More specifically, cursing in YA books. It's a common debate, and a conversation on Twitter got me thinking about it again when author Sara Zarr tweeted about an email she received about "the vile language" used in her book, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE. She then tweeted: "I disagree w/the basic premise that swearing is vile. It's very effective in the expression of human emotion, especially the painful present."
This is something I thought about while drafting my first YA WIP, and something I'm thinking about now as I revise. My male MC, Garrett, curses. Not excessively, but enough that it gets me thinking. I've been making an effort to remove all unnecessary cursing, but some of it I honestly feel needs to stay. One such use I felt needed to stay involved Garrett using the f-word—the only time that word appears in the entire novel. It was difficult for me to write it and difficult for me to leave it, but I felt taking it away would diminish Garrett's emotions. Also, I felt removing it wouldn't be true to his character.
@theames said it best in her response to Zarr's tweet: "Also even if you agreed it was vile, it's not as if all characters you write will agree."
I think we need to be conscious of our characters. We need to allow them to act and talk they way they would act and talk and not the way they would act and talk with us censoring them. We shouldn't censor our characters. Yeah, Garrett curses. You know why? Because he is hurt and he is angry. And to censor his language would take away from those emotions and, I think, would make him feel false as a character.
As with so much in writing, it's subjective. It depends on the writer and the character and the people who pick up the book. Not everyone is going to like it, not everyone is going to agree. It's the nature of all art. All we can do as writers is what we feel is right for our characters and their story.
Do you think it's acceptable to swear in YA books? How much is too much?
This is something I thought about while drafting my first YA WIP, and something I'm thinking about now as I revise. My male MC, Garrett, curses. Not excessively, but enough that it gets me thinking. I've been making an effort to remove all unnecessary cursing, but some of it I honestly feel needs to stay. One such use I felt needed to stay involved Garrett using the f-word—the only time that word appears in the entire novel. It was difficult for me to write it and difficult for me to leave it, but I felt taking it away would diminish Garrett's emotions. Also, I felt removing it wouldn't be true to his character.
@theames said it best in her response to Zarr's tweet: "Also even if you agreed it was vile, it's not as if all characters you write will agree."
I think we need to be conscious of our characters. We need to allow them to act and talk they way they would act and talk and not the way they would act and talk with us censoring them. We shouldn't censor our characters. Yeah, Garrett curses. You know why? Because he is hurt and he is angry. And to censor his language would take away from those emotions and, I think, would make him feel false as a character.
As with so much in writing, it's subjective. It depends on the writer and the character and the people who pick up the book. Not everyone is going to like it, not everyone is going to agree. It's the nature of all art. All we can do as writers is what we feel is right for our characters and their story.
Do you think it's acceptable to swear in YA books? How much is too much?