Paul Whybrow
Full Member
I'm having a bit of a mental tussle with the place of swear words in my current WIP. It's a psychological thriller featuring a gruesome death, drug smuggling, illegal importation of weapons and human trafficking—all typical of Cornwall!
Given that I'm writing about hardened detectives and violent villains, they shouldn't be talking like genteel vicars at a garden tea-party, but despite this I haven't included that much swearing. It's not out of prudery, for I can out-swear anybody, and have, once causing a foul-mouthed Tourette's Syndrome sufferer to complain about me.
My reluctance to use oaths is more that I fear it will be distract from the flow of the story. Swearing is a useful tool to emphasise the tension a character is feeling when talking, but starts to look like the writer is going for a shock effect if peppered through the text. Anyone who has read Irvine Welsh (best known for 'Trainspotting') will know what I mean.
In real life, people use expletives in a calm way when talking to one another, showing mild irritation at best. Funnily enough, I wouldn't be having this problem if I was writing an erotic novel as I could use profanity willy-nilly!
How do my fellow Colonists deal with four letter words?
Given that I'm writing about hardened detectives and violent villains, they shouldn't be talking like genteel vicars at a garden tea-party, but despite this I haven't included that much swearing. It's not out of prudery, for I can out-swear anybody, and have, once causing a foul-mouthed Tourette's Syndrome sufferer to complain about me.
My reluctance to use oaths is more that I fear it will be distract from the flow of the story. Swearing is a useful tool to emphasise the tension a character is feeling when talking, but starts to look like the writer is going for a shock effect if peppered through the text. Anyone who has read Irvine Welsh (best known for 'Trainspotting') will know what I mean.
In real life, people use expletives in a calm way when talking to one another, showing mild irritation at best. Funnily enough, I wouldn't be having this problem if I was writing an erotic novel as I could use profanity willy-nilly!
How do my fellow Colonists deal with four letter words?