: Re: 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

@Bryan361

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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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