Author Showcase: Rowena Holloway – To swear or not to swear?
Author Showcase now resumes its mix of genre authors after being dedicated to Women in Horror Month during February. Today’s post is by Adelaide crime author Rowena Holloway, on the use of swearing in literature.
Feeling blue
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about swearing – not doing it, but writing it.
Recently, I read a book in which the uber baddies never swore, not once. They threatened, bashed and slaughtered, yet never did a swear word pass their grim lips. Another offering had the romantic heroine drop the f-word for no apparently good reason. The first left me cold, the second stung like a slap. Both pulled me out of the story. They left me wondering if bad guys who don’t swear are believable, and conversely, is a heroine who drops f-bombs at every opportunity likeable?
Context plays a large part. Eliza Doolittle yelling ‘move your bloomin’ arse’ while at Ascot is used to show that the Coventry flower seller still lurks beneath the polish, that a designer dress and rounded vowels can’t disguise her true nature. Only when she completely embraces her new self (for love, naturally) do the habits of the streets leave her. She chooses Professor Higgins and in so doing leaves her guttersnipe ways behind. And what of Gordon Gecko, protagonist of the hit film Wall Street? Corporate Raider, shallow, selfish, and eventually imprisoned for insider trading, Gordon rarely, if ever, swears. If he had, it is unlikely he could have so smoothly conducted his fraudulent activities.
In my latest work-in-progress, Pieces of a Lie, I’ve had to confront this issue of context. My baddie is a grifter from way over the wrong side of the tracks. Born into disadvantage he has clawed his way into society. His morality is warped by greed and burning resentment at ‘those who have’, and the only thing he has retained from his past is a mouth to match the sewer he scraped off his shoes. That context is ripe for a character who swears. A lot. Likewise, my lower-middle class heroine has fallen on bad times. She also has burning resentments and has as large a blue vocabulary as her antagonist. But should she use it?
The baddie’s language doesn’t bother me so much, but my heroine has given me a lot of trouble. By being true to her voice, I worry that readers will turn away. After all, I closed the book on Detective Harry Bosche because of the copious use of the f-word within the first chapter. They were well within context, but I didn’t want to be assaulted by them. I wanted to be transported, thrilled, on the edge of my seat as Harry solved the gruesome murder and maybe this time got some kind of closure on what happened to his mother.
It is said we should write what we know. I grew up near a port filled with hardened men and colourful language. While our home was an expletive-free zone, punishable by missed dinners, no TV and early bedtimes, my contemporaries knew a bunch of exotic words guaranteed to make a parent red-faced and speechless, and these were made more exciting by being taboo. As I acquired a Doolittle-like polish I cleaned up my language, but around me were people for whom swearing peppered every sentence like bird shot. Among some (admittedly older) acquaintances, a string of expletives accompanied by a smile and a shake of the head was a term of endearment.
Since I decided to embrace my past and bring those experiences to my writing, the words have flowed. I’ve found it easier to fall into my characters. It’s refreshing and fun and indulgent. And a surprising number of swear words have appeared on the page. It may be real, but is it readable? I don’t want to assault readers. I don’t want to lose them before they fall into my story and become transported.
Now my concern is how to balance reader sensibility and stay true to those characters. So I’ve come up with a few rules for myself.
1. No swearing until I’ve hooked the reader.
2. Where possible, use a lesser word (as long as that is still true to my character)
3. Only swear when it is a) true to the character, and b) adds to the scene
4. No matter the character, save the heavy hitters (those four letter words that carry all the weight) for those moments when they’ll have the most impact.
5. Consider your audience and the genre conventions (but don’t be a slave to them)
6. Above all, do what’s right for the story
Now that I’ve listed some ‘rules’, I should state that these days, after kowtowing to rules for far too long, I strongly attest to the adage, ‘The only rule is there are no rules’. Ultimately, a writer must embrace the character in all his/her flawed, multi-faceted glory and let their journeys unfold.
Rowena Holloway is an Adelaide-based writer of novels and short stories. Her first novel, Out of the Abyss, was a semi-finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Her short stories have been included in the Stringybark anthology, Yellow Pearl, and the 2011 anthology of Award Wining Australian Writing.
See more on Rowena at www.rowenaholloway.com
Natasha Ewendt is the author of This Freshest Hell, a vampire novel released in 2013 by Lacuna Publishing. Also a journalist at the Port Lincoln Times and the director of Port Lincoln Copywriting Services, she is often (rightfully) compared to Daria of the eponymous animation and is reluctantly addicted to coffee and The Walking Dead.
Feeling blue
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about swearing – not doing it, but writing it.
Recently, I read a book in which the uber baddies never swore, not once. They threatened, bashed and slaughtered, yet never did a swear word pass their grim lips. Another offering had the romantic heroine drop the f-word for no apparently good reason. The first left me cold, the second stung like a slap. Both pulled me out of the story. They left me wondering if bad guys who don’t swear are believable, and conversely, is a heroine who drops f-bombs at every opportunity likeable?
