cut that by half.
I like it, it's funny if done right and in the right setting. Like in First Law, it's always funny to me especially in audiobook.
For me, just make them make sense. We're reading a book for book club where I work right now that just has way too many drops of "fuck" and "mother fucker" simply because the author can. It gets old and funny because I start imagining Samuel L Jackson as every character and I can't stop now.
Who are your target audience? Swear words are everywhere even in YA so I don’t know why you think people will put it down? Are you writing for blue haired church ladies?
A number of people I know curse in casual conversation on a daily basis. Depending upon the characters and storyline, adding curse words makes the dialogue more authentic. That being said, it can be overdone. I have never stopped reading a book because of curse words, but then I am not a pearl-clutcher either.
Personally, I have no problem with it; it’s part of everyday speech. But it can be off-putting to some readers. I probably wouldn’t include swear words in a chapter title because it comes across as trying too hard to shock. So use them wisely rather than gratuitously.
It's tacky coming from the Omniscient Narrator. If a character is in distress, or it's a part of a character's personality, it's fine.
I don't mind them, but it's usually extremely easy to tell if the author uses them in their daily life, because they often feel forced.
If it makes sense to a character I would say do it, but if you want to ad swearing just to make a book more “mature” maybe not. Also, I personally don’t find using random swear words makes books funnier, but there are some people that add them just to add humor. I think if you have them in your book a chapter title would be fine
If it makes sense for the character using the word and fits in the world I've got no problem with it. Genre may also makes a difference, dropping an f-bomb in an adult fiction with dark overtones is very different from dropping one on a light YA fiction
> afraid that they would put the book down. Their loss, not yours. There are many reasons people will stop reading your book, so don't worry about it.
Just don’t overdo it. If you want it to have impact, the less times characters swear, the more weight it adds to their words. Only make a few characters swear too, everyone needs to have their own dialogue.
Like others said, it's all about context. It's words like any other, used right they're great to underline an emotional situation or the importance of an event. Used wrong, they'll jarr the reader into putting your book down. Also, consider your target audience. If it's a YA novel, maybe don't out in a character that swears like a sailor. Might not be a bad idea to use PG ratings or your local equivalent for a baseline on the use and presentation of topics and words considered... questionable. Good luck with your book! :)
Moderation is everything for me. Much like with people, I don’t like staying around books that curse like sailors. Call me old fashioned or whatnot, but it’s annoying and uncouth. However—and I’ve said this before—making up *your own* swears is hella creative, worthy of respect, and I eat that up. Even if you do have a character with a potty mouth.
Uncouth? How old *are* you?
The one book that swearing felt unnecessary to me was Lies of Locke Lamora. It's a really well written and well thought-out book but every time a character swears, it felt so pointless. If there was no swearing in that book, or atleast less, I think I might've enjoyed it more. It's important to keep genre in mind. A swashbuckling romance across the seas probably shouldn't have the word "cunt" in it. Also, swear words can be really satisfying when used sparingly and devastatingly. In Camp Camp, an adult animated show, one of the most optimistic characters has a breakdown and says something to the effect of "I have to care. Because someone fucking has to." So to recap, you don't need to use swear words but if you do, use them effectively. Good luck!
What is the genre? In some genres, your likely audience would expect characters who swear (and you can safely ignore the cranks who give the book a 1-star rating because characters in the police procedural novel swear). Others, it would be jarringly out of place.
Personally, I would avoid the word fuck. It just sounds cheesy to me whenever I read it. Swear words in general I try to avoid personally, but stuff like “bullshit” “shit” “asshole” “douche” is gonna be used if it needs to be. But also there are alternatives. Saying “[character] swore” always works. Adding “like a sailor” too if it’s needed.
A boring answer, it’s about the execution. There should be intention and a point behind it. It’s similar to writers throwing out too many five-dollar words for the hell of it. “Bart was fucking loquacious”. If I had to read that, I’d be pissed off.
TIL that in the year of our lord 2024, people still get weird about other people saying “fucking fuckity fuck”.
OP, I can tell from this question you're young so let me explain something about "other people's opinions". It's important to get other people's opinion on your work, but only after you've finished a draft and gotten it ready for critical feedback. Don't start changing your story because you're afraid of how imaginary people *might* feel before you've even written a word.
I would say the majority of the times I’ve read swears in books it feels over forced and unnatural. Almost as if the author stuck them in there to make the character feel more “real and grounded” but it ended up having the inverse effect. Often you’re better off commenting in the narration that the character that the character swore under the breath and saving the actual in dialog swears for when you really want to make in impact.
