profanities and such

[Guest]

ok i'm starting by saying that this is not about being disrespectful towards any person or religion so please people don't take offence for what will be said in this thread.

i'm just wondering how you all feel about using profane language in your writing. what are you comfortable in using and why? does that match your personal value system? do you considering your readers? and if you do to what level?

i mean esp when writing sex. the work fuck comes up a lot. and i'm totally ok with using it personally. but what about using words such as God or Jesus etc? its widely used when people have sex. so logic says that it should be used in writing sex. i dunno. i'm not particularly religious and although i say it during sex i dont want to offend my readers but at the same time the characters would say it.

i'm conflicted.

 

[Chantilyvamp]

That is always tricky. I guess in the few things that I have written I tend to not consider what the reader might like I write as a realease of emotion, as an outlet of what I'd like to do and and outlet for whats in my imagination. And I have been totally told off for using 'Gawd' instead of god. Then again when I say it that is how its spelled.

I myself would not be offended reading it in a story. I have heard the most religious people yell it in the throws of passion (and a few I wish I hadnt have heard. )

Then again I do cuss at times. More in stories and on the boards because the 'little ears' of the house cant see it or hear it. And yet even I get horrified if every other word out of someones mouth is a cuss word. So I guess maybe if it was done tastefully and not overused it would be ok.

I guess maybe my thought is what is profane for one might not be profane for another. A good example is when 'little ears' was born I tried to stop saying the word shit. I said crap instead and got told off by the mother-in-law who says crap is a cuss word in England. No matter what you might say it might hit a cord in different people.

 

[flavortang]

Fuckin' A. I let my characters cuss because most people cuss. I mean, I'm not writing for the Cartoon Network Pokemon marathon, it's about (mostly) young people involved in sexual relations. They're going to cuss, whether in normal, everyday speech, or during sex.

Hell, I personally cuss constantly. I cuss when I get the mail. "Thanks for delivering the fuckin' mail, ya fuckin' hag!" and the mail lady's reply is... "Stuff it up your ass, dick-beater. And have a merry fuckin' day!" My reply is "Fuck you, too, Marge. Fuck you, too." All of this is said with a pleasant, neighborly tone of voice, usually accompanied with friendly smiles. Sometimes I'll even throw in a New England-ish accent with it.

 

[Vermilion]

Oh, I write with swear words... To me it seems to add an extra element of kink purely *because* people don;t often talk like that except during sex.

Of course, it's dirtier if you hear me *saying* the words, because I usually get pretty posh when I do and nothing is dirtier than a cut glass english accent enunciating the word 'fuck'...

similarly nothing is funnier than a cut glass english accent saying 'fuck off' in a pissed off tone... at least according to my (northern accented) fiance...

x
V

 

[Guest]

Fuckin' A. I let my characters cuss because most people cuss. I mean, I'm not writing for the Cartoon Network Pokemon marathon, it's about (mostly) young people involved in sexual relations. They're going to cuss, whether in normal, everyday speech, or during sex.

Hell, I personally cuss constantly. I cuss when I get the mail. "Thanks for delivering the fuckin' mail, ya fuckin' hag!" and the mail lady's reply is... "Stuff it up your ass, dick-beater. And have a merry fuckin' day!" My reply is "Fuck you, too, Marge. Fuck you, too." All of this is said with a pleasant, neighborly tone of voice, usually accompanied with friendly smiles. Sometimes I'll even throw in a New England-ish accent with it.

fuck youre funny!

 

[Guest]

I guess maybe my thought is what is profane for one might now be profane for another.

thats exactly it i think

 

[Guest]

Oh, I write with swear words... To me it seems to add an extra element of kink purely *because* people don;t often talk like that except during sex.

totally agree. it does make it sexier

i'm just wondering about the readers.

and fuck is still pretty ok.

how about the "gods" and the "jesus"'s?

 

[Vermilion]

totally agree. it does make it sexier

i'm just wondering about the readers.

and fuck is still pretty ok.

how about the "gods" and the "jesus"'s?

If they're gonna be that prissy then maybe an erotica site is not the place for them... just saying...

x
V

 

[Guest]

If they're gonna be that prissy then maybe an erotica site is not the place for them... just saying...

x
V

yeah i know ...................

still. i'm just wonderin

 

[English Lady]

I tend to avoid using "Oh God" but it does appear sometimes because hey, it's a form of praise I reckon, short for "Oh God thanks for this damn good sex!"

 

[SimpleGifts]

totally agree. it does make it sexier

i'm just wondering about the readers.

and fuck is still pretty ok.

how about the "gods" and the "jesus"'s?

I use those when I'm having sex, and people I have sex with use them, and as I understand it a LOT of people use those words during sex--particularly good sex (and I don't write a lot of stories about bad sex), and even if those people are church-going folks.

Since the object (for me) is to depict the act of sex with accuracy, realism, and to make it sound pleasureful...I use the terms that are most representative of that.

SG

 

[Guest]

I tend to avoid using "Oh God" but it does appear sometimes because hey, it's a form of praise I reckon, short for "Oh God thanks for this damn good sex!"

but how do you feel when you read it in a story?

 

[Guest]

I use those when I'm having sex, and people I have sex with use them, and as I understand it a LOT of people use those words during sex--particularly good sex (and I don't write a lot of stories about bad sex), and even if those people are church-going folks.

Since the object (for me) is to depict the act of sex with accuracy, realism, and to make it sound pleasureful...I use the terms that are most representative of that.

SG

totally true.

i agree

 

[RogueLurker]

I've always had a potty-mouth in real life, so having characters swear isn't something I worry much about.

