To swear or not to swear that is the question

To swear or not to swear that is the question…should your novel include swearing?

Should books and novels include swear words?

So the reason for this question you might ask… well on the flight to Barbados in November I got talking to a lady on the flight who was sitting opposite me. When she asked what I did, I told her that I’m a novelist.

After a short discussion about my novel, she asked if there was any swearing in the book…And of course I had to be honest with her and said yes.

She told me that she couldn’t read books with swearing in them, as it made her feel uncomfortable. Which I found interesting and got me thinking.

My response to this lady on the flight, was to say that for me to make the book ‘real’ and ‘true to life’, certain characters would swear in everyday life.

By including searing it made my novel real. It is written to truly represent the characters concerned and is a part of the story.

So I hope not to offend people with the words I use, but I know that each time I included an ‘F***’ word, it made me stop an pause for a moment. Is this necessary and is it likely that the character would had used this word if they were a real person?

If I compare this example to EastEnders, which is a BBC program my wife watches on a regular basis. My thinking is that many of the characters in this soap series would swear if they were real people. I imagine that if this program wasn’t on at the time of day that it is, then it would more than likely include a lot of swearing. This is not a criticism of EastEnders (so for those fans out there I’m not saying this to upset you). For me, the program isn’t true to life, as I know for sure that certain of the characters would swear in real life.

Am I condoning swearing? I’m not sure really, but the reality is swearing is a part of life and our language. So when I write a novel, I feel for me it has to be true to the characters I am are portraying.

I think this is true for any creative work you do, including films and TV series.

For me, I wouldn’t stop watching a movie or stop reading a book, simply because it has swearing in it. However, I respect people who don’t like this type of language.

It got me thinking…should I have two versions of my novel: one with swearing, and the other without…I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the subject.

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