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Sunday, June 19, 2011
Swearing...
....in any given novel can be…
Perfect
Humorous
Honest
Crude
Biting
Fitting
Silly
Sardonic
Sexy
Innocent
Spontaneous
Offensive
Reactionary
Spiteful
Flippant
Careless
Stupid
Erotic
Redundant
Unnecessary
Instantaneous
Needed
Vulgar
Forgettable
Modifying
True
Rebellious
Rude
Blasphemous
Junky
Endearing
Contextual
Cool
Uncool
Superfluous
Shocking
Acidic
Stunning
Ill-timed
Cutting
Filthy
Edgy
Rough
Courageous
Kick-ass
Unspoken
Popular
Resistant
Liberating
Suitable
Over-the-top
Plentiful
Abusive
Clingy
Distasteful
Showy
Raunchy
Heightened
Playful
Emotive
Ugly
...and then some. But it is NOT…LAZY.
Not!
So why do I keep seeing this statement everywhere I look from readers and writers alike? To blanketly write off EVERY swear as being “lazy writing” is not only incorrect, it’s infuriating. I'm so sick and tired of hearing this.
Sometimes, swears just fit. Sometimes, they’re meant to be funny or understated. Sometimes, a setting or mindset demands it. Sometimes, nothing better conveys pain, frustration or anger. And sometimes, no offense is intended and there's a contradiction in the reader's response. Like if your story features a dog show, yeah, that's fine, but ‘bitchin’ can't stand in for ‘to complain’? Or an ass can heehaw but you’d better not talk about its rear. What is with that? It’s the same word.
Sure, there are books with swears that run amuck in prose and dialogue like verbal diarrhea, when the writer DID take the easy way out, when a story got ruined because of absolutely no restraint, but to say any and all writers are LAZY if they use ANY swears means you were too lazy to come up with your own reason for not liking them. That is parroted talk. And it needs to stop, damn it! Right now.
(Oh, and BTW: swears are okay in YA. It rhymes, so that should be easy to memorize. Let's say it together, "Okay in YA.")
I really don’t want my characters or stories to be censored by ME and MY moral code, my comfort level or my mom. I am not my characters. And they are not me. And if one of my characters needs to swear, given the circumstance, that doesn’t make me lazy. It makes me gutsy and FREE, in letting the story be told the way it needs to be told.
So, stop being a parrot. If you don’t like swears, that’s perfectly fine and up to you. No big deal. But please stop calling writers LAZY, or even thinking that way. Your tainted poison is unnecessarily and wrongly spreading to other weak-minded trolls.
Writing is never LAZY. It is a rush of creative breath, a gift from one soul to another, an exertion of energy, blood, sweat and tears. So how are you seeing laziness in that?
~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.
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I gather someone along your blog tour said this to you?
ReplyDeleteIt's lazy when someone swears IRL, I think. It reflects a knee-jerk response which doesn't take a response at all, but a reaction to generate. It shows a mind which reaches for the first thing it can find, which is pretty lazy when you consider there are about a million words in our language. Really? you had to use a four-letter expletive? Really?
But I swear like a drunken sailor, so who am I to judge? I don't. I just know in me it's something I don't like.
But in writing? Every word is considered, generally. Every character gesture, whether verbal or physical, is one which shows the character in its moment. It's a planned response and written down; pre-meditated, without the spontaneity and fire of a live curse. I've seen some writers get around it nicely in Christian fiction, but at some point the realism fades when NONE of the characters EVER swear (and yeah, even Christians lose their faith sometimes).
I don't know why anyone would think anything else about a book. It's not a transcript of actual events, it's a novel. C'mon!
I for one support your filthy language choices. ;) (J/K). :D
Happy Father's Day to the dad(s) in your life!
No one has said this to me personally….not yet., but it will surely come at some point. Not that I have a ton of swears, but still. This ‘lazy’ comment is something I keep seeing over and over again in reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and on forums. And it’s almost always Christians saying it. I just hate people blanketly saying that any and every use of a swear is lazy when this isn’t true.
ReplyDeleteIn some instances, sure, writers could’ve chosen to work around it, but that’s a personal choice that’s based on what felt fit right in the raw moment. And this is all subjective anyway. Everyone’s threshold and comfort level is different. Some people are offended by euphemisms too. Why is it perfectly fine to say ‘oh blast it’ yet suddenly pegged as lazy if ‘damn it’ is used instead? That’s what I don’t get.
Hey Courtney,
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! No kidding, I actually have that 'censor'd' pic as computer wallpaper, which shows up on my PC when I'm not in such a good mood. :)
I've had people give me comments like that about some of the language in my novels, so I know exactly where you're coming from and totally agree with you. Some characters and situations need the colorful language as part of who they are or else they don't come off as realistic. Like the wife beater in one of mine is simply not going to call his wife a Doody Head and walk away.
I mean cussin' just for the sake of cussin' never comes off well, but if used correctly, I think it adds realism, and sometimes a bit of humor, to the art of writing.
Thanks, Tina. This isn't even in reference to my writing yet, it's just something I keep seeing all over the web, the whole all-swearing-is-lazy thing. It's annoying. I have no problem with people saying they're offended by swears and whatnot, it's the stuck-up attitude about swearing that I hate, that NOT including them is somehow far superior and NOT-AT-ALL lazy.
ReplyDelete