do you swear in your stories? - Comments

Fuck yes, I swear in stories.

Most individuals on this site to seem have the consensus that it's fine in dialogue when not overused, but there's conflicting views on whether or not it should be used in third-person narrative.

I think it should be used as needed. I use it in narrative and in dialogue. My characters are non-religious guys in their twenties for the most part. And I know for a fact that they swear. I swear in narrative because sometimes it is what it is.

Sometimes it's not 'that chair' it's 'that damn chair'. You don't always have sex. Sometimes you fuck. I think it's just ridiculous that anyone would try to tell an author they shouldn't use a word. We're writers. We use words. There's no point in not using a word because it's 'naughty'.

I myself never cuss. If I do, it's because something very awful happens and the word just slips out.

But, my characters are not like me. They're totally different people, so it really depends on them, whether there will be cursing in my stories.

I do it if it feels right for the story/character. I have stories I never swear in because it's not right for it. I have stories where only certain characters swear but not others, or there's only a few swear words thrown in for emphasis in certain scenes. I even have one story where the character just goes crazy. Fuck is his favourite word, he says it practically every other sentence. It's a bad habit of his to swear and he admits this. I know people who do have bad cursing habits so I thought writing him with one would add to his character and when he doesn't swear at all in a chapter, that's really important obviously. It's like the opposite of the example you gave. The swearing in that part of the story enhanced it because usually there is none and I do the opposite in my story. When there is no swearing it's done to enhance the scene as the rest of the story is just the main character being a potty mouth.

I don't think it should be censored, it should just be appropriate not only for the story, but for the intended audience. Like if you're writing a children's book, you're not going to swear. An adult novel you can get away with it.

Swearing's a part of life, so why should it be shut out from writing and lyrics? It's unrealistic when someone writes a story, and without the character coming from like, an upper class family where swearing isn't accepted and stuff like that, and the character never utters a single swear word.

I think it's overused, but I also don't think it should be censored. I disagree with how people use it most of the time, but I also think that it should be left the way the person who wrote it intended it to be.

That probably makes no sense...Sorry.

I feel as far as writing goes, swearing is acceptable to an extent. If someone writes a character who has a personality that the author believes it calls for swearing, then I agree to it. It would lose its realism if it didn't, because there are people out there that don't swear, swear a little, and swear quite a bit, and I feel like it should be portrayed. True, it's already toned down in a lot of writing and I like it better that way.