To swear or not to swear?

Swear. You can't sound authentic if your character would but you refuse to let them. If need be, you can probably edit around it later - but just do what they tell you to for now.

Just go for the swear. It's easier on everyone. Although, frick does seem to work too. In that case, it's your choice.

BTW I love your signature. "Time is like... a big ball of... wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff."

-- And A Further Collection Of Short Stories For Young Adults --
Freakouts: 2
Bowls of Cheerios consumed: 6
Times consulted cat for help: 15
Times written in class: 8

Okay, thank you both. I'm just going to go ahead and let him. Like you said, Aikanaro, I can always edit it later. Thanks!

And thank you, PRKoneko. I love that quote. :D

Characters killed: 8
Cups of tea consumed: 6
Times the 4th wall has been broken: 15
Poems referenced: 7

I'd say let him cuss. My male MC is also somewhat of a cusser... more than me, anyway, and I do find it irritating, but it sounds silly when I try to substitute words.

I was aiming for 50k words this year, but then I wrote 4k in one day. Now I hope to achieve 60k or 70k. *crosses fingers*

I let my characters write their own dialogue. If they feel the situation requires a swear word, then they get it, even though I don't personally swear that often around other people. (I have the tendency to swear more when I'm alone.)

However, if you're not comfortable actually writing out the swear, you could do something like: He swore loudly. "We can't do anything!" Or, since it's a science fiction novel, you could make up your own swear worlds that would be used in their language.

I'd say swear, if it's right for the character. After all, your characters may drink, smoke, cheat, murder or any number of things you don't do yourself.

If you're really uncomfortable with writing the actual swear words, there are ways round it - report the speech instead of using direct speech,

e.g. Max swore loudly and thumped the wall.

instead of

"F-ing hell," said Max.

go for it. my MC is politically incorrect and generally a grouchy fellow, and the idea of him not swearing (or not using slurs like f-ggot) maybes him sound fake. fake is bad.

i am becoming.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- don't, unless you wanna start swearing yourself. The more you let your characters go, the more apt you are to curse.... ask me how the fuck I know. Bleep him out or substitute, or just say "He made an inappropriate gesture to go with the compliment." Find a way around it, your readers won't mind.... or, if you just wanna get more comfortable with some of English's better words, go ahead and swear.

"This is going to be the worst day of your life. I'm bringing nunchuks." H. Freeman

I once heard someone say that swearing is nothing more than a sign of an unimaginative mind. It is simply repeating words you have heard others use time and time again.

You're writing a science fiction book. Get creative! Make up your own words that would be used in those situations that wouldn't offend any of your readers. Nothing tickled me more while watching Joss Whedon's "Firefly" series than their use of the word "goram" instead of a more familiar swear word. It didn't offend me once and I understood through its usage that it was meant to convey frustration and anger.

There was a story I heard, I think it was about Norman Mailer and his novel 'The Naked and the Dead.' He wrote a book about American GIs in WW II and he included all the standard army language, so of course the F-word featured prominently. His editor was worried that this might offend people, and since the book promised to be a "Great Work of American Literature" he forced Norman to change all the F-words to Fugg instead. So an otherwise brilliant novel was filled with such gems as "Fugg you!" and "Hey Fugghead!"
Shortly after the publication of said novel Norman Mailer is at a party in Manhattan, and he gets introduced to some wealthy dowager type lady. We're talking full-blown blue blood here. Had ancestors on the Mayflower, has her eyeglasses mounted on a little handle that she holds up to her face to see things. All that. Norman Mailer gets introduced and at first she doesn't know who he is, until someone mentions The Naked and the Dead and the dowager exclaims:
"Oh yes! You're the young man who can't spell the word 'Fuck!'"
Moral of the Story: Don't worry about bad words. We all know 'em, and most of us use 'em. Anyone else is a liar.

Swear. If your character wants to swear let him do it. I'm writing Young Adult fiction as well and my MC drops the "f-bomb" quite often.

That said, that's not your only option.

If you have a British character (or one obsessed with Harry Potter) you can use "Bloody" or "Bollocks".

