Posts
Obscenities.
What are we to do with them as writers?
Pretend they don't exist?
Scatter them willy-nilly throughout our novel?
F--- has become the duct tape of modern speech. Without it some rap singers would be neutered.
Look at some of the books out there. I have.
Where is the heart, the soul, the marrow in the bones?
Oddly enough, those things are often found in the profanity of said novel,
in how that profanity is used, and in who uses it when.
Profanity is much like spice in a meal. Too much blunts the taste of the meal ... or the novel.
Yet, take out the "real" in a novel, and you neuter Chekhov into the artificiality of Mansfield.
Better to drink water than near-beer.
Profanity lends a realism to novels.
Not that without it, novels cannot have the sense of the real.
In Dostoevsky, there is such a burning truth in the prose that it changes you even as you read it.
THE HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO PROFANITY :
A.) KNOW WHERE TO LOB THE GRENADE :
Never in the structure of the novel. Only in dialogue. And then only when unavoidable.
Even in first person? Yes. It's strange I know. But it is a rule like gravity.
Of course there are exceptions. According to the strict rules of aerodynamics, a bumble bee ought not to be able to fly.
It doesn't know any better, and so it zips along quite merrily on its buzzing, pollinating way.
Trust your instinct on first person narration and profanity.
B.) MOST SLANG HAS A SHORT SHELF LIFE :
It takes three years at the fastest for your book to be published. Don't use slang that may well go stale in that time.
Don't be worried about being timely :
use nice Anglo-Saxon words that have stood the test of a thousand years. You won't be sorry that you played it safe with swearing.
C.) YOU'RE NOT GEORGE CARLIN :
He wrote for shock ... and for reflection on why we are who we are and why we say what we do.
Don't be the little boy writing gross words on the wall to be smart.
One, you're not very smart if that is why you are doing it.
Two, even if you succeed, you have jarred your reader out of the flow of your story.
D.) THE PILOT ONLY EJECTS WHEN HE IS ABOUT TO CRASH :
Remember : the jet pilot only ejects from the cockpit when he is about to crash.
So don't crash your novel unless you're ending it.
Using profanity for shock value blunts very quickly.
Never use a swear word without first seeing if you can't replace it with another word.
Never make the waters choppy if you don't have to.
Then, there is the strange fact that some very common words bring us up short when we see them on the printed page.
Take "fart" for example. It just comes out oddly.
How often have you seen it in a novel you've recently read? Not often I bet.
Then, again ...
E.) QUEEN VICTORIA IS DEAD, AND I DON'T FEEL SO WELL MYSELF :
Put fornicate, copulate, co-habit, or consummate in the mouth of anyone in your novel but a priest or nun,
and you will make your entire novel as plastic and false as a Barbie sitting next to a Ken.
F.) DON'T PUT A BLU-RAY INTO YOUR DVD PLAYER :
Each person in your novel should have his or her own style or voice.
Not everyone curses.
And not everyone curses in the same way or at the same ratio.
(Check out Lenny's World {November 8th} for an excellent post on voice in the world of writing http://lennys-world.blogspot.com/ )
My character, Sam McCord, uses profanity very little.
I explain it in the course of my novel. Elu, his blood brother, uses none and there is a valid reason for that given in the course of events.
The street people of the French Quarter are another matter.
Victor Standish, the 13 year street gypsy, has a colorful vocabulary which he tries to prune for the sake of his mentor, Samuel McCord.
F.) FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS AND THE CASH REGISTER RINGS :
Fact of life #1 : Publishing is a business. A shaky business at the moment. No publisher wants to chase away customers.
Fact of life #2 : Profanity upsets some people. So how to write about rough people without using their profanity? Hemingway did this in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS :
“The man, Agustin, spoke so obscenely, coupling an obscenity to every noun as an adjective, using the same obscenity as a verb,
that Robert Jordan wondered if he could speak a straight sentence” ( Chapter 3).
This tells the reader that, yes, these people are rough and foul-mouthed; so, just take that as a given
and move on with the story. Since that novel has never gone out of print, most readers must be comfortable with that.
G.) MARK TWAIN WAS RIGHT :
"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
"The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong. He can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice and benevolent and affectionate way."
"There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that."
In other words, when there is no other word which means exactly the same thing and gives the same effect, use the profanity.
H.) A LAST WORD FROM HEMINGWAY :
In a letter to his publisher and mentor, Maxwell Perkins, Hemingway ended the letter about profanity with ... "F-ck the whole business. That's legal, isn't it?"
***
What are we to do with them as writers?
Pretend they don't exist?
Scatter them willy-nilly throughout our novel?
F--- has become the duct tape of modern speech. Without it some rap singers would be neutered.
