Do Expletives Have a Place in Your Writing?

IMG_1075 (Photo credit: tantek)

Swearing in literature is probably as old as the written word. It offends many, amuses probably as many, and huge numbers remain indifferent to it. So, its use results in mixed reactions. Is there justification for it?

'Fuck off, mate. 'Course there is.'

Okay, so some of you flinched, others smiled. Others expected this sudden interjection.

'You're a cunt!'

Different? Of course. For two reasons, I think. Firstly, of course, this statement is an insult, downright offensive in intention as well as tone. Secondly, the word 'cunt' is possibly the last expletive available that has any real shock value. We're all subject to the once taboo 'fuck', and its derivatives, on a daily basis. It's used by all classes, all ages, both genders. It no longer has any emphatic value and has become merely a 'filler' for those without the intelligence, imagination or energy to come up with a more apposite epithet. It's a shame that something once so full of the power to startle and shock has, through too much usage, become no more than a lazy way of filling space whilst the speaker has time to think of the next thing he wishes to say.

'Cunt', on the other hand, is most definitely taboo is many circles, profoundly shocking in others and considered offensive in most. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives its root as the Old Norse word 'kunta' and I recall coming across it in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which I studied for my 'A' Level English Lit exam, as 'queynte'. Its definition is straightforward; meaning either female genitals, the vulva; or a person who is either very unpleasant or stupid, or both. Why the name for the most desirable part of a woman should also be used as an insult referring to horrible or stupid people is a matter for another discussion. Suffice it to say that it probably reflects on the way the Abrahamic, and most other, religions have viewed women from before Christian times.

In my youth, had I referred to my father as a 'bugger', I'd have received a clip round the ear. Later, as we both aged, I was able to call him, 'the silly old bugger' as a term of affection understood by all, including him, and make him smile. Such is the fluidity of language subject to usage. The same could be said of 'sod', once a pejorative term for a homosexual man and now a word used so casually that many have no idea of its original derivation as 'one who engages in sodomy'.

What, for one person is an offensive expletive, is, to another, a harmless epithet with little or no real meaning. I know, for instance, that in the Bible Belt of America, where the myths of ancient misogynistic men still have greater relevance than modern inclusive philosophies, words such as 'hell' and 'damn' are more than merely frowned upon. In the more enlightened cultures of the West, they are, of course, viewed as mild in the extreme and few parents would consider reprimanding a child heard uttering such innocuous words.

So, if you're tempted to use expletives in your writing, it's essential that you consider your readers. There is absolutely no doubt that whatever expletive you employ you will offend some. It's inevitable because of narrow-mindedness, cultural implanting, ignorance, taste or simple preference. Therefore, I suggest you think very carefully before you use words that some will see as 'bad'. That there are no 'bad' words is self-evident, of course, but there is 'inappropriate usage', and it is this that the writer should avoid.

It may be perfectly acceptable and, indeed, essential to the story for the writer to place long strings of extremely offensive words into the mouth of a character, because that is the way that particular character would speak.  The quoted speech of a coarse man may be absolutely necessary to the understanding of his character. And 'You fucking, shitty cunt!' may express exactly what such a character would say to another in certain circumstances, and therefore be perfectly acceptable. But, as the author, the narrator, it might be very unwise to employ the same string of words in describing that same character. The reader frequently reads the words of the narrator as those of the author, regardless of how inaccurate that assumption may be. So, beware.

Context is everything in this issue. If the use of an expletive is appropriate in the circumstances, then it's incumbent on the writer not to substitute it with something mild in the hope of avoiding offence. It is less than honest to turn down the heat, so to speak. But remember the old expression; call a spade a 'spade', by all means, but perhaps avoid calling it a 'fucking shovel', unless that's how the speaking navvy would refer to it.

I hope this has been useful. I'd appreciate your observations and comments. We can all learn from each other and that's my intention in these short posts that are intended to help writers entertain their readers without unnecessarily offending them.

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The Concept of the Goddess, by Sandra Billington & Miranda Green, Reviewed.