I'm personally fond of sh*t and d*mn. Another option is to have religious characters take the lord's name in vain, because if they're religious enough than that's a lot worse than ANY F-bomb.

Swear. If you're afraid of words then you shouldn't be writing. If you're afraid of offending your readers, you also shouldn't be writing. Imagine if A Clockwork Orange had strayed away from its most prominent themes simply because they might offend people. We'd never had one of the greatest novels ever written.

Also, make it, " we can't fucking do anything!" "we can't do fucking anything!" sounds unnatural.

Swear. You have to remember that your characters are not you and you are not your characters. You don't have to swear for them to be able to. I always hate it when I read dialogue with "fake" swears in it, because I know exactly what the author meant and I know that they know as well.

Honestly, I never understood that saying. Every word in our vocabulary has been used before, so technically every word out of anyone's mouth is unoriginal. Swears are just words like anything else. Additionally, I don't think an author's main concern should be about offending others. The first person we should aim to please is ourselves.

What you could do is have him be so angry that he can't even swear properly. Start off sentences where he cuts himself off and eventually screams, or something.

For example,
"Wha--? How? She. . . I-- I can't even BEGIN to--" he stammered. "But. . . I-- Freaking!-- RAGHHHH!"

caw, caw

Me and my friends do this thing where we just go "efffff!"

Go ahead and swear. Your readership is presumably made up of adults.

My book is full of cussing (not the excerpt, though. I learned from last year and picked a relatively clean passage).

Stand Back-- I'm a Marine Biologist!

Bugger also works well for the more Brit-inclined. Frak is also a favorite of mine - used quite often in Battlestar Gallactica. I write mostly high fantasy in which the argument has come up among friends that such people would not have curse words. I beg to differ. Every culture has them so if something doesn't quite fit, make it up!

Also, if it is something in character for your MC then it's fine. Use just for use seems a little silly but I have quite a few characters that demand to be voiced in that way so just roll with it.

~ Chelle
"Letting the crazies take over my brain one cell at a time."

~ Chelle
"Letting the crazies take over my brain one cell at a time."

I'd agree with what's been said.

If your character would say it then you have to let him or risk making him sound out of character which breaks the authenticity.

If you're really not happy with it then you can always Search & Replace the F words later.

Voodoo Tofu! Un-official Week Three Pep Talk Now Available!!

Another option, if you're concerned about your Y-Adult readers is to start the swear but have another character (if there is one) to interrupt him. It gives the idea of the swear without the actual swear. That way you're being true to your character but getting the point across subtly.

Justice
Finished "The Blame Bearer"

This. Artemis Fowl (a young adult Science Fantasy) used D'Avart, stating merely that "there would be no use in translating that word, as it would have to be censored anyways". I've seen it used most often in SciFi, to be honest, but I'm sure it could work out in a different genre.

As long as you establish the word early in the book, and go back to it later, no one will think any thing of it.

Usually anything other than a swear word seems awkward and forced. Well, at least, it does for me.
I say to make them swear- but, then again, I could probably make a sailor blush with how much I swear at times.

If you're really against them swearing, make up something, like has been suggested.
Or use "fugg" or "eff." They both seem to work pretty well and don't seem too forced. It can seem pretty natural if you make it seem like the character was taught to use those as alternatives and now it's just a habit.

Actually, it's a sign that the *character* is unimaginative. I grew up in a family where saying "that sucks" would get me in trouble, I certainly know how to avoid swearing. However, not all of my characters do. Many of them have foul mouths due to living on the streets, having alcoholic parents, or just being snotty teenagers. It wouldn't occur to them to find another way of expressing themselves, particularly not the ones who rarely are around adults.

If the character swears, go ahead and swear. Either write down the word or, if that makes you too uncomfortable, write something along the lines of "and then Chaucer used a word his mother wouldn't approve of." JK Rowling employed the "not around Mum" option quite a bit with Ron as he got older and then slowly transitioned to using some of the milder words. Hell, write it both ways. Ups your word count and gives you some options come editing time.