Swearing?

I handle it by saying - Nathaniel swore.

Then it's up to the readers to fill in the blanks basicly lol. As a reader this is always what I find the least annoying way of avoiding the word. I do swear myself, not generally not 'at' people. But I'll say something is f*cked up etc.

But I just don't like writing it, simply because it's an ugly word. :)

The way that writers avoid swearing that annoys me the most is when they have people say Fudge etc.. Because saying fudge instead of f*ck is a character quirk. So like, if your MC says fudge, I'll likely find it cute. If the MC, her brother, teacher, and the random person who bullies her ALL say fudge instead of f*ck, I won't believe you.

Fal x

Scattering swear words here and there I think will make it more natural. I mean maybe not f***ed up, but the others aren't to bad. My characters swear, sometimes. It isn't every other word. But to use the word "fudge" now that is just messed up. It adds too much of an older generation in a younger generations world. I have heard the younger crowd using effed up though. Especially when around adults.
Just my two cents worth.

This reminds me of a musical: "Good authors too, who once knew better words, now only use four letter words, writing prose...Anything goes!"

Basically, I figure if I (as a 26 year old who isn't too old for a smack) can say it in front of my mother, then it's golden to use in a YA novel. Which basically keeps things down to a "hell"/"shit"/occasional "damn" level.

"The first draft of anything is shit." Ernest Hemingway

I don't like cussing personally, but those words do tend to rise in my mind in some situations. Also, they are always trying to pop up in my writing, which is sort of ironic, seeing as I never swear. However, it's my character speaking and not me, so I just take the rated G route and say, "He swore, cussed, muttered curses beneath his breath, etc." Damn and hell don't bother me, but I still won't use them. Anything else, ESPECIALLY profaning God's name, I abhor.

I write YA and am 18, having read YA predominantly for years now. My favorite books seem to be the cleaner ones language wise. My opinion is that there are so many unused words out there as it is, why not take this opportunity to use something unusual, or make up your own curses which are meaningless and appropriate for any age? Don't take the easy way out, be creative and help promote more sophisticated literature for us to read. I for one will be very appreciative. ^_^

Book content has been deteriorating over the years at an ever increasing pace. There are lots of excellent stories I won't ever read because of language. It's a shame, because everyone loses over a few useless words. What's the point? Profanity doesn't enrich the writing; it only chases away readers. This is partially why I write YA, to hopefully put some appropriate books on the market, or at least fulfill my own needs with my stories.

Bad words make you feel icky; dirty. There's nothing positive in them. Our culture is significantly more cold and rude than it used to be 50 years ago, and vulgar language carries some of the blame. If we ever want all this "world peace" and polite mannerisms to come back, it must be initiated in what we say. So let's start being more genteel now, with clean language in our stories.

"Have fun, for heaven’s sake! It’s not brain surgery. You won’t kill anyone if you choose the wrong words. You can just fix ‘em later. Writing is power. You are in control of it."
-Libba Bray

I'm 14, I swear and there will be swearing in my nano there is a total of one swear word so far but my MC refuses to curse and we have yet to meet some of her more crude friends in my novel.

As a teenager, I know one person of my age who doesn't swear( she says 'puck off'), I know people who don't swear often but we definately swear (maybe not in front of our parents though).

XxX

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I actually don't know anyone who doesn't swear. If one of my friends said "fudge", I'd probably laugh. :P It's not all "f-ing this" and "f-ing that", but swear words are fairly common where I live.

My characters do swear. There is one character who swears CONSTANTLY. She's actually fun to write, and it's just so.. her. It's appropriate for her character. Other characters don't swear as much, and only when needed really. Only if it fits the scene.

To be honest, if something truly shocking has happened, or my characters are really angry, or alarmed, or whatever, then they're not going to shout "oh fiddlesticks!" and similiarly, if they're having an argument with someone -- a pretty vicious, heated argument -- those swear words are gonna come out.

