tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post5514566680471289347..comments2023-05-12T11:35:09.502-04:00Comments on The Second Sentence: The Language ChoiceElisabeth Grace Foleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02073159989691222645noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-84138441541656355702011-11-30T22:46:50.490-05:002011-11-30T22:46:50.490-05:00Thanks for visiting - I appreciate your comment!Thanks for visiting - I appreciate your comment!Elisabeth Grace Foleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02073159989691222645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-53994045053355431932011-11-30T17:23:07.801-05:002011-11-30T17:23:07.801-05:00Saw your comment on Kindleboards under the "c...Saw your comment on Kindleboards under the "clean reads" thread and I agree with you and enjoyed this post. Especially like the quote about humorously working around the bad language.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-85894308789778078092011-05-04T19:44:07.851-04:002011-05-04T19:44:07.851-04:00Thank you so much for the comments, everyone. I...Thank you so much for the comments, everyone. I've really enjoyed and appreciated reading them.Elisabeth Grace Foleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02073159989691222645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-81390587260621652682011-05-03T08:56:23.510-04:002011-05-03T08:56:23.510-04:00"No one is going to toss your book aside in d..."No one is going to toss your book aside in disgust because there is no swearing in it"<br />Actually, I've read of people who do.<br /><br />I'm another one in the "I don't swear in real life" club, though I know more foul language than I care to from my brother's reaction to frustration or pain.<br /><br />I'm also a visual learner from words, particularly typed monochromatic, so I have to make sure I don't read an excessive amount of swearing, unless I want to stop thinking and perhaps saying it.<br /><br />However, I have much bigger issues with blasphemy than swearing. Blasphemy will make me toss a book aside far more quickly than some crass language, but it also depends on how it's used. Many authors, you can tell that they use the language because it's "real", without considering what the <em>best</em> way of incorporating it would be.<br /><br />I'm a fan of a few authors who never blaspheme and rarely use crass language. One such author has a book series with a character who's incredibly foul-mouthed, and you as a reader remember him that way—using vulgar demeaning terms for women, even—but if you read through the series and look at what's actually on the page, you can see how the author creatively lets you know what was said. There's still an occasional swear, but the author obviously thought before deciding to include it.<br /><br />In my own writing, I prefer the creative methods of describing swearing, but I've found a few places where they don't fit. I'm still prayerfully considering how I'll handle those cases.Carradeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05431561739001270522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-2151826408440303092011-05-02T12:10:56.431-04:002011-05-02T12:10:56.431-04:00Your post sums up my thoughts perfectly. I get un...Your post sums up my thoughts perfectly. I get uncomfortable when characters swear; and if there's particularly strong language, I'll give up on the book altogether. I hear enough of it in public already; the last thing I want is to find it in a book. <br /><br />Besides, as many great Victorian authors have shown, bad language/profanity is unnecessary to a good book. And like the example you posted, one can always use "tell" instead of "show" if there must be any mention of swearing at all.Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01693636355638596302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-6369165320713716912011-05-02T12:03:30.951-04:002011-05-02T12:03:30.951-04:00I haven't used profanity in my writing...yet. ...I haven't used profanity in my writing...yet. I've read books where it works, and I've read books where it doesn't. <br /><br />Earlier books were written mostly in past tense. It's easier to censor the f-bomb when narrating something that has already happened. Present tense, the character's dialogue has to be more accurate. Sometimes dancing around the word is worse than using it and moving on.raisingmarshmallowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11042942174027281627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-19946376859158206572011-05-02T11:15:02.403-04:002011-05-02T11:15:02.403-04:00I've struggled with this a lot in my current w...I've struggled with this a lot in my current wip. I think you just made some very good points as to why maybe my novel can live w/out the F-bomb. Great post! Thanks.Krisztina Cliftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10083709968500243900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-65343023357967860382011-05-02T10:41:26.889-04:002011-05-02T10:41:26.889-04:00Reading a lot of B.M. Bower era western fiction, I...Reading a lot of B.M. Bower era western fiction, I've noticed the various ways authors skirt around this issue. Now, as then, word choice depends on the audience. A reader looking for sanitized fiction needs to be accommodated if you want him/her to read what you've written.<br /><br />I only weary of gratuitous profanity of the most ordinary kind, since it suggests a lack of imaginative effort on the part of the writer.<br /><br />Cowboys, however, were known for their particularly inventive and humorous use of profanity. I have to say that any effort on the part of a writer to portray that entertains me to no end.Ron Scheerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-59065284467291054572011-05-02T10:14:09.733-04:002011-05-02T10:14:09.733-04:00Well put, Elisabeth. To be sure, I've read a h...Well put, Elisabeth. To be sure, I've read a handful of stories that might have lost something without the swearing--but those are few and far between, and not the stories that I remember and read again and encourage my children to read.<br /><br />My own rule of thumb is not to write anything I wouldn't let my children read. I don't use profanity in my writing. It's good to know there are writers who still share my view.<br /><br />Thanks!<br />HNH. Scott Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11595197339897730574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-84250241130038767212011-05-02T08:51:42.937-04:002011-05-02T08:51:42.937-04:00I agree. Sure, swearing happens in real life but ...I agree. Sure, swearing happens in real life but that doesn't mean fiction has to mirror it. And indeed, a good writer can express the true meaning of a character's dialogue without profanity in a way that mindless swearing cannot.Lynn Benoithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11602264087475847806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-847974343100499783.post-21226842697559928432011-05-02T08:31:10.765-04:002011-05-02T08:31:10.765-04:00I too, dislike hearing/reading profanity, and have...I too, dislike hearing/reading profanity, and have thought for a long time that it probably wasn't necessary in solid, strong writing. A lot of my mum's books that I read growing up (such as Vanity Fair) had some liquid-papered through words. And there were also the Richard Hannay stories that she painstakingly went through one summer to sanitize for me -- not knowing that I'd read them months before. :)<br /><br />I will admit I do find it very enjoyable to see how some authors convey to their readers that a character is using words unsuitable for our innocent little ears (Or shall I say, eyes?).<br /><br />Thanks for addressing this, Elisabeth. It needed to be said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com