How much do profanity, intimate details and graphic violence influence your reading decisions?

[Ramla Zareen]

For many people, some of the things that especially make the genre of 'Cozy Mystery' appealing, are:

--lack of graphic violence.

--little or no intimate details.

--infrequent profanity.

On the other hand, there are also readers, to whom these factors don't make a great deal of difference in their decision to read or avoid a certain series.

Anyway, I thought that it might be interesting to discuss how much profanity, intimate details and graphic violence influence our reading decisions. 

[Jennifer]

I recently read a book, Gil's All Fright Diner, which isn't a cozy mystery, but it fits your above description. I was surprised by the cursing right away. It's not like I never curse myself, and I certainly hear it in movies etc., but it was at that moment I realized I'm not used to reading it. It is a turn off for me. I don't understand why, though. It comes as a surprise. In this book, I persevered and it makes sense with the characters and setting, and feel of the book. I did enjoy the book, but I had to skim over some of the more graphic details of fighting ghouls.

I haven't really experienced this with cozy mysteries, except for maybe Stephanie Plum. I've only read the first two, and I found the first a little more gritty than I like. I still enjoy the books, I just read a little of something fluffier between that and bedtime.

[☯Emily]

I don't like any of the three listed. I might finish a book with lots of profanity or violence, but my rating of the book will not be high. In addition, I won't read any more books from that author.

[[deleted user]]

None of those things bother me in generally, though I do go off books with torture (psychological as well as physical). I would, however, have to really weigh all the elements to decide whether I would still consider the novel a cozy, hardboiled, or noir (if a mystery).

[Lauren]

None of the three criteria bother me at all and I actually prefer dark and gritty at times, especially in certain genres such as Thrillers and Urban Fantasy. That said, there are times when profanity can be excessive and turn me off a character. On example that immediately comes to mind is Diana Rowland's Kara Gillian series. The heroine needs to have her mouth washed out with soap!

With regard to Cozy Mysteries, none of these matter to me as long as the writing is good, the story engaging and the characters interesting. In fact, one cozy series that I enjoyed immensely is Charlaine Harris's Lily Bard book, which was definitely more graphic than other cozies I've read.

[Kay (Brigidsmomma)]

I have found that I am uncomfortable with too much sex and violence, although I tend to find seedy language less of an issue. That said, some series are better than others at providing a comfortable read, and although I will read things that are a tad more graphic than i normally go for, if the violence is graphic, that tends to put me off sooner than the graphic sex, although I do tend to skim the sex scenes as I prefer to leave that to my imagination instead of the author's view of what is acceptable... There have been a couple though where even the sex and language were too graphic and I chose to discontinue the reading instead of soldiering through.

[❂ Murder by Death]

I prefer a lack of graphic violence and I avoid books with a darker, heavier tone. I do not like gritty stories and I don't like stories whose plot depends upon manipulating the reader's emotions via physical or mental abuse, torture or gratuitous violence. I am a sissy. :)

Intimate details... eh. Doesn't matter much to me one way or the other, but I do think the best scenes are the ones that are able to speed the reader's pulse without giving too many details. That takes skill.

Profanity: I think it's almost impossible for me to care less about profanity. I am liberal with my profanities when I think they're needed and I am perfectly fine with characters who swear. I think it can be abused and I think some words cross a personal line: I don't say them and I don't want to read them. But those are the words that almost never show up in the books I read anyway.

ETC grammar.

[Karen]

Ramla Zareen wrote: "How much do profanity, intimate details and graphic violence influence your reading decisions?"

None of these alone affect my decision whether to read a book/series. It really depends on how the author depicts all three -- that is, how well the book is written really makes the difference. I am more turned off by graphic violence (whether tortuous, sexual, etc.) than language or (non violent) sex in anything I read. Mostly I'm turned off to gratuitous use of any or all three, especially if it (they) takes me out of the story. If I find I can't concentrate on what I'm reading because I'm too busy counting how many times I've read the f-word or quickly skimming over the extremely detailed sound a finger makes as it's breaking, etc., I think the author has gone over the top, too gratuitous.

And, obviously, it depends on the book. With cozies I expect to find no graphic violence at all, very little profanity (like Jennifer, I use some profanity, why wouldn't characters?), and no graphic sexual scenes, but am not turned off a book/series when I find them in a cozy-type book.

Jennifer (reviews on BookLikes) wrote: "Intimate details... eh. Doesn't matter much to me one way or the other, but I do think the best scenes are the ones that are able to speed the reader's pulse without giving too many details. That takes skill.

I agree! In fact, there are several series I read that I wish were a bit more "chick-lit" in their treatment of romance between partnered characters, especially when the characters are depicted as sexual beings. I'm not looking for sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination (erotica), but I don't mind an adult bent to the writing that "speed the reader's pulse."