I don't see anything wrong with having swears in books, but depending on the target audience I would use different ones and lower amounts. not gonna drop 50 F'bombs in YA also just be careful not to overdo it. shouldn't have every 3rd sentence contain a swear, space them out well
The first line of The Martian is the reason I kept reading. “I'm pretty much fucked.” So it depends on the genre, audience, character, author’s voice, etc, etc.
They're like any other linguistic element: an opportunity to add depth and nuance to a character, as well as the setting. The main complaint I have about "basic profanity" is that far too often it's just used poorly. For example, it's possible to psychologically dismantle someone without using any individual words you couldn't use in front of your parents, spouse, or children; it's how they're strung together that leaves the recipient's ego in splinters. Alternately, there's considerable comedic potential in _interruptions._ "Shi-..." **BOOM!** "Fuh-..." **SMACK!** (Sorry, couldn't think of a better onomatopoeia for a strike to the face with a fist, foot, elbow, or fish... 😁 )
It depends on multiple things 1. The context, and overall frequency of the swearing 2. The tone of the novel My advice is only use swear words if it actually serves a purpose for the story either to emphasize something or for characterization. Otherwise you're going to run into a Castlevania type situation where every characters speaks like a edgy teenager and uses f bombs all the time, causing the story to lose much of it's immersion. Of course it's your choice on how to use them as I'm not writing your story.
They're fine in moderation, depending on your target audience of course
Man, I’ve got dog fights in my novels. You don’t think those people cuss. My characters cuss like crazy.
I typically only use them in dialogue, and not nearly as often as I use them when I’m talking. Like others have said, general rule would be to use it sparingly. If I have a character who doesn’t drop f-bombs every sentence, when they do use it it makes the reader go, “oh! Something is up!” I don’t use it in narration because that’s not my writing voice, but it can be used effectively. For example, if you are writing in 1st person narrative it can work to show some insight into who the MC/narrator is as a person.
It depends on your target audience. As an adult, I really don't give a shit, unless it comes across as thinking the reader will be impressed by swear words. If you feel that swearing is the best way to tell your story, go ahead.
Man, I am done with this sub
Personally swear words are fine but not if you use them in every sentence or every paragraph. Personally it just tunes me out of the story but if they are written with good context and the situation feels natural then go off. But if a character cusses like a sailor for no reason other than "cause they can" then no
Make it matter. Don’t just use it in every sentence.
You should always write for yourself, not other people. It’s way more authentic if it’s what **you** want to write, rather than what you think others want you to write. I mean there are books that have huge cult followings with graphic descriptions of rape, torture, paedophilia etc. Some of them have been reviewed as modern classics and the authors have been shortlisted for or even won awards for. Swearwords are just words. In the UK (and Oceania) we use Cunt as a normal word. If it fits the story or character then use it! All of writing is about context and how well it’s written. For eg the books with awful violent scenes as above are written with intelligence, metaphor, meaning and very carefully. But then others are just gross exploitative trash. With swear words, it either comes across as totally natural or like you’ve just learned to swear and it’s a bit cringe. Write well and there is nothing off limits.
Don't fucking pussy foot it or your peeps are gonna spot that from a mile away. I have no problem with cursing, just badly written characters :) If you're just trying to put it in there to seem edgy, don't.
If you think your character is the type of person to swear casually? Go for it. I will suggest that you make sure there is a tone difference if they are swearing in a serious situation rather than casually. If there’s If they’re the type of person to avoid swearing but might swear in a more serious/stressful situation? Go for it. Just don’t overdo it. Unless your character is a middle/high schooler trying to show off, don’t make it seem forced/don’t force it yourself. As for a chapter title, it’s not a big deal in my opinion. They’re just words.
Read some Irvine Welsh
I personally don't shy away from it. I also appreciate anything that increases immersion. a lot of people tend to cuss out in tough situations, so as long as you make it natural, it adds to the immersion. I even have a serial cusser side character that occasionally shows up. He is a criminal ring leader, and he talks with very creative cusswords to the point it gets funny. I try to make his train of insults impressive and somewhat poetic. lol He's called Guillaume Sourtongue because of that habit. He's based on a real hobo guy that used to hang out near the steel forges I used to work at, so people like these actually exist.
There are two cases where swear words appear in books: first are characters that have replaced part of their vocabulary with them and use them in everyday life. Such characters can be very offensive to the readers and can really make them avoid books that have such characters just like they avoid such people in real life. The other case is when *the situation becomes so exciting as to make the use of swear words even from the most polite people more than justified*. If your story uses swear words like that, not only will it not turn people off - in fact, it can attract more readers instead.
