The first word comes from the mouth of a salty ex-sailor. He inserts it in the middle of a very compassionate statement. I love the tension between the compassion and the crudeness. I've met very compassionate people who were not genteel!
The three other words that may offend emerge from the mouths of villainous characters. This is a pretty standard device in mainstream fiction; violent people often use aggressive speech.
I am fascinated to see if these moments will remain as they are, should the book be contracted by a major Christian publisher. I used the words because I believe they lend the novel the power of ugly realism. By mainstream standards, they are VERY mild.
Speaking of mainstream standards, I just checked out a popular mainstream historical novel from the library.
It's no wonder a market developed for Christian fiction.
Thw quality of the writing in this novel is very good, compared to the general standard of popular fiction. The research and texture of the historical period are much more detailed and vivid than that of many historical romances.
The sexual content of the novel is relatively tame, by romance standards. Yes, the sex scenes are very explicit, but there are only two of them. I get the feeling the novelist included them only because they are "required" in most mainstream romances. Novelists who like to write sex scenes include a lot more of them in their work.
The barrier that made the novel difficult for me to read was the casual, frequent use of God's name in completely inappropriate circumstances.
It's one thing to watch reality shows in which people constantly exclaim OMG in their astonishment and joy. I find it distracting and annoying because it conflicts with my beliefs, but I'm able to tune it out.
In this novel, however, the disrespectful references to God occur in the middle of sex scenes, in moments of anger, or just completely at random in phrases that are much more disturbing than the simple OMG.
I realize that nonbelievers reading this blog may find this difficult to swallow, or find my feelings completely prudish. Bear with me, please. Imagine how you would feel if someone had saved your life--let's say you were in the World Trade Center when it collapsed, and a firefighter carried you out before returning to lose his life in the final collapse. You probably wouldn't be too happy to read a novel that bashed New York City firefighters at every turn. Or perhaps it's more effective to compare it to a novel in which someone tells lies about your dearly-loved family member. For believers, God is a family member. Certain types of talk about him are the equivalent of foul attacks on "your mama." They make me feel sad.
So, this post inevitably leads to the question of whether my rare uses of mild crude language in my novel are going to offend some people as deeply as this novel offended me. Anything is possible. I respect their sensibilities. But for me, there is a vast difference between crudity and religious disrespect.
What do you think? How much crudity can you take in a novel before you put it down?
7 comments:
I think I'm going to completely give up writing mainstream because I don't think I can make my novels as realistic as true life. Unfortunately real life is crude and shocking to my ears. There are R rated movies I'd like to see but I can't take the language and violence that gives them that rating. I'd heard so much about Patricia Cornwell being a great writer. I picked up one of her books and didn't get beyond a few pages before putting it down. The language was so crude that I couldn't begin to get into the story. I'm just tired of living in the 21st century and want to go back a few decades to a more genteel world where men tipped their hats to women and would never utter foul language in their presence. Come back Jane Austen!
A little bit of crudeness in a novel doesn't bother me too much, especially if it is within appropriate contexts for character development as you were referring to. If there is a lot of profanity, graphic description, or irreverent references to God, I have a tough time. Even reading Grapes of Wrath and Toni Morrison's Beloved in high school really bothered me - I still remember phrases from those books that I would like to forget. My imagination is a bit to vivid, and when I read I tend to "hear" the characters in my head and picture the scenes - I have to be careful to protect my mind as those imagined and mentally reenacted scenes can stick with me even longer than a seeing a film would.
I once read a writing tip concerning overuse of exclamation points. It recommended removing every use of this particular piece of punctuation, then re-reading the work and inserting an exclamation point only where it's missed.
I think this might work for salty language. If the scene doesn't feel right without it--if there's no other way to express what needs to be said which makes the same impact--perhaps a phrase is justified.
For what it's worth, I have one scene in my novel which uses coarse language (not profanity).
Barbara,
This hat-tipping behavior was the ideal, but most men saw no need to apply it to "common" women. Only women who signalled by their dress that they were "ladies" deserved this tip of the hat. Also, would you really want to live in a world in which a white man wouldn't dream of tipping his hat to a black woman? I speak as someone who is teaching Austen's Persuasion right now. I view some of its principles as important ideals: for instance, I recently decided that I need to improve my manners around certain people I don't like. But the world is not one to wish for.
Here's my double standard :-)
As you know, Rosslyn, my characters tend to be potty mouths in tense or frustrating circumstances.
I wrote my novel that way because certain scenes didn't feel authentic without it. (I actually had one critique partner -- a Christian writer -- tell me she thought the story would lose some of its authenticity if I removed the coarse language.)
When I read books with coarse language, however, most of the time it feels forced. It doesn't feel authentic. It feels as if the author put it there simply to sound cool.
I hope mine doesn't feel this way to those who read it. It may all depend on the reader.
I'm not going to put a book down because of words like g*****n. I have yet to put a book down because of coarse language, so I guess I haven't ventured very far into that territory.
BUT I have turned off movies where every other word begins with F and ends with K.
And I'm not talking about a firetruck.
I really had to think on this response. Shees... :-)
Great discussion! This is a perfect example of why I love blogging. If you can't have your friends sitting around in a coffee shop, this is a good alternative.
Barbara, I feel the same way sometimes. Just like you and Kat, I reach a point when I hit profanity overload, even if the book or movie is otherwise excellent.
Kristi - Good point. I have the same "sensitized" imagination, and I think most of my writing friends do as well. I know some people who just don't react as strongly to fiction, but I've seen and read a few things I wish I hadn't.
Anne - That sounds like a wise guiding principle for Christian fiction. I'm not sure I can always tell--a coarse word may seem necessary to me, but not to a more objective observer. That's an issue on which I would definitely seek a number of opinions.
Kathryn - You're right, it wasn't all pretty back in the olden days either.
Kat - I do think the coarse language in your story is natural to the story, and I also agree that it would lose something without it. Yours is a different kind of story, grittier than most inspirational fiction: there are some contemporary stories that simply cannot be told without depicting the real environment. It takes guts and a willingness to accept that it may take longer to find a home. But you have those things.
:-)
Ah, the profane language....gotta say, and I'm a little embarrassed...but it doesn't bother me as much as it should. Several of my favorite writers....who I won't name, because you'll think less of me, use a lot of profanity. It just kind of goes over my head in my involvement in the story. I'll take profanity over explicit sex scenes any day. Absurdly enough, Rosslyn, one of my favorite words in the English language is the F-bomb. Sad, right? It's just such a great word....LOL
You might have figured out this bad streak of irrevence in me by now...gotta take me with a grain of salt!
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