: Swearing - Censor, allude, or include? I was reading this thread, but it didn't quite the answer a question I had about creative writing and whether profanity should be used or not, in a way

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In my current story, a character just came into a room and saw our protagonist standing among a room full of dead bodies. In utter shock and fear (as he had no expectation of this) he proclaimed "What the fuck did you do?"

I don't think without the included profanity, the scene works. He hardly is a character to throw around profanity in regular conversation, but he isn't a priest either and if something shocks him, there is every likely it will come forth.

Anthony

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I'll repeat the main point I tried to make in the thread you referenced: Regardless of how you think this character would actually speak in real life, and regardless of your own opinions about profanity, there are many people who find profanity distasteful or offensive, and who will not read a book if the quantity or intensity of profanity passes a certain point. Personally, I don't use profanity and I don't like to hear it. If someone uses profanity in a conversation with me, I don't faint or scold them or anything, but I don't like it. I am not going to pay for a book and go out of my way to read a book that I find unpleasant. If a book is otherwise good I'll skim over a few obscenities, but I've had plenty of books that I've thrown away because I just got tired of the vulgarity.

On the flip side, I have never heard someone say that he would not read a book because it didn't contain enough profanity.

So I think that from a marketing perspective, there is little to gain and much to lose by using profanity.

As you say in your question, in many cases you can avoid using specific vulgar words by saying "Fred swore loudly" or some such. In other cases you can just leave out the swear words. Instead of writing "This is f---in terrible, he cried" just write "This is terrible, he cried." Does it really lose that much? If it's not clear to the reader that a character is angry or upset without including swear words in the dialog, there are problems with your writing.

I've said this in other context and someone will always say, "Hey, what are you upset about? They're just words." But the whole reason why you're using these particular words is because they shock and offend people. You can't on the one hand say that you need to use these particular words because of the effectiveness of their shock value, and then turn around and say that you just can't understand why some silly people are shocked by them.

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I think you need to consider the context. Is the swearing important or decorative?

"James swore under his breath" is not the important part of that scene; the important part is that he can't find the USB stick. But Anthony snarling, "I've had enough of your bullshit" actually is the point of that line of dialogue, so using the profanity makes sense.

This could go either way with the description of the young lady who makes construction workers blush. If the book is meant for a more delicate (read: younger) audience, then we don't need to hear the actual obscenities; the reader knows she's angry enough to act out of character, and we move on. If the book is for grownups, then drop the colorful metaphor and just have her spew a string of swear words. If the character has been written correctly, it will be sufficiently shocking.

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Again not the answer you're looking for, but it depends!

Don't put in swear words for the sake of it, but when they add strength to a piece of dialogue then go ahead.

So when a man kills a man in front of another man is it better for that other man to say "What was that for?" or "What the fuck was that for?" Note the increased impression of anger here? I could have said "What was that for?" John shouted, but the John shouted takes the reader out of the moment. It's a classic Show Don't Tell situation.

As with any media it's easy to fill our writing with swearing, and it's hard to know when to leave it out. In your example; James swore under his breath, you do a great job of expressing the way in which he swore, which is more important in that scene. By this I mean that if you'd said "Shit," James swore under his breath, it would have been unnecessarily clunky and would have damaged the flow of the writing.

The only external force (so not what you think fits the situation best) that you should worry about is your target audience. There are degrees of severity for swear words, and audiences who appreciate different degrees. If you're writing adult fiction (by which I mean Peter F Hamilton, Robin Hobb, China Mieville; not E L James) then any degree that is appropriate to the moment is fine, but if you're writing for kids or even teens you need to consider that degree of swear severity very carefully.

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Part of it depends on your character. Is he one to toss around profanity like a kid playing catch? Or is this unusual for him? Do you want the "shock value" of using the actual word? Personally I prefer writing (and reading) the more creative phrasings authors use to cover up the profanity

She swore, using words no proper young lady should know and that even a construction worker wouldn't be caught dead saying.

If you can do it well, it adds a little humor. It also shows that the character is really stressed/scared/pissed off for them to do something so out of character. If profanity is more part of their vocabulary, it would be weird to use this technique so you might as well use the actual word.

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