Profanities in Stories

^ And if you say you aren't you're a damn liar. It's ok in moderation. just don't have every sentence be "Fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck fucker fuckity fuck fuck"

^I actually read that story and love it :tehe: And true. I remember that dialogue and it didn't feel overdone at all.
I swear in third person and second, and first :shifty Because I do swear that much in RL, I'm just not very vocal :shifty
I think unneeded swearing [as mentioned here before] is an overkill. Moderate swearing gives the story and the characters a sense of realism; but swearing each five seconds makes them sound like they're written people, you know? Unbelievable and meant to be written on paper to execute one type of character; like a 'tough guy' or a 'punk rawker' >_> Some people do censor themselves but when they're frustrated they're bound to let one slip.

And I don't think it should be censored in stories. Like when people put 'F***' or 'Sh**', because I mean... we already know what the word is; why censor it? :shifty

^ Plus a lot of the time it makes the swear word more obvious.
Like in the middle of a story you're more likely to notice a bunch of asterisks than letters.

Censoring it out feels, to me, like the author is making a big deal over something that should be natural and unimportant. It's much more effective to come across a curse word than to know it's coming when you see four asterisks at the end of the paragraph.

I think, if you need to censor it, you clearly don't need the word that badly in the first place and should pick something else.

I hate it when it's a third person narration and the author uses the word 'cock'.
That just really peeves me.
I mean, try to be slightly formal when doing third person.
In third person, you're telling the story. You're not really supposed to have a personality, and swearing adds too much personality.

Dialogue and first person are fine and dandy, but third person is just unprofessional.

^ I don't think it's uprofessional.
If the third person got too formal it'd be stiff. And the personality added is the author's so it's really an indication that the story's being written by a human being :shifty
I say this because I personally swear in third person and use profanity and it doesn't really affect the flow. Because swearing in third person is cool... I mean ahem :shifty
But seriously >_> Swearing in it's wrong place is annoying but I think it's alright when used in things like: He's getting pissed at it all; getting so fucking mad about this whole situation that he just might blow his head up.
Cursing can indicate many things depending on where the curse is used >_> Like in that example it can show great anger and just overwhelming emotions.

But that's just what I say. :cute:
[/end lecture] :cute:

^
I agree.

And you also do need some kind of personality in third
person; that's called using a writer's voice, which is extremely
important to writing. Otherwise, it's just boring. As long as you
have the basic rules, you can go forth and start to bend them.

I don't like swearing at all, I hardly ever do it in RL, just when I slip up or something really deserves it and at first I was uncomfortable with swearing in my story but the situation it's based in, rough and uncivilised to say the least, wouldn't as realistic if there was no swearing at all so I've started to add it in where I think it really needs it. I think if it's used sparingly the use of it is more effective and dramatic than if it's used constantly.

^ I agree with the "use curse words sparingly" statement. The more you do something, the smaller an effect it has, so there's not much point in overusing swears in my opinion.

That's why I don't swear constantly in my stories. I just use it where I myself would swear (which isn't really helpful when I'm trying not to overdo it, seeing as I curse a lot) in dialogue and/or in first person narrative.

I don't like using it too much in third-person narrative unless the story calls for it. I'll only use it when the tone is more rough.
Like in Capture The Soul With A Single Shot. I used "fuck" in the first paragraph of the first actual chapter. It was necessary for me to swear to make sure the tone didn't flicker.

Charmless.:

I feel that is it poor writing to swear in third person.
What is the need to use a swear word as an adjective?

For starters, it's not always an adjective. "Fuck" or "fucking" could quite easily be a verb.
Secondly, the need could be the continuity of flow.
That's why I swear in third person.

I kinda got told off by my teacher the other day for submitting a story with swearing in it.
Like, it was in context, and it was just part of the character, but she still said that I should keep the swearing out, just in case it didn't sit right with someone else who might read it.
I was really disappointed because of that

Freddie Mercury.:

I kinda got told off by my teacher the other day for submitting a story with swearing in it.
Like, it was in context, and it was just part of the character, but she still said that I should keep the swearing out, just in case it didn't sit right with someone else who might read it.
I was really disappointed because of that

A few years ago, some teacher got in trouble for allowing a student to turn in work with swearing.
I always kept swearing out of my schoolwork and definitely kept myself within confines and I hate every prose piece I submitted for a grade because of it.
Part of the reason I want to be an English teacher is to teach kids they can love writing and to not enforce parameters like that.

