: Re: When does use of offensive language in a book go from a character trait or to convey emotion to bad use of English skills I decided to included some offensive language in one of my novels

@Hamaas631

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I think the only point where it becomes bad is if it stops having a point. As long as you keep the cussing with characters who would normally cuss, or use it in narration to be emphatic on something then it's okay.

There's this series The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater that I particularly like and one of her characters has a tendency to use the F word. It's okay because he's one of the only characters saying it, and he uses it in a nonchalant way that shows us how little this character cares for society's etiquette and manners.
Other than that, there is not much other swearing save for "damn" or "shit" by other characters.

If you have a first person novel where the character is from a rough part of town, has grown up in a rude culture, then having- "I walked down the dark street at fucking 2 am with nothing but a shitty light shining from my phone." - makes sense and the reader may find this amusing and fun. Obviously someone who finds this offensive would stop reading, but that does not make it bad writing.

On the other hand, in my paragraph here if I just started inserting- "It's okay because he's one of the only fucking characters saying it, and he uses it in a nonchalant way that shows us how little shit this character cares for society's damn etiquette and manners." - Then that may come off as a little inappropriate and shocking. I am simply writing a chill response to a simple question on a website. There's no need for harsh tongue here.

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