I am editing a young adult novel for teens, and upon first writing, I never censored myself. I wrote what dialogue came to my characters, and I like the story. One of my characters is an eighteen-year-old person, who has lived and survived on the streets for several years. My second character is an abused teenager, under the age of eighteen. She has had a tough life, and the scars show. Both characters have a reason to swear the odd time (not often though) in the story when confronted with some tough issues during different scenes, but should this author allow them to swear? With characters this age, the audience would most likely be fourteen to fifteen-year-olds and up. Should this age group be reading minor profanity? Most likely they are hearing it anyway in real life, unless totally sheltered.
If I am true to myself as an author, the bad language begs to be written. Although I haven’t written any cuss words that are really taboo (especially in the young adult genre), such as the F bomb, does WTF count as a swear word in books nowadays? Many young people seem to use it frequently on social media sites and while texting.
While I’m editing, I feel the need to take out the cussing, but what words do I replace them with that are representative of the totally rough social situation these two characters find themselves in. Will the reader know, without being told that in ‘real life’ (given my scene) they would most likely hear some swear words anyway, just not in this story? How do I portray a real life event with no swear words, where one would expect a swear word, and such a word would make the best impact? By removing the cussing, I don’t want the situation to become so rosy that the scene and dialogue don’t seem real anymore.
The dilemma of leaving or removing swears, especially in the young adult genre, boils down to the moral obligation of the writer, editor and ultimately the publisher. Personally, I enjoy reading books with little to no profanity. So why do I feel the need to write it. Perhaps it is easier to throw out a swear word than trying to find a better written description of what the character is feeling, or how they are reacting, that old ‘show don’t tell’ rule. I guess I’ll look for another way, a better way to write the scene, which tells the reader that the character is ‘really pissed-off, doesn’t give a crap about what is happening and wishes like heck that the world wasn’t so screwed up’.
I welcome comments about using profanity in books in general, and especially books for older teens.
by Patricia L. Atchison, Children’s Book Author (patriciaatchison.ca)