The blurb on the back of this book suggests it’s ‘a scholarly yet highly readable study of the place of the goddess in past and present belief systems and mythologies’. As a convinced agnostic and casual student of history and myth, I thought it would be a useful book to augment my knowledge of these subjects. I was, unfortunately, disappointed.

The book is mainly an annotated list of references to other works with the occasional piece of narrative inserted to reduce the boredom: a trick that doesn’t work, by the way. Scholarly, it no doubt is. But highly readable it most certainly ain’t! It came across to me as a series of pieces by writers desperate to illustrate how well-read they are. It, perhaps, doesn’t help that there are various references and asides in untranslated Latin and some Scandinavian language I’m unable to identify, since I speak none of that collection of tongues.

Perhaps the book is intended as an introductory text for university students studying mythology; I could envisage it having a place in such course material. But, for the general reader, it appears dense, uninformative in those areas of most interest, self-congratulatory, obtuse and often plain boring.

I found myself skipping the frequent, not to say, innumerable, references in a vain attempt to find some meat. I rarely discovered anything more than the leavings of a dog-chavelled bone. In fact, I learned almost nothing, discovered very little that I didn’t already know from former reading around the subject.

I suspect you’ll deduce from the foregoing that I was unimpressed. You will be correct, Watson. I cannot, in all honesty, recommend the book.

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Useful Tips on Writing Good English (Especially for Students)

Testtakingstudent (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was doing some research for my daughter, who is at university, and, by pure chance, came across this website, which, although intended for university students, is open to the public. If you've ever had questions relating to correct English usage, this is a really useful tool, with easy to follow guides on a number of technical, grammatical and associated issues. Certain worth a visit.
http://www2.hull.ac.uk/student/studyadvice/studyskillsresources/studyguides.aspx

Good luck with your writing.

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Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Habitat

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Habitat: noun - natural environment occupied by a particular organism; area distinguished by the organisms occupying it; such areas collectively; dwelling place, usual surroundings, habitation.

‘Many of the world’s rarest creatures are facing extinction due to the disappearance of their habitat, often due to the encroachment of man and his activity.’

6 June 1961 – Carl Jung died

Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961), Swiss psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology, is thought by some to be the first modern psychologist to state that the human psyche is, by nature, religious. He’s also one of the best known pioneers of dream analysis. He considered himself a natural scientist, not a theoretical psychologist, like Freud. Jung used deep observation followed by categorization instead of the opposite process of imagining what categories might exist and then looking for proof of these and deciding which was always correct. He was a practicing clinician, but involved himself in philosophy, sociology, astrology, literature, the arts and even alchemy.   

Stuart’s Daily Word Spot: Labile

Labile: adjective - likely to lapse, apt to sin; liable to fall from innocence; likely to undergo a change in nature, form, chemical composition; unstable; Psychology, emotionally or behaviourally unstable.

‘Nigel was a changeable man, and when pretty women were around, he was so labile that no one ever knew what his real stance was any topic; so easily was he influenced by the effects of attraction.’

No image to go wit5h this one, so a random local landscape picture for your pleasure.

Author Interview with Patricia Rockwell

Patricia Rockwell has spent most of her life teaching.  From small liberal arts colleges to large regional research universities—and even a brief stint in a high school, her background in education is extensive.  She has taught virtually everything related to Communication—from a fine arts speech-theatre orientation to more recently a social science research approach.  Her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona in Communication.  She was on the faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirteen years, retiring in 2007.

Her publications are extensive, with over 20 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, several textbooks, and a research book on her major interest area of sarcasm, published by Edwin Mellen Press.  In addition to publications, she has presented numerous papers at academic conferences and served for eight years as Editor of the Louisiana Communication Journal.  Her research focuses primarily on several areas of communication:  deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues. 

Dr. Rockwell is presently living in Aurora, Illinois, with her husband Milt, also a retired educator.  The couple have two adult children.  SOUNDS OF MURDER is her first novel.

