The Swears

There's chitchat over on Forever Young Adult this morning about swearing in Young Adult books.

The WILFAIR books have what I've called "light" swearing -- a few craps and hells and damns. But nothing harder. I made this choice for a few reasons.

1. The story is set in the "now" but it is a vaguely old-fashioned, heightened reality now. Our main character Fair Finley is a professional and a representative of her family business. So are her two guy neighbors. So. Unleashing strings of colorful expletives wouldn't work, both for the world and the main character's job.

2. The main character's friend, Sutton Von Hunt, does swear, but because she also works in a public capacity, she has been asked by her grandmother to watch her language. She finds a few ways to do so. The swears are no longer there but you can feel Sutton's hot-tempered meaning when she says she "sparkles rainbows unicorns doesn't like something." Or at least I hope you can.

3. I'm not anti-swearing and I do speak freely at home; an "ouchie!' isn't going to cut it with a stubbed toe or a surprise bill. But does my stomach squidge a tiny bit when I see people getting incredibly sweary in front of strangers in public? Yes. I guess that's pretty much my main beef with swearing. Just be aware of others.

Actually, "be aware of others" is one of my main beefs with many things. :)

4. Monty Overbove makes the point in REDWOODIAN that we've all become inured to a lot of the sweariest swears. I agree with him; what can be intended to shock often leaves the listener stifling a yawn. Maybe we all need some really juicy new bad words. Word inventors of the world, please come up with some. Make 'em zingy. Thank you.

5. None of this applies to innuendo, which I like to think of as the craftier third cousin to swearing. How I do enjoy when a character says something a bit filthy or a bit wrong but veils it in such a way that it skims the heads of those it wasn't intended for but still delivers an exciting pow to those characters who get it. Innuendo is my writing boyfriend.

Lovely readers, what do you think? Are you comfortable with the lack of swearing and/or the swear substitutes you've read in the books? Do you find them realistic to the WILFAIR world or do they seem a bit fusty and old-fashioned? I'd love to hear.