I don't know where to post this, so I figured the lounge would work as the catch-all. I'd really like others opinions/thoughts. Tonight during supper my mother and I were discussing my favorite author. I was telling her about how she (the author) grew up in an extremely strict catholic school and as a result she can't bring herself to curse. It's just not something she can do unless she's so angry she doesn't know what she's saying. That's why her main character in her book has such a potty mouth and curses all the time, it's her way of getting it out of her system, so to speak. My mother immediately said, "She can write and think something, but not say it?! Bullshit!" To which I thought, "You're obviously not a writer." (Or something along those lines...) So, am I the only one who can empathize with not being able to bring yourself to say something you can write about? What are your thoughts on the subject?
I don't know that I fall into this category, personally, though if I thought about it a while I might come up with something. But it makes sense to me because your writing is basically a filter, one step removed from you as an individual, and furthermore when you're writing you imbue characters with all kinds of reactions, opinions, words, &c that are not necessarily your own as a writer. So, yeah, I can see it.
I think that's possible. There are a few below-the-belt words I actually hate to say out loud, but don't really cringe at when I see or use them in writing. In my mother tongue, that is. Since I lack the cultural context of certain English curse words, I have no reservations when it comes to using them, sometimes leading to awkwardness or hilarity. But I don't think it's a case of "You're obviously not a writer." I think it's more like a personal choice. People just react to and connect with words differently.
It isn't hard for me to say the names of slurs in real life, but it's hard for me to use them on somebody. I consider that to be a good thing. On the other hand, I have no difficulty making my characters fire off a bunch of offensive slurs and statements that would earn any TV program an MA rating. It's part of my environment, and it's part of life. An ugly part, but a real one.
Your mom said, "Bullshit"? I can see it happening, but maybe not commonly. Cursing is something a lot of us control in certain situations. I never cuss at work or in certain company. I do cuss all the time talking to myself and sometimes around my son. I almost never use the F word around my son. I never use certain words like cunt. But look, here I am writing it and I understand there is a street in the UK called Gropecunt Lane, and that's where the word originates from. My point is, we are typically very selective about using cuss words and we do this rather naturally. I don't have to think about not cussing at work, I just know not to.
There are words I don't feel comfortable using in real life or in writing. Ginger coffee's c word is one. There's a new and popular word which describes a popular new form of picture taking. I loath this word and would never bare to see it come to life from my tongue or my fingers.
It can happen. I'm sure there are authors who grew up being taught that being an offensive, cussing ass is frowned upon so writing is a way for them to release that pent up anger/urge to be that offensive, cussing ass. After all, they're not the ones doing it, their characters are.
I'm the opposite. I can say a lot of things because I can choose the audience an also because there is later plausible deniability. "Surely you misremember. I couldnt possibly have said that..." Print though scares me to death. The audience creates itself and its hard to back away from. Actually, if I self censored my mouth the way I do my writing I probably would have gotten in a lot less trouble in life.
[QUOTE="My mother immediately said, "She can write and think something, but not say it?! Bullshit!"[/QUOTE] ah, you should explain to your mother that is isn't the *author* who is swearing, it's the author's *character*. Big difference. Well, we understand. And no, you're not crazy.
I definitely think this is possible... You're not crazy. Writing is a form of expression and outlet. A lot of writers turn to their characters to express feelings that they are afraid to express themselves. I know I do.
Nope. It comes from the latin root "cunis" and means wedge. That's why the babylonians wrote in cuniform, why this is a cunt spice (the caption lies, we all know what it is), and this is a cunt cap.
its down to the writer/author really, ive been known to use strings of curse words when talking to people, and have absolutely no qualms about cursing in my novels as well, there is a certain word that i personally will go nowhere near (see previous post for one such word) because i really dislike it, and would not be caught using it. in which case, why would i use it in a novel im working on when you can create some pretty hilarious insults?
I don't find this surprising in the least because it is an experience I commonly find myself in. It might be for different reasons but writing has always been the way to express myself. Sometimes it is because I'm not to sure myself what I'm trying to say, other times I just find it difficult to explain something. And then there are those times when writing something is so much easier then saying it. O brain, how strange you can be.
As a working class Scotsman I am a prolific swearer. It's real, and in the type of work I write, it's fucking necessary. If art imitates life then it need not and shouldn't be censored.
cunt (n.) "female intercrural foramen," or, as some 18c. writers refer to it, "the monosyllable," Middle English cunte "female genitalia," by early 14c. (in Hendyng's "Proverbs" -- ʒeve þi cunte to cunniNew Member Quick Start