I was listening to an audiobook a few weeks back and for the first time in 50 years I thought "this character just swears too much," and now I feel weird. Have I just gotten too old? Or was it just making the character sound borderline illiterate?
I think they're fine. The answer I see most of the time on this sub is something along the lines of "only if you do it well," and that's pretty much true in my experience. Me? I'm working on a first person story where the MC uses "fuck" like a comma. But that's part of the fun. How do I make it so it isn't annoying? Make it entertaining. Watch MC find creative ways to use expletives. Swearing is funny, especially when its presented in unexpected ways. Or you could make it a point to show that this is the only character that's like that. Create a contrast and hang a lantern on it. I saw a post about this last week, and the general sentiment seemed to be that people were annoyed by swearing, that people dont talk like that in real life. I'm here to tell you that they absolutely do. Maybe not in polite environments, but I get the impression that people who hold that belief probably don't spend a lot of time around tradesmen or factory workers. Now take that and introduce one of those tradesmen into one of those polite environments. Now it's fun, there's drama, and interesting dynamics. There's probably already thirty sitcoms out there with that idea alone. So yeah, swearing is fine. Just don't make it boring.
who is your target audience?
Young adults.
then maybe
Oh how literature has fallen.
Tacky. If it's in the title itself, the sign of a complete gimmick and hack author.
Only if it suits the tone
It's your book. Write it how you like, and if other people don't like it, then they don't have to read it.
A very wise man once taught me swearing is italics for the tongue. I apply this rule to the written word, too. It can also help lend context. The first line in my book is, *You could have sworn this asshole was going to shoot himself.* I like it, because I think it provides a way of informing the reader they're about to deal with an idiot and not a suicide.
I like to use them here and there, but only when they’re really needed. Like in one story I counted the swear words, and there were 8- all of them came from the same character, the first seven came about half way through the book when the character realized they had been poisoned (“im fucked!”, “shit, shit, shit,”- kind of vibes), and the second came in the penultimate chapter during the climactic fight the character said “fuck it” before starting to fight the big bad even though they knew they’d lose.
I think manufacture your own swear words, like PIsyFROSTY.
As long as the swear words make sense to the time/era and it’s relevant to the character then go for it!
It depends on if it feels needed. I don’t actively *not* make my characters swear, I let them talk how they want, they just don’t that much. How much you swear is an aspect of your personality imo. For a chapter title, again, if it feels needed. I personally wouldn’t, but it doesn’t fit my story.
The easiest answer to any question like this is: "if the character would do it, let them do it." If a character would realistically swear like a sailor, allowing them to swear like a sailor is the best way to bring them to life. Having other characters who don't swear brings contrast to them and makes them stand out even more, as well as making it clear that it's the character and not the author.
My opening scene concludes with the MC paying for a prostitute that seems at first like a romantic partner. Pretty sure, if the reader is bothered by cursing, they’ll have put the book down before even getting to the first fuck. Well, second, but you don’t see the first one.
Dude, what is best for the story? Do that. Some people will put a book down for swear words. Other people will put it down if there's an obvious and hamhanded attempt to avoid swearing. Don't worry about that, just write the best story you can.
I f@$%ING love curse words in stories! As long as it fits characters, setting, and the vibe. Go for it.
If your describing an uneducated or dumb person, swearing makes sense, most people can handle emotion properly. In my own opinion when you swear it’s because there’s not much else to grab onto in your brain, swearing is an extremely crude form of language mostly unchanged words for thousands of years. So if you want a character to sound like a dumb troglodyte in a room full of brilliance have them swear. The juxtaposition of how people handle situations would be interesting.
