: Re: How to talk about certain anatomy without sounding vulgar or cowardly? Let's talk about butts, because butts are safe, but really this question is for other parts of the anatomy as well. There

@Jamie945

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Every person has a style in which he or she talks. If your characters read like people who would use words such as ass than it would be weird if they talked about their posterior. But if your narrator would normally use words such posterior it would be weird to use ass.

You can switch between the words as often as you like, or as often as is necessary to be more precise, as long as it doesn't conflict with the voice of the character currently speaking.

Most of the books I can think of at the top of my head would use a more "cowardly" approach for their narrator and a more direct approach for the characters who are for example part of the story as it unfolds. You may talk differently in any situation compared to when you have had time to reflect on it and think about how you want to communicate something.

Basically my tip is: don't worry about vulgar versus cowardly - worry about the voice of the person who is uttering the word. Think about the current situation and use what would be normal for them.

Or not normal, depending on what kind of emotion you want to convey. Someone who is always choosing every word carefully and suddenly throwing around expletives might convey a lot of stress for example.

You should also think about how different the characters are. Gluteus Maximus and posterior on the same page from different people might feel okay to the reader, but there is a huge difference between a medical term like Gluteus Maximus and ass.

Last, but not least, think about your audience. For example: do you want to write a book that heavily uses explicit words like ass? Then write those words and don't back down. Eliminate the cowardly words. Are you writing for a broader audience? It might be good to occasionally switch between different types.

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