Writing Passionates discussion

does it offend you? is it ever necessary?
once in a while i feel like i should use a swear in a story, like if a character is REALLY REALLY ticked off, cuz it would seem more realistic. but i don't want to offend anyone. only my mom is reading soul stealer, and she told me i should use a couple swears here and there to make it more realistic... what do u guyz think?

It offends me, and I have to skip over all of the swear words, and the stuff you said.

okay... well i do tend to use 'oh my god' a lot. and yeah sometimes i do the same thing, just like 'i cursed' or whatever... i don't like using swears, but occasionally it's necessary. ARGH. i don't know!!

I don't think Swearing is necessary at all. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

Same, Callie. No offense at all, Brigid.

I do oh my gosh . . . along those lines.

well i know it's not exactly necessary. i personally don't swear. but the truth is, a lot of people do. so it might not seem realistic if i'm writing a story, and (this is just an example) a piano falls out of the sky and is about to hit this person, and they're just like 'oh, golly gee! that piano's about to squish me!'
i'm sorry callie... i'm not trying to offend anyone. i'm just kinda thinking out loud. well not really out loud but you know what i mean. haha. XD i understand your opinion though.

right, exactly... in a perfect world i guess it wouldn't be necessary. but in the real world, ppl swear, so occasionally i feel like it has to be done.

do u guyz consider "crap" to be a swear? cuz i use that a lot too...

no.
But in the real world, there's a lot of bad things.
And just because other's do it, doesn't mean that you have to too.

it's not that i'm trying to be a conformist, callie. i'm just trying to be realistic here. that's all i'm trying to say. sorry if i offended you...

here's my opinion on the subject: swearing makes me lose respect for people in real life. I absolutely hate reading a book and thinking it's so good and then they use one swear word. Suddenly, I think so much less of the character. I made a goal long ago not to write anything that might make someone uncomfortable, but that's all part of my religion... I don't think swearing is necessary to make things more realist. If you're not creative enough to think of some other way that a character expresses thereself, I think that is sad. I don't mean offense to anyone! That's jus tmy personal belief. I like books so much better if there is no swearing.

i do not swear in my books. the closest i get is 'oh my gosh"

I'm the same Rachel. I never ever use swear words in my writing. If my character's are really ticked off they'll usually let off steam by yelling or just blow up and leave the room. I don't ever swear. I send most of the stuff I write to my grandparents and other family members, and they REALLY don't like swear words. I wouldn't be offended if you did put that in there, but I personally don't.

wow. well, i don't mind swearing in books THAT much. i mean, if there's a lot of unnecessary, excessive swearing then it gets a bit annoying. but ONE swear? doesn't make a difference to me. okay, so i'm not religious at all, so i guess my feelings are different. but i wouldn't say that just because an author uses a swear that it makes them any less creative.
although i agree w/kenzie... it's more effective i think if a character just blows up and yells than if they just let off a stream of random swears. i think i feel more for a character if they don't swear excessively.
gah! i'm starting to confuse myself. i don't know what i think, really. XD maybe i shouldn't have brought it up...

It's got nothing to do with religion, my not swearing, I just don't feel the need. I've seen people who swear that use their entire vocabulary in one sentence. * * * * you are a * * * I mean, come on! Get a dictionary! Use your words! I don't want to listen to this. But one swear every once in a while, doesn't bother me, it's the continuous stream.

right. same here, kenzie. i'm not saying that the only reason not to swear is religion... i don't like swearing either, and i'm not religious. it just isn't needed, really.

Well, me and a friend of mine have a story where the characters tend to curse (it's fanfic, so we're using the authors characters. who are generally angry and swear...) and we do this, "oh s---." like that. just bleep it out.

it doesn't offend me at all, really. i'm the kind of person who cusses when they're angry, as do most of the people i know. but i understand when it does offend people :]

sorry! i guess what i said came across a bit wrong. Honestly, I'll still enjoy a book if there's one swear word. I just lose a tiny bit of respect for the character/author. I don't think it makes them any less creative really, although it probably sounded like that. I just don't enjoy reading it and don't think it's all that effective. There's a better way than swearing... in my opinion.

well i know it's not exactly necessary. i personally don't swear. but the truth is, a lot of people do. so it might not seem realistic if i'm writing a story, and (this is just an example) a piano falls out of the sky and is about to hit this person, and they're just like 'oh, golly gee! that piano's about to squish me!'
i'm sorry callie... i'm not trying to offend anyone. i'm just kinda thinking out loud. well not really out loud but you know what i mean. haha. XD i understand your opinion though.

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OMG LOL BRIGID!!! *gasps for air from laughing so hard* loved your example, that was hilarious.