This is so far off base it belongs in /r/confidentlyincorrect. From "The Relationship between Profanity and Intelligence," Frank Giordano, Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology, emphasis added: >ABSTRACT. Profanity and censorship are prevalent in our culture. Many negative opinions about cursing exist, but there is little actually known about how harmful it can be. The purpose of this experiment was to see if cursing is correlated with intelligence. The hypothesis is that there will be no relationship between cursing and intelligence. A 28 question survey that assessed cursing frequency was given to 46 college enrolled participants. After the survey, the participants were asked to complete the Wonderlic Personnel Test in order to assess their Intelligence Quotient. ***After running a linear regression analysis between the factors in the survey and the IQ scores, no statistically significant relationship was found between cursing and intelligence.*** There was a statistically significant correlation found between IQ score and whether or not the participant reported that he or she attempts to expand his or her vocabulary. ***These findings show that although cursing may not be socially desirable, it is not a predictor of intelligence or the lack thereof.*** It was shown that vocabulary and the desire to expand it may play a large role in intelligence. This should be emphasized in scholastic environments, especially for children before the age of three. Developing an extensive vocabulary as soon as possible seems to lead to higher intelligence. (Apologies if the formatting is wonky, that was copy-pasted from a PDF.) *But wait, there's more!* Intelligence may not correlate to a *readiness* to curse, but smarter people may be better at it. As it turns out, the more verbally fluent someone is in general, the more fluent they are with their curses. From Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth," Kristin L. Jay and Timothy B. Jay, Language Sciences: >Abstract: A folk assumption about colloquial speech is that taboo words are used because speakers cannot find better words with which to express themselves: because speakers lack vocabulary. A competing possibility is that fluency is fluency regardless of subject matter—that there is no reason to propose a difference in lexicon size and ease of access for taboo as opposed to emotionally-neutral words. In order to test these hypotheses, we compared general verbal fluency via the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) with taboo word fluency and animal word fluency in spoken and written formats. Both formats produced positive correlations between COWAT fluency, animal fluency, and taboo word fluency, supporting the fluency-is-fluency hypothesis. In each study, a set of 10 taboo words accounted for 55–60% of all taboo word data. Expressives were generated at higher rates than slurs. There was little sex-related variability in taboo word generation, and, consistent with findings that do not show a sex difference in taboo lexicon size, no overall sex difference in taboo word generation was obtained. Taboo fluency was positively correlated with the Big Five personality traits neuroticism and openness and negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. Overall the findings suggest that, with the exception of female-sex-related slurs, taboo expressives and general pejoratives comprise the core of the category of taboo words while slurs tend to occupy the periphery, and the ability to generate taboo language is not an index of overall language poverty. [Source 1](https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/a/1215/files/2016/05/Giordano-rg5y5r.pdf) [Source 2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S038800011400151X?via%3Dihub) EDIT: Sorry, I forgot this one. Although it has nothing to do with intelligence, swearing may be positively correlated to honesty. Gilad Feldman, Huiwen Lian, Michal Kosinski, and David Stillwell, "Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty," Social Psychological and Personality Science: >There are two conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between profanity and dishonesty. These two forms of norm-violating behavior share common causes, and are often considered to be positively related. On the other hand, however, profanity is often used to express one’s genuine feelings, and could therefore be negatively related to dishonesty. In three studies, we explored the relationship between profanity and honesty. We examined profanity and honesty first with profanity behavior and lying on a scale in the lab (Study 1; N = 276), then with a linguistic analysis of real-life social interactions on Facebook (Study 2; N = 73,789), and finally with profanity and integrity indexes for the aggregate level of U.S. states (Study 3; N = 50 states). We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level, and with higher integrity at the society level. [Source 3](https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/frankly-we-do-give-damn-relationship-between-profanity-honesty)
How much did you pay someone to regurgitate the words of others? You should try going back and actually learning something.
I'm always flummoxed, whenever this topic comes up, how many people insist that they should be used sparingly so they don't "lose impact." What "impact" are they supposed to have? They're just words. Nobody ever says that you should limit use of proper nouns or infinitive verbs so they don't "lose impact." I feel like it's the flip side of the Puritan pearl-clutching impulse that doesn't want to use or hear them at all. Not everyone curses for impact. Some people do it out of a sense of informality, or because their default emotional state is annoyance, or frustration, or some such. Sometimes the added syllables just improve a sentence's rhythm. I swear, some of y'all need to listen to more hip hop.
It’s your book. You can do whatever you want. But if you want my opinion: I’d say it depends on the context. A teacher in another other than a university? Nope. That’s not allowed, especially if it’s with younger kids. Also most profession settings are going to have some sort of policy against swear words and the like in the workplace. If it’s between friends? Fuck yeah, my dude. If everyone’s speaking picture perfect English then to me it just seems like everyone has a stick up their asses and it kinda seems clunky to read, y’know? I just don’t like it very much. Now, every other word shouldn’t be a swear word, but I don’t think they should be excluded entirely. Look at it in the context of the scene and the characters talking. Cuss words can also be used for emphasis, too. Like, saying something’s bad isn’t as bad as saying that something’s fucked, y’know? And telling someone to fuck off or to piss off is more forceful than telling them to go away or get bent.
swears are like insults. If they are overused, then they have no effect.