In real life, I actually do insult people to the core who offended me without cussing half the time (ie- subhumanoid sacks of verminous filth), and do occasionally shout dismay, anger, or shock without 4-letters (ie- unholy dog-raping goat excrement). It usually generates a "what planet are you from" stare, but in those situations I could care less. An "Ask me if I actually care about you, or the human race, for that matter," can do wonders in offending people, or getting them to back down.

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I personally don't swear, and I don't like reading swear words either. I know that teenagers swear (my niece does and it bugs me). When I set out to write a young adult book I wanted to write one that I would want my nieces and nephews to read (and my future children). I think they would be shocked for me to put swearing in my novels.

So to avoid that I create characters that don't have that MO. So, just be true to your characters, if they swear so be it, and if all the swearing bugs you then limit it, or, I like what Fallyn said, just say so-and-so swore, and leave it up to the reader's imagination; kids still have one and we should let them use it.

As authors we want to control everything that people think when they read our books, but we can't. Everyone experiences books differently.

It depends on your characters - teenagers, just like everyone else, consider it a personal decision as to whether or not they swear, just with the added social confusion of swearing to impress people. A character exclaiming "fudge" or "fiddlesticks" who is not intended to be cute will make most teenage readers to think less of you, as that is not particularly realistic. A few scattered throughout the novel is fine - with curse words, a little goes a long way. That's kind of their point.

I could not write a teenager without swearing. I don't consider myself to swear a lot, but every other sentence I use a mild swear word. It's just natural, and that's me- but my characters all swear differently. But I think that swearing should be in a story to make it believable. If it's in third person, use it in dialogue, if it's in first - it has to be at some point in the monologue as well as the dialogue.

But that's just me. I've grown up in a place where swearing isn't bad at all, and have been swearing since I was four. No teenager never swears.

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I think the only question worth asking is: "Would my character swear?" Not, "Do I approve of swearing?" or "Should teens be reading swear words?" or anything else. If your character would say it, then they should say it regardless of whether or not you would ever personally say it. The language has to fit the character.

Put everything you know into everything you do ~ Charlie Kaufman

My characters swear. I'm writing for the older teen crowd and my little group of kids are all about 17 and mostly male. So they swear and aren't picky about their word choice. So I have dropped "F-bombs" and certainly used the lord's name in vain.

But my favourite is "Damn" so I don't see any reason to avoid that one.

But the way I find least annoying for avoidance is "Duncan swore" or "Jake cursed" or "Emily went on a foul-mouthed tirade".

My character is me so she and her friend are fond of "damn" :-) but they're a bit older, college age, so don't get that frustrated that often and have better means of handling it, can do a wider range of actions.

my characters swear, and that's that i guess. I swear, not too much (hopefully...) and i do think it's an effective way of conveying strong emotions, whether it's "good or bad news"...

A River Dark

I don't shy away from using swear words in dialogue. Let's face it, teenagers swear, a lot. They are going to swear more than they ever will as adults, so it's really not that big of a deal to depict it - this is shown in plenty of young adult books, well ones not intended to be put in school libraries only.

I figure anything that teenagers do often is fair game for young adult. that includes sex, though how it's depicted should be handled with care of course.

I use the word "effing" a lot - rather than the ACTUAL word. Says the same, looks nicer!
Few 'shit's and 'bloody's' but that's all. Oh, the occasional 'crap'. But that's not really strong stuff is it?

Agreed. A lot of teenagers are foul-mouthed, and if it takes swearing to make it ring true, then that's what it takes.

If the character, by virtue of their nature, would swear, then they swear. Pulling fake-outs like "Gee whiz!" or "Oh my heck!" or "Gosh darn it!" when the character should swear just make it sound ridiculous.

Then again, if your character really WOULD say, "Gee whiz!" or "Oh my heck!" or "Gosh darn it!", that's perfectly fine too.

Just stay true to the character. That's my philosophy.

