Blasphemy & Profanity in a Christian Novel http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521 CLRichardson What do you do when it's essential that one of your characters blasphemes God and uses profanity, yet equally essential that you avoid writing out their exact words? Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:38:11 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_767607 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_767607 BrittanyJean You can use descriptive terms for what they said, without saying it out right. Or you can describe the reaction of other characters after hearing the profanity/blasphemy. Imagine if someone was standing in front of you saying those words and how you would react. Even better, how your pastor would react. Then describe the character listening to those things. Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:28:35 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_768882 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_768882 pkibellus Why not use the words. Truth is important. If the character would speak that way then write it that way. It is one of the best ways to show a change in character as their speach evolves Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:57:13 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_771488 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_771488 Nenya_s Wings I think there's a line between realistic dialouge and offensive language, but it really depends on the audience you are writing for. Youth fiction, for example, might need to limit certian phrases more than something for an older , more discerning reader. Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:58:42 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_775108 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_775108 Kathy1612 I agree that for a youth novel, you need to be much more careful than you do for adults. My story involves an athiest who will slowly find faith. She's a party girl, from an abusive, uncaring home she ran away from at 16. In the beginning, cursing, bad behavior and unkind thoughts are who she is, so it would be unrealistic to not use the words. However, I'm finding it hard to write her as rough as I imagined her. It's difficult overcoming my own reisistance to some launguage and behavior. Not that I never curse, I do, unfortunately, but I don't use the Lord's name in vain, or use the harsher curse words. I don't like to hear them, and I certainly don't like to say them. But my character needs to, and she's coming out a bit flat. I'm pushing forward, but I know in revision, she'll need a lot of editing. Anyone here who's dealt with this situation? Best of luck to all of you! Kathy Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:24:15 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_776729 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_776729 CheyennevanStrange If you don't want to use the words, you can write instead "he/she/they cursed/swore" and then, if they are around someone, you can write their reaction to the "harsh language" or "blasphemy" to get across exactly what the nature of what was said was. Or, another tool is at the beginning of the curse, cut the rest off. Like, "This is bull -" you can get away with this if your character is either stopping in the sentence, or is interrupted. Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:55:01 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_778890 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_778890 wblowry I've had an issue with this before. It's really something you need to pray about. I had a character that was a prostitute who was in a very sticky situation and I had to figure out how to word it without making it sound too offensive. I ended up using round about words after lots of prayer. Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:27:44 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_809251 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_809251 rehtse I steer clear of using god's name in vain and the harsher swear words but there is just no way that my characters would not swear considering they are basically delinquents. However I never litter their dialogue with cursing. I save it for when they are really in desperate situations, or hurling insults at one another. And I keep it to the more mild cursing. I may even go back through and remove most if it if I find it unnecessary. But I don't think there is anything wrong with it really. Unnecessary censoring will just dumb down a book in my opinion. Look at Francine Rivers, novels. This is more an example content wise than for swearing but she has a lot of questionable stuff in her novels and none or it is censored or ignored but that does not take away from how wonderful they are. But there is a line between uncensored and vulgar that we all have to be careful of I think. Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:23:33 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_823759 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_823759 ohthatmomagain I use a lot of 'he swore loudly," "He yelled curses into the air." mine is a christian ya and I don't feel comfortable having him actually saying the words. Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:14:21 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_859126 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_859126 rckjones Depending on your setting and your character, you could always make up your own swear word for them to use, or have them swear in another language. It might take the sting out of it if you just want to make sure it's not offensive to readers without making your character unrealistic. Generally speaking, I think it's good for authors to give themselves permission to write realistic dialogue for their characters if the novel's written for adults. This is because a record of an event is not the same thing as support for an event - something I find myself pointing out quite frequently to my atheist friends who want to attack the Bible because it records some really awful events. Sometimes the awful things need to be written down to document that they happened and to demonstrate why they're so bad, and this is true in a novel as well as a historical account. Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:35:00 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_862261 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_862261 sewerrat I asked a priest about this once and he said that it's art, so it's not really a sin to leave in swear words and phrases that take the Lord's name in vain for, say, characterization purposes or to make it more believable. As long as it has a purpose, right? Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:58:12 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_916488 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/39521?page=1#forum_thread_comment_916488