For example, I love Denise Swanson's Devereaux Dime Story Mysteries. Though I love the crafting of her stories and characters, I admit that part of the reason is how Swanson depicts Dev Sinclair and her two men as passionate characters and writes their romantic interactions that way, passion-filled and adult -- but not erotica. Kate Carlisle and Juliet Blackwell, among others, are also good at more-than-chaste-but-not-going-so-far-that-you wouldn't-pass-the-book-to-your-grandmother romance scenes in their books. If it's a "comfortable read," as Kay put it, and the scenes seem a natural fit to the overall writing, story, and characters, it only adds to my enjoyment of the characters and the series. And, I find it more realistic.

[❂ Murder by Death]

Karen wrote: "Kate Carlisle and Juliet Blackwell, among others, are also good at more-than-chaste-but-not-going-so-far-that-you wouldn't-pass-the-book-to-your-grandmother romance scenes in their books..."

I agree, these two are great examples! (Lily and Sailor!) I just recently read Death Is Like a Box of Chocolates and thought the author did a great job of nailing the chemistry between the MC and her romantic interest without any graphic details.

[Karen]

❂ Jennifer (reviews on BookLikes) wrote: "Lily and Sailor!"

Yum!

[MaryJo]

Ramla, The evidence is pretty strong that a good writer and a successful writer does not have to be heavy on explicit sex, graphic descriptions of violence, and free with profanity.
It takes talent to place the scene of what is going on into the mind of the reader without resorting to that.
Like yourself, if it fits well into the situation and would be indicative of what the character would say, I can handle some vulgar language. The same can be said of descriptions of violence, what a dead body looks like, etc. But a whole lot of readers are put off by excess in these areas - including me.

I go light on all of the afore-mentioned, because my readers like it that way. But it is up to me to set the scene and make it realistic without describing every unpleasantness or intimacy.

[Melodie]

I'm not offended by any of these things, but I don't expect them in cozies. If they turn up I will say I'm a bit taken aback by all but the profanity, but it won't make me stop reading the book if it's interesting. If I'm looking for graphic violence I'll go to some of the UF or more hard-boiled type mysteries or thrillers I like. If I'm looking for sex, I'll look up some good erotica, thank you very much!

[Valerie]

Due to my own personal past experiences, I cannot handle anything that has any kind of sexual violence or psychological abuse or torture. Any of those three is an automatic "I'm done with this book" scenario.

I also have a sensitivity to graphic violence in general and long, drawn out sex scenes. Graphic violence is more likely to make me "done" with a book than sex tho'. Sex, I'll just bypass the pages with the sex scene and continue on with the story.

Profanity doesn't generally bother me unless it's like every other word. Then it can get annoying. But the occasional swear word here or there doesn't bother me.

[Christine]

Can't say I find much of these things in cozies. Which is a good reason to read cozies, not the "other" stuff out there.

[AH]

I don't mind a small amount of violence and profanity. Too much is bothersome to me though. Intimate details are something I try to avoid in books, such things described too graphically make me uncomfortable. If it's just one little part of the book though I can easily just skip over it.

[Tina]

I grew up on Murder She Wrote so I don't want to read graphic violence.

[Ana]

I don't like graphic violence, a lot of swearing, or really explicit sex scenes either. There's enough of that on TV and movies.

[Teresa]

Profanity....depends on the frequency and the words used. Once or twice in the course of a heated conversation, I'm okay with---but constant use, not so much.

Intimate details...I really don't need to know!

Violence....keep it to a minimum.

These guidelines generally only apply when I'm reading cozies...other mysteries I look at differently.

[Rebecca]

In general, I agree with those who don't want to see sex, violence or cursing used gratuitously. But I can cope when it makes sense for it to be there. On the other hand, when reading a character who would naturally use the f-word every third word uttered, I think the author had better find a way to show that without actually writing it all, or I will lose interest. It's too hard to sort out sense from it. After all, we never write dialogue the way, uh, characters, like, really talk, you know?

Some of the sexiest sex scenes I've read have been very non-explicit. Amazing what the imagination can do with a few cues.

I aim when writing to have no cussing (maybe once in a book, when a character absolutely would have to, but usually I get around it), violence primarily off-stage or not extreme, and sex...well, at this point, my mystery protagonist is merely frustrated, so sex is kind of moot :D

[Tina]

All of the three bother me. For years I read all those kinds of books and ended losing the storyline and disliking the characters. So I stopped reading altogether until I found something called cozies. A clean cute mystery!! I could once again read!!

[C.]

Ramla Zareen wrote: "For many people, some of the things that especially make the genre of 'Cozy Mystery' appealing, are:

--lack of graphic violence.

--little or no intimate details.

--infrequent profanity.

On the ..."

I strongly prefer books in 'all genres' to be within these parameters!

[Tina]

As do I!!