Personally, teenagers tend to swear. It's natural. I mean, tension + growing up + whatever background you choose = swearing. It also depends on religion (ie whether or not "hell" is a swear word). I mean, there have already been a few "damn"s and "hell"s but no "f----"s and the "sh--"s will possibly work their way in there very sparingly.
But still, choose as you may. :)

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Boo hoo. Grr.

I normally do just say, "Toby swore." That lets the reader know without forcing them to think the word if they're offended by it. But then I'm usually writing YA or Juvenile. I think your intended audience should help you decide which way to go. Adults and older youth don't like to be talked down to, instead they'd probably rather see the actual words. If you get it published, your editor can help you decide which way to go. For now, don't sweat it.

In this book I'm writing now, they're on television, so I have one character constantly being bleeped. It's hilarious.

I don't think i can go on that rule (the whole saying in front of Mum thing) - if I did, my novel would probably have ever swearword under the sun in it at some point or another.

"We've always been told we'll never truly be satisfied with our lives... but if I grow up to marry the amazing girl I'm talking to right now, I'll be pretty damn satisfied".

I personally dont' sweat out loud. Ever.
But my characters are not me, and they do swear. But only occasionally.

I think that swearing is appropriate only in extremely aggravated circumstances.
In my creative writing group at school, my classmate read his story that was encrusted with swear words. It gave me a headache.

I try not to use swear words when I can. But when I read books with different ways of saying swear words like "fudge" or "shucks" or "shoot" (heck is acceptable). It just irks me because a lot teens don't really say those kinds of things, only when they are trying to be funny. So if someone is dying in your novel and he says "Fudge!" it will not work out.

I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

In my opinion, the appropriateness of swearing in a YA book depends almost exclusively on what story you're tying to write and for what audience. If you're writing a middle grade story about a girl who finds a magic stuffed rabbit, then there's probably not going to be a lot a swearing. If you're writing an upper level YA about a bunch of 17-year-old boys who go camping then, yeah, probably a little more swearing (or...okay, a LOT more swearing).

I tend to write for 14+ readers, and edgier stuff, so there's some swearing in most of my stories (not to mention sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll). Even so, though, a curse word is not the only way to express some things. In my first drafts, I don't worry too much about the language. During revision, though, I take a look at all of the cursing and see if it's necessary for the scene and the character.

"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
E.M. Forster

jaymontville.blogspot.com

In my opinion, the appropriateness of swearing in a YA book depends almost exclusively on what story you're tying to write and for what audience. If you're writing a middle grade story about a girl who finds a magic stuffed rabbit, then there's probably not going to be a lot a swearing. If you're writing an upper level YA about a bunch of 17-year-old boys who go camping then, yeah, probably a little more swearing (or...okay, a LOT more swearing).

I tend to write for 14+ readers, and edgier stuff, so there's some swearing in most of my stories (not to mention sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll). Even so, though, a curse word is not the only way to express some things. In my first drafts, I don't worry too much about the language. During revision, though, I take a look at all of the cursing and see if it's necessary for the scene and the character.

"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
E.M. Forster

jaymontville.blogspot.com

Think of it from the character's perspective.
Is the character sweet and cute? Then she's likely not to swear unless she's on her own and something's really upset her - think about whether she would swear at other people, and what would make her angry enough to want to swear.

If your character is more angsty, edgy, or male, then yes, swearing would be more common in their vocab.

If you don't like swearing, then there's no reason to feel obligated to write it. I think was teens hate to read is a line that obviously avoiding swearing. (Such as "fudge"). If I have a character that would swear, and saying "he/she swore" is clearly awkward sometimes I'll use a slightly impolite word as opposed to going all out. (aka "What the hell was that?" as opposed to "What the **** was that?")

There are certain words I'm just not willing to write, so I don't write them. If you have a character who doesn't swear much by their nature, it's a lot easier to avoid.