Look at some of the books out there. I have.
Where is the heart, the soul, the marrow in the bones?
Oddly enough, those things are often found in the profanity of said novel,
in how that profanity is used, and in who uses it when.
Profanity is much like spice in a meal. Too much blunts the taste of the meal ... or the novel.
Yet, take out the "real" in a novel, and you neuter Chekhov into the artificiality of Mansfield.
Better to drink water than near-beer.
Profanity lends a realism to novels.
Not that without it, novels cannot have the sense of the real.
In Dostoevsky, there is such a burning truth in the prose that it changes you even as you read it.
THE HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO PROFANITY :
A.) KNOW WHERE TO LOB THE GRENADE :
Never in the structure of the novel. Only in dialogue. And then only when unavoidable.
Even in first person? Yes. It's strange I know. But it is a rule like gravity.
Of course there are exceptions. According to the strict rules of aerodynamics, a bumble bee ought not to be able to fly.
It doesn't know any better, and so it zips along quite merrily on its buzzing, pollinating way.
Trust your instinct on first person narration and profanity.
B.) MOST SLANG HAS A SHORT SHELF LIFE :
It takes three years at the fastest for your book to be published. Don't use slang that may well go stale in that time.
Don't be worried about being timely :
use nice Anglo-Saxon words that have stood the test of a thousand years. You won't be sorry that you played it safe with swearing.
C.) YOU'RE NOT GEORGE CARLIN :
He wrote for shock ... and for reflection on why we are who we are and why we say what we do.
Don't be the little boy writing gross words on the wall to be smart.
One, you're not very smart if that is why you are doing it.
Two, even if you succeed, you have jarred your reader out of the flow of your story.
D.) THE PILOT ONLY EJECTS WHEN HE IS ABOUT TO CRASH :
Remember : the jet pilot only ejects from the cockpit when he is about to crash.
So don't crash your novel unless you're ending it.
Using profanity for shock value blunts very quickly.
Never use a swear word without first seeing if you can't replace it with another word.
Never make the waters choppy if you don't have to.
Then, there is the strange fact that some very common words bring us up short when we see them on the printed page.
Take "fart" for example. It just comes out oddly.
How often have you seen it in a novel you've recently read? Not often I bet.
Then, again ...
E.) QUEEN VICTORIA IS DEAD, AND I DON'T FEEL SO WELL MYSELF :
Put fornicate, copulate, co-habit, or consummate in the mouth of anyone in your novel but a priest or nun,
and you will make your entire novel as plastic and false as a Barbie sitting next to a Ken.
F.) DON'T PUT A BLU-RAY INTO YOUR DVD PLAYER :
Each person in your novel should have his or her own style or voice.
Not everyone curses.
And not everyone curses in the same way or at the same ratio.
(Check out Lenny's World {November 8th} for an excellent post on voice in the world of writing http://lennys-world.blogspot.com/ )
My character, Sam McCord, uses profanity very little.
I explain it in the course of my novel. Elu, his blood brother, uses none and there is a valid reason for that given in the course of events.
The street people of the French Quarter are another matter.
Victor Standish, the 13 year street gypsy, has a colorful vocabulary which he tries to prune for the sake of his mentor, Samuel McCord.
F.) FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS AND THE CASH REGISTER RINGS :
Fact of life #1 : Publishing is a business. A shaky business at the moment. No publisher wants to chase away customers.
Fact of life #2 : Profanity upsets some people. So how to write about rough people without using their profanity? Hemingway did this in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS :
“The man, Agustin, spoke so obscenely, coupling an obscenity to every noun as an adjective, using the same obscenity as a verb,
that Robert Jordan wondered if he could speak a straight sentence” ( Chapter 3).
This tells the reader that, yes, these people are rough and foul-mouthed; so, just take that as a given
and move on with the story. Since that novel has never gone out of print, most readers must be comfortable with that.
G.) MARK TWAIN WAS RIGHT :
"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
"The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong. He can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice and benevolent and affectionate way."
"There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that."
In other words, when there is no other word which means exactly the same thing and gives the same effect, use the profanity.
H.) A LAST WORD FROM HEMINGWAY :
In a letter to his publisher and mentor, Maxwell Perkins, Hemingway ended the letter about profanity with ... "F-ck the whole business. That's legal, isn't it?"
***
Excellent post on when to and not to use profanity. My characters don't really swear - odd because I have a serious problem with it myself. But, I guess that's just how things happen sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone ever put fornicate or consummate in their novel... and it didn't make PERFECT sense. I'd put it down before I finished the word.