Tell us about “Sounds of Murder” in a few sentences. 

It’s a cozy mystery.  Pamela Barnes is a Psychology professor and acoustics expert at a small southern University who discovers one of her colleagues strangled to death in the departmental computer lab.  When she stumbles across a recording of the actual murder, she feels compelled to track down the killer.  She does so by studying the acoustic output of the recording and attempting to identify the sounds made during the murder.  Then she searches for potential killers who might have made the same sounds.  Oh, and she gets in a lot of trouble along the way.

 How did you come to write this particular book?

I used to be a college teacher and researcher myself—actually in the field of Communication, but much of my research involved sound.  My dissertation evaluated the accuracy of acoustic technology and human coders to differentiate between liars and truthtellers based on their voices alone.   I always loved mysteries and vowed to write one when I retired and had time. 

 If you have a favorite character in your novel, why that particular one?

Pamela is the main character and probably my favorite, most likely because she is most like me.  I also have other favorites among the characters—many of them based on academic types I knew during my years of teaching.  There is one sharp-tongued widow professor named Joan who is sassy, classy, and enjoys a night on the town.   I rather like her.

Where and when is your novel set and why did you make these specific choices?

It is set in the present day at a small, regional university in the South in the mythical town of Reardon.  I specifically don’t indicate which state, although I drop a lot of clues.  I set it in a place I knew.

 How can people buy your book?

It’s available in print and Kindle form at Amazon.com. 

 What qualities make a successful writer?

If you just mean writer (and not bookseller which is an entirely different matter), I think persistence, organization, and the ability to brainstorm are important qualities.  This may be my first novel, but it’s not my first book or published work as I have many scholarly works published.  I know from experience the effort and time that goes into what may seem like something very simple.   I think of many short papers that I published that I worked on for years and years.  I think of the many times I started from scratch and totally reorganized many things I wrote that eventually were published. 

 How do you set about writing a piece? 

Actually,  with “Sounds of Murder” I joined the NaNoWriMo event, which is an annual novel writing contest that is held online each November.  Contestants are encouraged to write a novel in 30 days and the keyword is “finish” the book.  You can always polish it later, but first you have to finish it.  I found this technique to work well for me.  So well, in fact, that I tried it again the following year and completed the second book in the Pamela Barnes acoustic mystery series.  I will be writing the third such book this November.  I have it outlined and will follow my regular routine of writing a chapter a day.

 Beginning writers make many mistakes:  what do you think is the most harmful?

Failure to revise.  I would include in that, not having someone or several someones read it and give constructive criticism.  I’m lucky to have a couple good editors whose opinions I value and they read my work many, many times before I’m satisfied.

 To what extent are grammar and spelling important to a writer?

As you can probably imagine, coming from a teaching background, I’m fanatical about grammar and spelling.  When I’m revising and find a mistake in my own work, I’m extremely hard on myself.

 How much revision of MS do you do before you send it off?

A lot.  As I said, I have several editors or “readers” who are very critical and whose opinions I value.  Although I don’t “send any MS off, because I have my own publishing company, that doesn’t mean that I don’t expect my own work to be polished and perfect.

 To what extent do you think genre is useful in the publishing world?

I don’t know if “useful” is the word I would use.  I know it exists.  As a matter of fact, my own publishing company, Cozy Cat Press, was formed specifically to produce one genre of novels—the cozy mystery.  We are a niche publishing company—and we make it clear to potential authors who might consider submitting their work that we are only interested in publishing cozy mysteries.    As far as I know, we are the only publisher that publishes only cozies.  There are quite a few publishers that publish only mysteries.

 How do you know where to begin any given story?

That’s a hard one.  I try to start with an exciting moment, a scary, or frightening moment that leads directly into the mystery.   Most cozies are plot driven and typically fairly short so there isn’t a lot of time for elaborate character development.    I have learned from my critics how important it is to start off “with a bang.”

 What sort of displacement activities keep you from actually writing?

