9
Sep
“Substitute "damn" every time you’re inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be” — Mark Twain
But… but… I use "damn" quite a bit! 
Should your characters swear?
Maybe.
It depends on the character. What’s more, it depends on their character. It wouldn’t do to have a mild mannered 18th Century schoolmarm go effing and blinding throughout the novel. It would be out of character. (Although the reaction of society would be interesting to observe, if she did.)
Your acerbic demonslaying male lead would most likely not be using flowery prose. (Could be interesting if he did, though.)
Still, where do you draw the line?
Which words are acceptable (and I use that in the loosest sense of the word), and which aren’t? I have an aversion to the C-Word. The female one. I don’t want to see it in books. It jerks me out of the story and makes me dislike the writer. Especially if that writer is a woman.
There is absolutely no need to use such a derogatory and degrading word in women’s fiction. If you’re thinking about it, then think hard. Most women find the C-word extremely offensive.
If you write Erotica, fine. I’d expect it there. Romance? No. Make that a Hell no.
Consider your market before you go down that route.
Other swearwords have become acceptable.
It’s nothing unusual anymore to find a mans penis described as a cock. Or a dick. Or to have the word Fuck in a novel. Shit is prevalent too, and damn… well. It’s everywhere.
Not unusual, but is it necessary?
No, I don’t want us to go back to using "Manhood" etc, but I can truly do without words like cunt, snatch and twat. I’ve seen those in some books already, and I’m sorry… if you’re writing romantic fiction, what on earth are you doing using demeaning words like that to describe a womans vagina?
It’s not easy to get around, but it’s possible. Other writers manage.
I am as guilty as the next person for using words like fuck, damn, crap and shit. My heroes aren’t the kind to think twice about using those words. They would all draw the line at telling a woman they want to fuck her, though. (Even when they do. ) They’d phrase it differently, use make love or have sex, even if in their mind they’d call it something else.
And absolutely NO way would they refer to any part of her by a derogatory name.
Being crude doesn’t make your heroine tough. It just makes her a foul mouthed heroine. I’d much rather see her be tough, take tough actions, make tough decisions – while keeping a civil tongue. This way, actions have that much more impact.
Maybe I’m turning into a prude.
Maybe I’m being too sensitive.
Maybe I’m drawing the line where no one else draws it.
I don’t know.
I do know that, if I pick up a romance, and I’ll read something like "He fucked her cunt.", then I’m going to give up on the entire genre, because it will be a sure sign for me that romance is dead.
What’s more, I’ll join the "Romance is Trash" brigade. Resorting to using demeaning (to women) words for any part of the anatomy is turning something that should be an escape, into something that isn’t.
I want to read a love story, not have my anatomy insulted by the man who is supposedly the hero.
And if you’re an editor or agent who lets stuff like that pass, then you’re as guilty as the author if it hits the shelves.
Aside from all that… I find stuff like that in a romance I read… I’ll be burning it.