Anyways...I don't swear in my writing; usually I just say something along the lines of "Bob swore under his breath" or "Fred cursed as he stubbed his toe" but occasionally, I will say things like oh my god, crap, hell, and maybe even damn. But that's only when I feel like I need to; just a few spots, it doesn't happen often. Usually I don't.

yeah, that's what i usually do sella. i'll say that a character 'swore' or 'cursed' but i don't write the actual swear.

okay laina, thanks for clearing that up. i agree; there are more effective ways for a character to express their feelings.

ya...

i think that makes sense. sometimes it takes away from the story if someone's, like, about to die and you make them say, 'oh, gosh darn it!' cuz some people might just laugh at that... XD

Well, I had to make one character swear. It's honestly part of who they are. It was in the first chapter, and I think is sort of gave a little bit of an idea of what the person was like. And I know I sound like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. It was one of those few situations to witch what I just said can be applied.

I agree...sometimes it helps with character, and sometimes there are instances where your characters force you. :D

Some of my characters swear like sailors. It bothers me a little, but honestly, there's nothing I can do - it's a character quirk, it's the way they are, and I would hate to think that someone would stop reading my work simply because of that.

first of all... all these examples are making me chuckle (under my breath as I don't want to be laughing at the computer like a madman as my dad watches TV...). Honestly, if a piano were falling out of the sky, would you say ANYTHING? I'd probably just run or stand there confounded. I'm beginning to see the points that people are making. Still, I personally, won't swear in my writing, but I can see why people wouldn't be totally against it. A lot of good points have been made.

Lol :D

hmmm... well maybe the piano was a bad example... i probably wouldn't swear out loud, but i might in my head. XD
yeah, lysine, i know what u mean. some characters swear cuz it's just who they are; it's not always for effect... idk. for some reason my characters don't have urges to swear. usually just urges to kill themselves. huh. XD

lol yeah ive noticed that in soul stealer...XD

If a piano was falling on me I would just stand there and gawk. I might go, "oh, crap." Under my breath, but that's about it, I don't think I'd swear.

most of hte time, swearing is pointless. all the time when i read and find some potty-mouthed character/author, i can ALWAYS find a way to get the point across without the added profanity. and honestly, saying stuff like "a string of cusses floated through the doorway as samson was yelled at for his prank" is so much more fun to read than "%*&&! ^%&*%^*&!!! %^*&(^^*&^*&^(*^*(&^%^%$**#&^}{_)($%!!!!!!!!"

and honestly if you think about it, either swearing offends people, or they dont mind, but i have never heard of anyone who has wanted to be sworn at.

ps. i admire you for asking this question

My response if the piano was falling on me was I would be too shocked and not know what was going on to realize that I am about to die. I would probably say:

"What the...?" before it squashes me to death. XD

okay... yeah the piano was definitely a bad example.
what if you, say, walked outside, and this tree had fallen and smashed your really expensive car (supposing you had a really expensive car...) I would definitely swear if that happened... XD you probably wouldn't be like "Oh no! Darn it."
but yeah dianna i know what u mean. it's not necessary to write the actual swears...

well, here's a fun experiment. If you're writing something and you want to add some humor, this is a great place to do it. You can tell a lot from a character by their phrases. (I have a string of interesting ones myself...) For example, a villian that you want to lighten up can say something completely obsurd like "Holy string cheese and balogne." One of my favorites is, "Good Gravy train!" It's a lot of fun to think up these things. And If I'm writing in an older setting, I usually use something like, "Holy crows." Some others: "Holy shoots and ladders." "Great scott!" "What the instant pizza?" I know... I have too much fun.

My friend and I were writing this comic book designed to help us remember big science words so we wouldn't fail the tests... that was fun! Our Hero was Super Spectrograph and the villain was the Globinator... We started saying "Good globinator!" whenever we were surprised... hehe... we had too much fun with Gracy Glaxay... oooo I could go on and on but this post is already too long. Sorry for the lengh!

i luv that one! I'll have to remember it...

My favorite non-swearing expression: Oh my stars!
I have something like that too, Luverly! It's with fa**ot though cause apparently it means bundle of steaks in German so my friend and I decided that when we hear it we go "Steak! CANNIBAL!"

lol this is all very funny!!

me and my friend have this thing...see, she said "oh my cow" accidentally instead of "oh my god.." and then we were like, "holy god" would be the other way around...(because of holy cow) and then I'm like, "well...cows make milk...which turns into cheese..." and we came up with this:

"Holy Cheese"
"Oh my milk!"
oh and of course the famous "oh my cow"

Yes i know it is very strange. and I do

wow. you lost me there sella... LOL XD

teehee sorry brigid lol XD

haha. it's okay. :D

XD

still, i think "oh my cow" is pretty funny.

teehee thanks

my fav is oh my cow.

and holy god is funny because its like, duh! of course god is holy!! XD

ya XD

I don't know why but I really like the saying "Dangflabbit!"

Sometimes I'll say "holy moly guacasacole!"

lol!!!!

lol

you know what's an awesome word?? "kerfuffle"!!!!

teehee that sounds funny.