Not sure what you mean by “displacement” although I assume you mean anything that distracts me from writing when I want or need to write.  Actually, it’s not much of a problem for me as I’m very organized and highly motivated, so when I intend to write—I write.

 Do you have support, either from family and friends or a writing group?

My husband is super supportive.  I have a writing buddy—actually a co-publisher—who is also an incredibly supportive co-writer and friend.  The rest of my family and friends—not so much.  I try not to let it bother me.

 Is presentation of the MS as important as most agents and publishers suggest?

I can’t really answer that from the writer’s point of view as I didn’t make very many attempts with traditional publishers before I became disgusted and decided to form my own publishing company.  Now that I’m a publisher and receiving submissions myself, I would say that to some extent presentation is important.  However, no matter how “pretty” the book is, if it isn’t readable, it doesn’t really matter.

 How long does it normally take you to write a novel?

One month.  As I said, I follow the NaNoWriMo formula.  I start November 1 with Chapter 1 and I end November 30 with Chapter 30—doing a chapter a day.  So far, it has worked great for me.

 Who or what inspires me?  

Other authors—particularly cozy authors. 

 IF there’s a single aspect to writing that really frustrates you, what is it?

I find book marketing is FAR more difficult than book writing.

 Is there any aspect of writing that you really enjoy?

It’s really like giving birth.  You watch the little creature grow and develop in the womb of your mind and then it’s born onto the paper and eventually flies off a reader’s home—just like a first-grader going to school.

 Do you think writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?

I think you have to love writing (which is the gift part), but you can always work on getting better (the skill part).

 What single piece of advice would you give to writers still hoping to be published?

It’s really hard.  Personally, I’d find a small publisher (like Cozy Cat Press—and there are many others) where you won’t get the expensive bells and whistles, but you will get a lot of tender loving care.  Or do as we did and form your own company—but, boy, that is hard.  Let me tell you.

 What are you writing now?

I’m just getting ready to write the third book in my Pamela Barnes series.  I’ll start it November 1.  I have an extremely complete outline ready and I work on revising it daily.

 Do you have a website or blog that readers can visit?

I’m an avid blogger.  I have one devoted to communication-related issues:  http://communicationexchange.blogspot.com    and one a personal diary blog:  http://subjectivesoup.blogspot.com.    Also, our company website:  www.cozycatpress.com

 Given unlimited resources, what would be your ideal writing environment?

Actually, I’m quite happy with my environment.  I have a small study on the second floor of our house.  My computer and two printers are there.  It overlooks our living room, so I can chat with (or ignore) my hubby when he’s watching golf on TV.

 Where do you actually write?

At my computer.

Review of They F*** You Up by Oliver James

Oliver James, in They F*** You Up, cites the lives of Prince Charles, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Paula Yates, serial killers, victims of sexual abuse, and others, as examples of various personality traits and problems. In the process, he has written an accessible but scholarly treatise on the role of care, or its lack, in early childhood. His observations and quotes from various studies make a convincing case for the primary function of good parenting in raising children. He breaks down the process into periods of childhood and infancy and also describes how conscience, self-awareness and general mental well-being can be fostered by good and appropriate care from parents or carers. His ideas, backed up by the results of many studies and tests, make it clear that the role of genes in forming personality, conscience and the idea of ‘self’ is at best peripheral. Those who cite genetics as the major cause of crime, addiction, low performance, sexuality, depression and other mental illnesses are exposed as frauds or, at best, ill-informed commentators. Whilst our genes play a large part in making the human the animal he is, it is undoubtedly the type of parental care we receive from birth to age 6 that forms us into the adults we become.

Image via WikipediaJames explains in great detail how personality traits are formed, and describes how early brain patterning can and does form individuals into certain types of adults. Whilst some of the damage done by inappropriate parenting can be modified, alleviated and even repaired, a great deal cannot be changed without huge effort.

What James is calling for with this book is nothing less than a complete overhaul of the way society treats children. That nurture, rather than nature (genes), is the driving force behind personality disorders, depression, disassociation, weak conscience, criminality and madness is no longer disputed by those who understand these matters thoroughly. Those who blame genes, and use this argument as a basis for social discrimination, are both fraudulent and hypocritical.

