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Re: Cussing in books

I generally gauge the use of coarse language by Ephesians 4:29,

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

This precludes cusswords 99% of the time, because it’s extremely rare that they’re useful for edification. However, I do think that they can be used sparingly to show character or contrast. I don’t think they should just be used willy-nilly, nor do I think you need to flood your book with them to make a point. (The book @crazywriter referenced sounds highly imbalanced. :P)

I totally agree with @denali-christianson‘s first two points on cussing in fantasy. If you’re going to have your character cuss in fantasy then make up your own words. With a couple of possible exceptions, a real-world cuss is going to sound out-of-place. The characters in a fantasy I read once used “hell” as a curse and I immediately stopped and was yanked out of the story because it felt too real-world-specific, especially when the bulk of the religion of the fantasy world had been so well-thought-out. Surely there would have been an alternative in that world.

I actually tend to have the opposite problem. Unless it’s a lot of strong language (or I’m reading fantasy and the cusses feel out-of-place), I tune it out and forget about it.

Hm. Yes and no. Generally speaking, I agree. And I definitely agree if the content is there out of laziness. But there are situations in which content can be used sparingly and/or tactfully to strengthen a story’s point. Lord of the Rings and The Wingfeather Saga didn’t need mature content to make their points. Many books/series don’t, and I don’t think it should be added if it’s unnecessary. But I’ve read other books where the content was necessary and was handled well, as well as books that were too squeaky-clean for the stories they tried to tell.

So I think it’s a matter of balance, and the balance should definitely tend toward no content, but if content is truly necessary and the author can handle it well then I think it can have a place. But I think that those stories where it is necessary are much fewer than the stories where it’s not, and a lot of prayer and thought should go into deciding what to include or leave out if you think something might be necessary.

I think we need authors who do both, as well as authors who fall in the middle. The world needs more quality Christian art, period. So we need authors who can write a lot of quality ficti0n in a shorter span of time, along the lines of Lewis. (Emphasis on quality. I’m not saying we should have authors shooting for quantity over quality; I’m just pointing out the authors who can manage both at once.) But the world needs more quality Christian art, and a lot of authors take a longer time to produce a quality piece of content. I tend to be more in the latter camp.

I also think that it’s possible to fall in the middle, to focus your energy in one or two areas and still finish a good number of projects. If you write fantasy, pouring your efforts into a whole world that can support a myriad of stories allows you to focus your attention, build up one cohesive world, but not limit yourself to a story or two. (The challenge there is not getting stuck in the worldbuilding stage but also writing stories as you go, lol.)

TOL-kee-en. The last two syllables aren’t quite that distinct when I say it, but I pronounce both sounds.