Eh, depends on what person's eyes we're seeing the story through. If it's a non-objective narrative, I tend to keep the profanity to a minimum. If told through someone else's point of view, if they tend to swear quite often, there will be some cursing in the narrative. If it's in dialog, same thing.

Many of my characters tend to curse like sailors, I guess mostly inspired by my own speech. I was raised in a family where profanity became of common use when speaking by the time you were eight, at least. It's just what I'm accustomed to. Damn it.

druscilla; her eyes.:

A few years ago, some teacher got in trouble for allowing a student to turn in work with swearing.
I always kept swearing out of my schoolwork and definitely kept myself within confines and I hate every prose piece I submitted for a grade because of it.
Part of the reason I want to be an English teacher is to teach kids they can love writing and to not enforce parameters like that.

That's why I love college so much. I once submitted a short story to one of my professors (who is amazing, and is such an MCR geek I'm surprised she doesn't have an INO by now) in which one character referred to another as...well, I won't say what here, because I'm unsure of what Mibba's rules are for that sort of thing in the forums, but let's just say it was a bit of "colorful" language that even made my mom go, "Oh my god, Andrea!" when she read it. My professor loved the phrase so much that she spent the rest of the class session saying it out loud and laughing to herself. In college, the rules tend to be far more lax about such things. In high school my teachers never really cared, either, but every school and every teacher is different about such things.

druscilla; her eyes.:

A few years ago, some teacher got in trouble for allowing a student to turn in work with swearing.
I always kept swearing out of my schoolwork and definitely kept myself within confines and I hate every prose piece I submitted for a grade because of it.
Part of the reason I want to be an English teacher is to teach kids they can love writing and to not enforce parameters like that.

Wow, I didn't realise it was something that teachers could actually get in trouble for. She said she was fine with it, but sorta gave me a warning, because others might not be.
She also said I could possibly get a worse grade because of it.

I was taught at this writing camp when I was younger that it's okay to put minor swearing in, as long as it's not just there for the sake of it, and it actually serves purpose.

Jinxeh:

. . .one of my professors (who is amazing, and is such an MCR geek I'm surprised she doesn't have an INO by now)

This isn't related to the topic, but what you said.
A friend of a friend has a teacher with a Mibba who told her that Marlee and I were his favorite authors.

Freddie Mercury.:

I was taught at this writing camp when I was younger that it's okay to put minor swearing in, as long as it's not just there for the sake of it, and it actually serves purpose.

I wasn't allowed to swear in my writing when I was younger. My parents forbid it.
Then when I was twelve, I wrote a story where a girl broke her leg and she said "gosh darn it". My mother changed the rule. And then I wrote my first porno. :tehe:
But I always had to hide the stories with swear words from my stepmom and dad.
I don't think people understand that it's art. It's not the same as calling someone a cunt. It's art.

druscilla; her eyes.:

I wasn't allowed to swear in my writing when I was younger. My parents forbid it.
Then when I was twelve, I wrote a story where a girl broke her leg and she said "gosh darn it". My mother changed the rule. And then I wrote my first porno. :tehe:
But I always had to hide the stories with swear words from my stepmom and dad.
I don't think people understand that it's art. It's not the same as calling someone a cunt. It's art.

I was 12 or 13 when I went to this camp, and the guy who was teaching us all thi stuff was an author, so I trusted his judgement, and my mum's got more and more lax on my swearing issues over the years :tehe:
The point you made about it being art made me think of this big thing that went on here in Australia a few months ago, I don't know whether you would have heard of it or not, though; basically, this guy took nude shots of little kids and said it was art. :shifty
I think it just depends on the person reading it.

Just as an add on, I wrote my first porn when I was 14 :tehe:

I feel so childish. I wrote my first porno the other day, and...I'm twenty.

Man, I'm behind, aren't I? :tehe:

Jinxeh:

I feel so childish. I wrote my first porno the other day, and...I'm twenty.

Man, I'm behind, aren't I? :tehe:

Not at all. I mean, I was just very curious and I constantly thought about sex :XD

Freddie Mercury:

Not at all. I mean, I was just very curious and I constantly thought about sex :XD

Well, that's fairly normal. But at that age, I showed everything I wrote to my mother, and I was never really sure how she'd react to such a thing, heh. I told my mom everything, and that hasn't changed. Just today she happened upon my computer when I had a Word document open and some writing in it, and she seemed fairly amused when she told me my writing was, "Amazingly descriptive and positively pornographic!"