James suggests a different strategy for dealing with society’s problems and forecasts that a failure to adjust to such a system will inevitably increase the rates of violence, crime, injustice and insanity in our world. I am convinced by his cogent arguments and find myself looking at my fellow human beings with much greater respect, tolerance and understanding.

Alain De Botton urges all prospective parents to read They F*** You Up BEFORE embarking on the hazardous voyage of parenthood. I can only agree with this injunction.

If you are thinking of having children, please, for the sake of your offspring and the future of the human race, read this book FIRST. And, if you have already had your children, or wonder about your own early life and its effect on your personality, read this book as a way of understanding why you are who you are and your friends are who they are. It is a cathartic experience.

Review of The Descent of Woman by Elaine Morgan

This study of an alternative evolution for humankind is, of course, now almost history itself. But, and it’s an important ‘but’, many people are ignorant of the ideas expounded by Elaine Morgan and remain rooted in the now discredited version of evolution as propounded by the earlier male anthropologists. The andocentric tradition is here thoroughly examined, questioned and found seriously wanting. Not only does this old fashioned tradition leave questions unanswered, but it fails to even ask many of the questions essential to the understanding of how we became what we are.

Morgan, a mere woman in a man’s world, has the temerity to ask, and to answer, a good number of these previously ignored questions. In the process, convincingly removes the foundations for the male centred and inspired evolutionary route, positing a female led series of changes and supporting her hypothesis with well constructed and thoughtful arguments.

This book was variously trashed, belittled and ignored by the established authorities of the day. Having spent their academic lives propounding and upholding a tradition built on shifting sand, the male doyens of the science were loth to accept that a mere woman, not even an anthropologist, might have something worthwhile to bring to the debate. Science, of course, when considered by those with the closed minds of tradition, is every bit as dogmatic and prone to self-perpetuating lies, mistruths, folklore and myth as any organised religion. Only relatively recently have a number of anthropologists accepted that Morgan’s hypothesis may actually have some serious contribution to make about our understanding of how, why and when Homo Sapiens rose above his hominid cousins to become the outstandingly successful modern mammal he now is.

The Descent of Woman is a work of serious, considered ideas presented with some humour and a light touch (one of the reasons given by some academics for dismissing it out of hand). It is accessible and engaging as a book and the ideas proposed are founded in reason and built on rational thought.

I would love to see this book made mandatory for all students of anthropology and for those blind leaders of the more extreme religious cults. In time, with fresh minds, open minds, the new thinkers will hopefully overturn the blinkered and self-serving misinformation propagated by the closed-minded, prejudiced and occupationally neutered academics who have, for so long, preached a gospel of evolution based on a false appreciation of man and woman’s place in the rise of humankind from ape.

I urge all women and men to read Elaine Morgan’s seminal work: it will provide much food for thought, conjecture and, with luck, a more positive outcome for society’s attitude to women and their role and position within the human race.

Buy in UK

Buy in USA

Buy worldwide

Word of the day

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It's Monday, it's been a very long day and I'm tired. So, just the following for now:


Word of the day; literary – of or pertaining to books and literature, used in the genre sense for works using quality language containing metaphor, allusion, simile, and often serious themes; ‘Whether or not a piece of writing can be classed as literary is very often dependent on the view of the reader; like the tasting of wine, this is an area where snobbery can creep in and set loose the jackals of discord amongst the literati.’

Busy Day

Almost completed the re-write of the fantasy novel now. Had to spend a good deal of time on the map to go with it today. Most place names pass the 'Google' test but I discovered one of the cities I had marked had a name which means something like 'shithole' in Croatian. Thought it best to alter that one. Still a lot of work to do on the map but Photoshop can be so tedious and it certainly strains my old eyes.
Short story completed and ready for the off. And, since I didn't win any of the lottery draws this weekend, looks like I'll have to continue with the day job. Time, now, I think for a rest.