Melissa : Yes, those words were proper in the times of H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and Mark Twain. But not today's.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be jarred, read Dean Koontz's THE WATCHERS. I enjoyed the book right up until the love scene. I kept on reading to find out what happened to the dog. But it was one of Dean Koontz's earlier works, and it shows.
Interesting post. I've never used a profanity in my writing but I have friend who uses the F word a lot. I'll get her to read this article. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI don't have all that much swearing in my writing, although I do use some of the . . . milder words every so often.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this!
I am not a prude and do use obsentity on occasin in my personal life, with much zest.
ReplyDeleteI cringe when it is over used and unneeded to make a point.
Very good post.
My last novel had swearing pretty much limited to one particular chapter that focused on a crude character. Other times I'll use something like "He bit back a curse..." to get the point across.
ReplyDeleteIf the world is about to explode, really F*** is about the only acceptable word left. :)
Laura : You're right. There are some times when "Oh, fudge!" just doesn't cut it. To have minimum or zero coarse language broadens the ranks of possible readers. And in this day of struggling publishing houses, that is what you want to aim for.
ReplyDeleteGail : I believe that profanity limits your vocabulary. What limits your vocabulary restricts the scope of your mind. And your mind is truly all that stands between you and the darkness of this world. I don't want to face the night with a flashlight, containing weakened batteries.
Golden Eagle : I have very little swearing in my novel as well and stewed whenever I did include it. But like Laura mentioned, when the world you knew is suddenly gone and your life probably over, swearing seems natural -- and anything else used in dialogue would sound artificial.
Ellie : It is important in our craft that all our characters do not end up all sounding like us. Each person has their own "voice" and vocabulary -- which includes, but is not limited to, profanity. Say hello to your friend for me.
I believe there is a need for it in the right context. I don't believe it should be blatant. There are ways ... like Hemingway, to get your point across. I haven't as of yet use profanity in my work. It's suggested.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post as usual Roland.
Try not to work too hard this week. If I know you, we will be seeing our daily posts. YAH!
Michael
The MC in my NaNo novel swears as much as I do. I do, however, in exposition revert to the 'I swore' generic becuase the reader can figure out his natural response from his dialogue.
ReplyDeleteSwearing to the MC isn't a big deal, but he WON'T use the name of his creator. So it is always damn it' instead G** damn it. The MC is a falen angel and he knows people damn themselves body else does.
As always, you have given me something to think about.
J
nice post. I tend to only use swear words when the situation calls for it. I'm very conservative that way I suppose compared to some of the books I read. I'm not opposed to using swear words in my novels but I think they're often over used. It needs to fit in the context of the story and character.
ReplyDeleteKnowing when to use profanity correctly is a lot like writing a love scene. Done incorrectly, it's just a bunch of heartless, jarring words - all arms and legs. Done correctly, it is raw emotion, deep feeling - all body and cerebral substance.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post and great advice to boot. As a reader, I don't mind the occasional off color expression, especially since I do like my cop dramas and I think its almost a requirement for cops to cuss.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, I write Christian Romantic Suspense so my market won't tolerate it. I have to find other ways to express the extreme moment...but I find that makes me be creative.
Edge of Your Seat Romance
Great post. Personally, I prefer to read books that are more creative with language and only use curse words to make a point – you know that one time it is used so you know it is bad, or the one foul mouthed character that irrigates everyone.
ReplyDeleteLOVE the comparison with the bumblebee. That's brilliant. Sometimes things break the rules and work without sense! Yay!
ReplyDeleteI also love the rule about not puttng BluRay into a DVD player.
Another great post!
Hi Roland! Thanks for following. This is a great post. You bring up a lot of interesting points, and from so many different literary figures -- I try to just not explain how or why my characters speak, and just let them do the talking :) That way, if a swear-word or two slips in . . . I can blame them. Honesty, eh?
ReplyDeleteLots of good advice here, Roland! I use profantiy in my writing, or I should say my characters do.
ReplyDeleteEven on my blog. Coincidentally, tomorrow I have a warning on my blog about language.
Excellent post, Roland. Profanity is pretty much a given these days. In truth, there is little shock value left. It's only when the writer believes there is shock value it becomes problematic. Either s/he overuses it because s/he's too lazy to delve into real emotion, or s/he underuses it in an effort not to offend anyone, thereby making the dialogue stilted and unnatural.
ReplyDeleteI found this amusing as well as true. If I use any at all in my stories, it's with reserve and I usually don't use the bomb words. I try to always keep the reader in mind.
ReplyDeleteMy antagonist in my nano story is creepy times 10. When I write from his perspective or describe his 'work' I try to convey the horror without getting completely in the muck with him. I do say things, but, hopefully, in ways that allow me to put a veneer over what could really be said, while allowing the reader to imagine what's underneath. Then, they can shock themselves with their own imagination.