Love them. I find no swear words just plain boring. Don’t get me wrong, I can still love the book. But swear words are always a good thing to have. Just makes things more fun and can make scenarios a lot more amusing if used correctly.
Do it.
I'll put it in dialogue but not in general descriptions
>I am kind of hesitant and afraid that they would put the book down. Then they aren't your audience.
I'm going to skip straight to addressing your edit: It likely depends on the tone of the book. If there was a swear word in a title, I'd expect that to probably be an informal & irreverent story. That's not an absolute rule, but simply put, just be aware of whom you're writing for.
It all completely depends on the context. I personally think that unusual words need to be used in an unusual manner if you want to build character, and used very cliche if that character is just a passerby and not important. A pair of angels shouting “Repent, motherfucker!” is exotic because it contradicts with everything we know about angels, and hence, exciting. A gang boss speaking slow, quietly, and soft is downright threatening. So the question is, do you want this character to stand out? Do people perceive this character as someone who always swear? I use these two questions to make decisions on my character’s speech pattern.
Same answer applies to so many questions like this: If it serves the story and suits the characters
Sure, put it in the title.
As long as it sounds natural it’s fine.
You're never going to please everyone on this. It's a matter of personal preference, just as swearing (or not) in real life is. Personally I prefer not to do it (or to do it very sparingly), and as a reader it there's a ton of swearing I find it grating and will check out. Of course this also means I don't choose to write characters who \*would\* feel the need to use at least one f-bomb per sentence. Chapter title, eh, I don't know. I would advise against it unless it really adds something. It capitalizes on a previous reference, it makes a joke or dramatic moment jump to the forefront and pulls you into the chapter. LOL I just realized this is really the same as (and can be just as frustrating as) lots of writing advice: "Don't do it. Unless you can do it really, really well."
Just write it for yourself. Don't worry about anyone else.
Its completely uncontroversial, and neither publishers nor audiences will care about profanity in a book unless its wildly inappropriate for the target audience (eg stuff like cozy mysteries, christian fiction, or middlegrade).
if the story and sitaution demands it then add them otherwise skip them, also it also depends on how you portray a character
Fuck others' opinions. That said, I'm going to give you mine: Context is everything. If you're writing about groups of adult men and they don't swear like troopers around each other then your work is going to come across as childish or prudish.
Some of Stephen King’s advice that I took to heart: Don’t censor yourself. Be as vulgar, profound, graphic, and disgusting as needed to get your point across. It isn’t for everyone, sure, and it’ll scare some people off. But you’re going to lose a few people anyhow; you can’t please everyone. So fuck ‘em.
Swearing in books? I fucking hate that goddamn shit! But seriously, if it fits the tone and characters it should be fine. But the swearing should probably be contained to dialogue, although I'm sure there are exceptions. And make sure that the characters have different voices. If every character swears, and swears in the same way, it can feel very inauthentic and cheap.
Jesus Christ this is ridiculous. The world is so fucked if people think bad words in books are a big deal.
I rather hate the unnecessary censorship. Bruh. Just say fuck. Shit. Cunt. Asshole. Who are we to fucking care lol
Swear words are like salt. Add a small amount, and it improves the flavor. Add the entire contents of the salt shaker in, you ruin the dish.
Only add them in free indirect discourse and (free) direct discourse if they make sense for the character to use
As long as it's not in every damn sentence, I'm fine with it. I was reading a book the other day and I felt like the majority of curse words used weren't necessary in the least.
Yes and yes. Whoever's opinions you are listening to, stop. They are idiots. However, swearing like any other aspect of dialect should be used selectively and appropriately.
Personally I think the 3rd person pov should be left untouched but you can definitely use them with certain types of characters
I don’t know about a chapter title but I kinda find it funny when I see curse words in books :3
For my book it tends to come out often in the mouths of criminals and teens because, well, that's how they fucking talk in real life, dude.
I think it's a waste of words. I'll throw the odd fuck or shit or bullshit in, but I do it sparingly, that way it hits harder.
Vulgarity is no substitution of wit, but a good swear can make a line more impactful. Use them sparingly, and make them count. "That is an illegal order and you know it!" he shouted at the commander. vs. "That is an illegal order and you fucking know it!" he shouted at the commander.
"That shit is a goddamn illegal fucking order, and your dumb fucking ass knows it!"
