Question: profanity in dialog

[Dennis]

Reviews are coming in for our newest scifi thriller. Some are five star and no mention of the profanity. Some reviewers are put off by it, and focus on it and give it two stars. I would love to hear the opinions/experiences from readers, and from other writers, of using profanity with such characters as: navy seals, Russian thugs, and a foul mouthed lawyer.

[Newly]

I'm all for it if it furthers the plot. but if it just used to showcase ignorance or as a tough guy persona I'm against. I feel like that's lazy writing and kinda hacky. many great writers do this to much applause. it's been done to critical acclaim so I understand why its so wildly utilised but ya know.

[Cassandra]

I think you can set the tone or mood indicating foul language with just one or two well placed words. Anyone more than that is lazy, sloppy writing.

[Nerdy Werewolf]

I feel like you should pretty much write what you want. Your audience will find you if you can market to the correct people.

I work in a professional atmosphere where profanity is heavily frowned upon. At home or with friends, however, I curse like an old-school sailor and therefore, identify with people who use curse words in their speach the same way other people use verbs.

This is my favorite example series:

Everyone is different, though, and some people get highly offended if even one character in a book, even in an intense situation, murmers a curse word. I'm not saying they're wrong to feel that way. To each their own. I am saying that there is no way to please everyone. I say go with what you feel. 🤘💙

[Wilmar]

This is a great question and one that I'm glad was asked.

I wrote 2 books in a female super heroine series. As a newbie writer, I didn't know what audience I was targeting and decided to censor much of the writing.

Instead of shit, she'd say crap. There were a lot of holy moly's, dang it, crud, with the most offensive being hell and damn.

As you can imagine, having hardened criminals yell "holy crap!" felt completely disingenuous. And since my female superheroine was suffering from PTSD and having a generally screwed up life, having her say, "darn it" felt completely wrong.

So in 2018 when I decided to reboot the series from scratch, I put all the swear words back in. In the most memorable scene of my book, the heroine is being consumed by a strange technology and she is resisting it every step of the way. Once she realizes "resistance is futile" she stops fighting and says, "fuck it."

Including curse words for the sake of curse words is always a bad idea. If someone is swearing all the time, it should set the atmosphere and tell you something about the character. Books that use swear words for shock value always turn me off. If it has no purpose, then I don't really see why it was included in the first place.

That being said, I do avoid requesting reviews from reviewers who get offended by swear words (and there are quite a few of them.) But honestly, I can't imagine censoring the series again. Having her say, "screw it" instead of "fuck it" just doesn't feel right.

[David]

There is some swearing in my novel, but only by the characters from whom it feels natural. Set in Glasgow, this would be expected as profanity is very common!

No one's commented positively or negatively about it in any reviews/feedback.

[Rosie]

It doesn't bother me if it's organic and the characters naturally speak that way. It makes it more authentic IMO.