My Mum says “sh*t” a lot. (the write advice)
October 9, 2019 10:45 am Leave your thoughts
Kinda. Actually, she probably would’ve been annoyed if I’d divulged this fact until the last few years. Here are some thoughts on how I broke the news to family that I am the majestic, not ungoddess-like, creator of a character that smashes skulls and says “motherfucker” a lot. (see above pic for details of my deity nature while at Ikea looking for a wine glass.)
My family is not safe from swears.
What did they expect when us children were exposed to a rusty school playground in a crappy neighbourhood, the TV late at night and the dreaded (insert scary music here) internet?
It is what it is, and I am mostly of the opinion (like the Joe Rogan) that I don’t think someone should be too punished because I personally don’t like the sound their face is making. Words are words and this language is amazing. There is sometimes a time and place for certain ones (maybe I should have titled this post “Don’t say c*nt in your wedding speech,”) but overall, if you want to write FUCK on the first page of your book, knock yaself out, idc.
We swore growing up. We had degrees of swears in our house too. And some rules my mum had didn’t even make any sense. We weren’t allowed to say the “C” word, or fuck, and “bastard” (even though the Simpsons said it,) was frowned upon for some reason.
As we got older though, we were allowed to call things bitches and dickheads and assholes (oh my!) and this was counted as a win when we were playing video games or fighting over who gets the last cookie while the parentals were out.
To this day, saying fuck in my mum’s house is a no-no, so I did wonder what I’d be in for when the beings who unleashed me on this planet happened to read my books. As I have written about in the past, there is a little nervousness when you wonder if the people who know you in real life will think the portrayal of a character in your books (or their sexytime 😉 ) is really about you and your fantastical alter-ego or life, and not about the research you’ve done or how certain aspects are being used to build a character.
The signed copy that I gave my dad says THIS:
I am fortunate (unfortunate at times too, let’s face it) to follow indie author groups on social media and see many samples of writing that involve ‘taboo’ words. Usually I can understand how the author used some to aid in characterisation or to make some dire sentence or a threat (for eg.) more jarring. However, as with the time and place notion of using these words, if the whole story is spiked with four letter words strung together and not much else…it does wear thin and becomes almost nonsensical. It also loses its effectiveness in scenes where the author is wanting a gut reaction from a reader in the case of a frightening circumstance or a dangerous character.
If an author thinks potty-mouth adds to the heart of the character or they want to use it to create tension, humour or other, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I don’t believe in warning labels on literature so let’s not go there. Although, I suggest not writing a children’s book and calling it “Little Sally Fucked Up.” (*quick Google to make sure this isn’t an actual book…but, shit, it should be. And nooooo, don’t google this phrase yourself. Trust me…ugh.)
So far I haven’t had any complaint from my mum or anyone else. When writing a character who has seen a lot of death, been responsible for some and was raised in a predominately military-esque environment, there are a lot of things (not just language used) that wouldn’t run parallel to say a female character in a romance novel… Which is why when my friend gave it to her 90 year old mother, the first thing I said was “Er, it says fuck a lot,” to which she replied that her mother wouldn’t care because she has read her daughter’s smutty romance novels 😛
I guess it all depends on your experience in the world of books?
TLDR: *My mum says shit now.
*Use swearing in your books if it sets a mood, builds character or other but don’t fucking overdo it, ya dumb bastard.
*You should probably be aware of your genre’s expectations eg: don’t write a YA book and refer to someone in it as a c*nt.
*A 90 year old person read King of Spades and thought it was rad.
KING OF SPADES is available at these places and more:
https://www.bookdepository.com/King-of-Spades-Ever-Eden/9780648052401
https://books.apple.com/us/book/king-of-spades/id1273946073
https://www.booktopia.com.au/king-of-spades-ever-eden/ebook/9780648052432.html
RED COWBOYS STUFF:
The **RED COWBOYS Title Trailer is a simple lil thang, just to whet the appetite of those hanging on and missing Agent Cleo Darkrose and Agent Trent Starr. Red Cowboys picks up where King of Spades left off.
All content is no copyright infringement intended. All posts are opinion only and are subject to change due to experience, kicking ass and learning how to adult more effectively. If you don’t like it, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. Elements of original content may be reproduced with expressed permission from Ever Eden.
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