I do find, though, that who the character is, how they are portrayed, the situation that they are in are rather important in whether the character swears - and how they swear. I only find it jarring when reading when the language doesn't fit the character - or "sounds" forced. There was a story that I read that I rather enjoyed - and it wasn't until I was scrolling through the comments that I realized how much the author used "fucK" (noun, verb, adverb, adjective - every use imaginable). I didn't find that it detracted from the story - it fit and the story itself was a fast paced, energetic read *ahem* so the use of "fuck" worked quite well.

The same applies to when I 'm writing - some characters swear, some don't, some have the odd word blurt out in the heat of the moment. As long as it fits the story, the character, the situation - what's the odd bit of profanity (or massive amount of profanity if you prefer).

 

[scheherazade_79]

I use those when I'm having sex, and people I have sex with use them, and as I understand it a LOT of people use those words during sex--particularly good sex (and I don't write a lot of stories about bad sex), and even if those people are church-going folks.

Since the object (for me) is to depict the act of sex with accuracy, realism, and to make it sound pleasureful...I use the terms that are most representative of that.

SG

The last chick I slept with shouted "God" and "Jesus" at me so many times that I came out expecting to have grown a beard and be able to turn water into wine.

She wore a crucifix around her neck the whole time, and told me she'd pray for me at church on Sunday

It didn't work, cos I'm still the same as I've ever been...

 

[Guest]

ok i'm starting by saying that this is not about being disrespectful towards any person or religion so please people don't take offence for what will be said in this thread.

i'm just wondering how you all feel about using profane language in your writing. what are you comfortable in using and why? does that match your personal value system? do you considering your readers? and if you do to what level?

i mean esp when writing sex. the work fuck comes up a lot. and i'm totally ok with using it personally. but what about using words such as God or Jesus etc? its widely used when people have sex. so logic says that it should be used in writing sex. i dunno. i'm not particularly religious and although i say it during sex i dont want to offend my readers but at the same time the characters would say it.

i'm conflicted.

It depends on the story.

It depends on the characters.

And if readers are offended, so be it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

In real life, I swear fairly freely at home, although I did try to be more professional at work. It has, however, become an ingrained habit not to blaspheme, which really stole up upon me by surprise. It wasn't a conscious decision, but rather a growing discomfort doing it that stopped me. Every other linguistic limitation I observe is for someone else's sake; that's the only one that is actually for me.

With that said, my characters do what is in their natures to do, as best as I can work it out. I look at profanity or blasphemy in the same way that I look at all of their other actions: they aren't my actions, and they aren't necessarily good actions. They're just what that character does.

Oh, and like English Lady I take certain expressions along the "Oh, God" vein to be marks of admiration and thanks rather than blasphemy.

 

[3113]

Whatever serves the story (stylistically crude to match the story's setting and mood, or euphemistically civilized to enhance it's erudite qualities) and that means whatever is right for the characters, too. Some characters get off on talking dirty or hearing some one talk dirty, others don't, and some can't. I usually take a moment and try to figure out what a character's favorite swear word(s) or phrase might be given their upbringing, nature, etc. Most people, after all, don't use that much variety when it comes to swearing. So, you work it out for the characters: Do they swear easily and often? ("Fuck you, you fucking shit. I don't give a flying fuck--") Do they swear creatively? ("Jesus-H-fuckin-Christ-on-a-shit-raft!") Do they avoid swear words altogether? ("Shoot! I can't get the friggin' condom on!") If I'm writing up a devoutly religious character, then I might cut back on their dirty talk because it isn't natural or comfortable to them. Or I might use the opportunity to show that sex is a release for them in all ways, that they use it as a chance to swear freely as they wouldn't otherwise.

As for offending the reader, it's surprising that a reader would come to an erotica site and be offended by swear words. Even so, you can't worry about that. If they're offended by the "blaspheming" as it were of someone screaming "Jesus" while having anal sex, then you're not the writer for them. You can't please everyone.

 

[Recidiva]

I'm pretty profane. Yes, fuck comes up a lot. So do God and Jesus. I guess people sound like me when I write them.

I think I recently said "Holy Christ on Communion Wafers" to something that was shocking lately.

Somehow, I just think Jesus and God have a much better sense of humor about being taken in vain than the Bible does. I don't really think they mind since I'm...well, me.

I also say "Gods" "Goddess" and probably body parts of Zeus, Thor or Loki depending on my mood.

 

[cloudy]

Get me pissed off, or really turned on, and I swear like a sailor.

I don't worry about it much in my stories, to be honest. I just write the characters as they are. As many have said, you can't please everyone, so I don't worry about it.

 

[Liar]

The only profanity that irks me is "holy crap".

If there's one thing I don't consider holy, it's crap. So it's just rings weird.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

I like to start my stories out with the swearing right away, just so my readers know what they're getting.

Seriously though, I think worrying about who you might offend while you're writing could be very limiting. If someone's reading a story in say the group sex category of a porn story site and getting offended by language, they need to go elsewhere. I'm not concerned about other peoples' morals, obviously, or I wouldn't be here ON A PORN BOARD in the first place.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Oh God, Jessi. Stop fucking around and write, for Christ's sake!

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I write smut (some of you write erotica, I write smut ), so I curse whenever I want to.

I also curse up a storm when alone in the office, my bedroom, or my car.

But you may have noticed I don't curse so much on the forums (you probably didn't, but I curb it in here). That is because most of my other forums are PG13, and it's a force of habit to keep cursing to a minimum in open conversations.

Going to kung fu classes with teens and younger, and having very young nephews doesn't help keeping my cursing to a minimum either.

 

[Guest]

Oh God, Jessi. Stop fucking around and write, for Christ's sake!

bwahaha!!


you're all great. thanks for your answer.

it seems like we all kinda agree on this doesnt it?? scary!