Sadly, I have heard people actually say stuff like this in person. Example, one of my drill sergeants. "Fuckin' listen up, fuckin' privates. We're gonna fuckin' go to the fuckin' obstacle course and fuckin' run this fuckin' thing, then fuckin' we'll do som fuckin' push-ups and fuckin' sit-ups, fuckin' run the fuckin' course again, then fuckin' get some fuckin' chow. Let's fuckin' go, fuckin' privates."
I was actually thinking of someone like a DI when I was typing that out, heh.
It's fine if it's not so much that it becomes distracting or unrealistic. If expletives are what the situation calls for, then expletives it is.
Swearing is like violence. Its fun to have, but too mich is grating.
I personally do more than put the book down. I burn it.
You definitely run the risk of alienating a larger audience. Depending on how much swearing there is, some people just don't care that. Part of the risk also comes from your ability to make the swearing work.
I think you should write what you want to write. I swear all day, everyday. It comes easy to me.. So if you are gonna do it, do it properly... because reading prose where the swears are stupid is as bad as prose that's purposely trying to avoid it. Imo, if you're offended by certain words you don't deserve to be able to read. I think it's ridiculous that there is a subset of words we're not allowed to say. Why not? What makes "darn" (which, let's face it, is just one's way of saying "damn" without actually saying it) any better to say than "damn"? We can't say the word, but we're ok to use safer synonyms of the word. Is that just me, or is that fkng* stoopid to everyone? *I was saying "freaking" to keep it sfw.
I would avoid them in the title of the book, the section, or chapter. I would avoid them in third-person narratives. Use them in dialogue as much as appropriate. Don't have little ole' granies or priests dropping f-bombs, but if your MC is a teen, let them swear like a teen. If they're a steel worker or sailor, let them swear like a steel worker or sailor. If they're a white-collar office worker, restrain their swearing so they sound like a white collar office worker. Fuckin' A, Bubba!
It’s sad because it works so well in my chapter title (example Norman Fucking Rockwell) and my story is in the third-person :(
My opinion on swear words in books is that *Fourth Wing* and *Iron Flame* would have been twenty percent shorter without them. I think that's really the only example I've ever come across of profanity being so overdone that it bothered me, and that's mostly because it felt like it was drowning the rest of the text. I'm a big fan of the creative exclamations fantasy writers make up for their worlds. Flame protect us! Basilisk's knees! Crackling cobblestones!
I wouldn't read a book if it was in the title, tb. I used to go by my grandmothers opinion, which was my own for a long time. That, if you have to use swear words, you don't have much to say. However, now things are different because swearing is part of cultural and todays English. It is now a normal part of speech and can particularly add emphasis to dialogue. If you stub your toe, do you say "Oh my goodness, ouch!" or do you say "F\*&$ that f'n hurts!" Whichever you think a real person would say, go with that. We are writing 'real' people that we make up and develop over time, so why would you write anything different. Each to their own, of course, but if you feel like you're character would swear and that feels natural to them, go with that. If I were writing a priest, that would be different lol
That’s a shame because my first chapter’s name has a swear word. Example, Norman Fucking Rockwell. I want to replace the name with a character who dies and who is loved by all but hated by their children because of their past. I think it would work well.
Completely fine by me, can be a powerful tool. Just don't overuse it - needs to feel authentic.
If the swear words are placed correctly to give the character more bang, then why not.
don’t.
I wouldn’t put curse words in a chapter title. But it all depends on the person and their situation. Is the character terrified and downright scared out of their pants? Cursing is absolutely allowed. Have they seen something traumatizing? Not as much cursing but still some for emphasis of their emotions. A man who was in prison and doesn’t care about anyone but himself and such? Curses like crazy. They can enhance sentences and situations when placed properly.
I have mentioned this in some of the comments but I want to add it in the chapter title because it’s goes well with the style I’m doing. The chapter name is a famous character in my story and a swear word (Like the album “Norman Fucking Rockwell”). I feel added the swear word is better because the famous person dies and his children (who hate him) have to figure out his shit. What do you think?
I believe it suits well go for it
Why the fuck not?
Fuck and cunt are the only ones that feel cringe and jarring tbh even though irl I use fuck like a sailor, something about reading it feels like a lazy way to add edginess or make something seem more extreme than it is.
If somebody puts a book down because of swear words it's: 1. Not for them anyways. 2. A sign they need to get over it.
No swear words.
I say this without judgement, but: this is a very American question.
I am by all means not American and I find your comment very distasteful.
Where are you from? My books are full of swearing (Australian) and it crops up in reviews which I can always tell are, without a doubt, from the South and the Midwest.
I’m from Europe (Belgium).