Context plays a large part. Eliza Doolittle yelling ‘move your bloomin’ arse’ while at Ascot is used to show that the Coventry flower seller still lurks beneath the polish, that a designer dress and rounded vowels can’t disguise her true nature. Only when she completely embraces her new self (for love, naturally) do the habits of the streets leave her. She chooses Professor Higgins and in so doing leaves her guttersnipe ways behind. And what of Gordon Gecko, protagonist of the hit film Wall Street? Corporate Raider, shallow, selfish, and eventually imprisoned for insider trading, Gordon rarely, if ever, swears. If he had, it is unlikely he could have so smoothly conducted his fraudulent activities.
In my latest work-in-progress, Pieces of a Lie, I’ve had to confront this issue of context. My baddie is a grifter from way over the wrong side of the tracks. Born into disadvantage he has clawed his way into society. His morality is warped by greed and burning resentment at ‘those who have’, and the only thing he has retained from his past is a mouth to match the sewer he scraped off his shoes. That context is ripe for a character who swears. A lot. Likewise, my lower-middle class heroine has fallen on bad times. She also has burning resentments and has as large a blue vocabulary as her antagonist. But should she use it?
The baddie’s language doesn’t bother me so much, but my heroine has given me a lot of trouble. By being true to her voice, I worry that readers will turn away. After all, I closed the book on Detective Harry Bosche because of the copious use of the f-word within the first chapter. They were well within context, but I didn’t want to be assaulted by them. I wanted to be transported, thrilled, on the edge of my seat as Harry solved the gruesome murder and maybe this time got some kind of closure on what happened to his mother.
It is said we should write what we know. I grew up near a port filled with hardened men and colourful language. While our home was an expletive-free zone, punishable by missed dinners, no TV and early bedtimes, my contemporaries knew a bunch of exotic words guaranteed to make a parent red-faced and speechless, and these were made more exciting by being taboo. As I acquired a Doolittle-like polish I cleaned up my language, but around me were people for whom swearing peppered every sentence like bird shot. Among some (admittedly older) acquaintances, a string of expletives accompanied by a smile and a shake of the head was a term of endearment.
Since I decided to embrace my past and bring those experiences to my writing, the words have flowed. I’ve found it easier to fall into my characters. It’s refreshing and fun and indulgent. And a surprising number of swear words have appeared on the page. It may be real, but is it readable? I don’t want to assault readers. I don’t want to lose them before they fall into my story and become transported.
Now my concern is how to balance reader sensibility and stay true to those characters. So I’ve come up with a few rules for myself.
1. No swearing until I’ve hooked the reader.
2. Where possible, use a lesser word (as long as that is still true to my character)
3. Only swear when it is a) true to the character, and b) adds to the scene
4. No matter the character, save the heavy hitters (those four letter words that carry all the weight) for those moments when they’ll have the most impact.
5. Consider your audience and the genre conventions (but don’t be a slave to them)
6. Above all, do what’s right for the story
Now that I’ve listed some ‘rules’, I should state that these days, after kowtowing to rules for far too long, I strongly attest to the adage, ‘The only rule is there are no rules’. Ultimately, a writer must embrace the character in all his/her flawed, multi-faceted glory and let their journeys unfold.
Rowena Holloway is an Adelaide-based writer of novels and short stories. Her first novel, Out of the Abyss, was a semi-finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Her short stories have been included in the Stringybark anthology, Yellow Pearl, and the 2011 anthology of Award Wining Australian Writing.
See more on Rowena at www.rowenaholloway.com
Natasha Ewendt is the author of This Freshest Hell, a vampire novel released in 2013 by Lacuna Publishing. Also a journalist at the Port Lincoln Times and the director of Port Lincoln Copywriting Services, she is often (rightfully) compared to Daria of the eponymous animation and is reluctantly addicted to coffee and The Walking Dead.
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Rowena
(new)
Mar 05, 2014 01:14AM
Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Natasha. It was fun -- and the first time I actually thought about how to approach swearing rather than editing it out.:)
reply
|
flag
Rowena wrote: "Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Natasha. It was fun -- and the first time I actually thought about how to approach swearing rather than editing it out.:)"Thanks for writing it! You really made me think about it too and used some great examples. Fabulous post :)
Rusty wrote: "Swear. Definitely swear."Hell yes :)
Thanks Natasha :) Rusty - thanks for the permission ;)
You are right, Rusty - it's all about context and knowing your readers. There was a post recently on another site where some people were offended by the use of a heavy-hitter swear in the marketing of a book. So much so they threatened to leave the site. I'd say they are not the target market. Which is why the shotgun marketing we often see is less effective than targeted.
