It occurred to me the other day that I really like curse words. Those vulgar little things are all over my writing, practically inundated with it. My love of them is quite a visible display, but is it ever too much?
Should I scale back?
I should point out I write how I think and speak. Not a good sign if every other word out of my mouth is a curse word, right? But I just love those salty words.
The ‘F’ word is most prominent, followed closely by the ‘S’. My fave, though, is the EmEffer. Isn’t that just the most versatile word ever? It can be a noun, a verb, an adjective. I mean, it’s the cure all and most go-to of the curse words. EmEffer just adds another dimension to the vulgarities.
Looking back at my writing, I noticed a large amount of these words and I made the conscious effort to scale it back. Take the vulgar down a notch…or three. In the scaled back versions though, they’re still in abundance, popping up mighty frequent.
No one’s ever mentioned it to me—editors, cps or readers—but I just thought, damn, I use these words a lot. I wondered if anyone had ever been offended by my flagrant salty language but never took the time to point it out to me.
I’d welcome that. No, I wouldn’t curse out the messenger.
My question to the audience, what’s you favorite curse word and how do you feel about reading them?
They call her ‘The woman in white,’ whisper ‘Death-Bringer’ with their last breath, but no one knows exactly what she is. Not even Voltaire herself. The deadly magic within her is a living thing, able to crush anyone and everything with a blink. Abandoning the blood-soaked world she’s used to, Voltaire seeks out the one constant in her tired life—the green-eyed wolf in her dreams. She’s ignored the wolf’s call for years, afraid to surrender, but danger haunts her mate. He needs her. Wolf-shifter Blake Montez is in the middle of a war, battling the usurpers intent on taking over his territory. Unfamiliar magic hums in the air, unnoticed—it seems—by everyone but him. He finds the source already under his nose, in his home. The delicate woman in white knows things no one should know, and the heat simmering between them is unlike anything he’s ever felt. His wolf recognizes her as his mate, though Blake remains unsure he can trust her.
Voltaire sets out to prove herself with time running out, enemies are on the prowl, some foreseen, others remain cloaked in shadow. She and Blake team up, fighting side by side, but in the end Voltaire might be the biggest threat to their love.
Places to purhase:
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**Author Info**
A Caribbean transplant, Avril now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y with a Spousal Equivalent of eight years. Together they raise a 7 y/o daughter who loves reading and school (wonder how long that will last). Avril’s earliest memories of reading revolve around discussing plot points of The Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys with an equally book-minded mother.
Always in love with the written word, Avril finally decided to do the writing in August of ’09 and never looked back. Spicy love scenes, delicious heroes, and wicked women burn up the pages of Avril’s stories, but there’ll always be a happy ending; Avril remains a believer of love in all its forms.
Places to find Avril:
Good morning and thank you for having me today :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting Avril. Great post. I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to let the characters speak as they do in your imagination. Anything else will feel hollow. I always enjoy authentic characters the most.
ReplyDeleteA fellow Nancy Drew lover! I collected as many of the hardcovers as I could as a kid, LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't worry so much about language when I write. I tend to write how I think my character would act. If they would use or think certain words, I use them. It's not necessarily how I talk in real life.
My fave curse word - the "F" word, LOL So many uses, so many instances to say it when you're mad, sad, happy or in the middle of an intimate moment, it's probably my favorite. My other favorite is "merde" the french word for the "S" word, LOL It's just sounds so much better in a different language!
Good luck with the book Avril!
LOL, Thanks KJK and Natasha :)
ReplyDeleteHave to say that I love the 'F' word, it's so versatile, it can indicate and even help alleviate pain (it's a must for those toe stubbing kind of incidents)it can express anger, surprise, shock, laughter, contempt, the list goes on. I also use curse words a lot in my writing, because they seem to come naturally to my characters, so it doesn't offend me to read cursing in other writer's stories. :) Good luck with the book!
ReplyDeleteLibby