Young Writers Society

I think swearing isn't particularly effective or ineffective in any scenario, but if it's truly the writer's belief that what they are saying is perpetuated in a better way by swearing, then I'm all for it. Sure, some people are offended and it *could* potentially limit the audience, but if the writer is swearing then they are most likely aware of that and are using that effect to their advantage. Sure, some people overuse it in an attempt to be edgy or purposely offensive, but I think it's their prerogative and they should be willing to accept any reaction, positive or negative, their cursing evokes in people and as long as they can handle that criticism then go for it.

Personally, i dont like reading the swears. And to stick up for some people who do swear in their stories, it doesnt mean that they swear. It just means that they feel that the character , their creating does, imn some cases

I'm not against it nor for it.
Neutral ground i am.
I'm like Switzerland (Switzerland?). haha sorry i love that little quote... okay i will shuddup

Anyway.
If i have to use it i limit it to sh*t because personally i see no issue with that word. Year 4's in my school are speaking that and then i've been swearing since year 5 *curses school for ruining my innocence*

Depends on story pure and simple. A guy in my writers group (a bit iffy if i say so myself) wrote a story, a very brutally honest one about a trailer park blond with a curvaceous body who walks down a dark country street at night. She is ridiculed and hooted and yadayada. The amount of swear words or inappropriate words were phenomenal yet in my opinion that story (which was tearjerkingly amazing) would be flat and dead.

Most of the time i don't see the point in all the swearing.
Still, if you have to swear you have to swear.
These days it's a social norm (in Australia at least) so much my parents who used to scream at me and give evils to strangers for swearing don't batter an eyelid anymore. either it's because i'm 16 or they've given up i do not know.

You have my penny worth so yeah i'll run away

Well, i agree with a few others here, Swearing shows character, It displays passion, rage and a whole myriad of other emotions.
I don't think I've used it in my writing, but i would definitely only use it in dialogue, also it has to be balanced, and fit in with the character.

Yeah, those are my thoughts.

I'm not big on swearing, myself, so I don't write curses into my stories (it's a religious thing) but I don't mind a few curses in other stories.
However, I think sometimes people go overboard with it. Okay, yeah, swearing evokes character and a sense of time and place, but when your character is always going on about that *bleeping* terrible Miley Cyrus with her *bleepbleepbleeping* bad music or something, you've lost the impact. They don't make a big impression on the reader after the first fifteen-or-so times, so when your character screams a few profanities while in a time of crisis, the reader is just like, "Yeah, well, they say that all the time."

Swear words are louder written, too. Some kids I know swear about everything, but if they wrote it in an email to me, I'd be surprised.

I have used swearing in my stories before but usually I write "damn", "crap", "bloody" etc, you know vulgar words that aren't considered swears (in my opinion, anyway.) I used to have an addiction to swearing, due to my stepdad's influence. Now he and my mum have broken up, I have no influence. I still swear occasionally; only when I'm angry or upset.

I think people should use (or not use) swearwords like they use (or don’t use) any other words. If it fits, use it, and if it doesn’t fit, don’t.

Some people say that swearing shows a lack of creativity. This confuses me. What makes swearwords less creative than other words? The word “the” doesn’t sound creative either…let’s stop using it.

Some kids will say that swearing has just become an accepted part of modern language. Like if you wanna talk about how you slept with a girl another night, well, it's probably more casual-sounding to teens to say "I f---ed her" rather than "I slept with her" because the latter sounds too...old I guess.

Like I said a while ago, I quit swearing because I was doing it far too much. it can get to a point where it's unhealthy. Plus, it's lazy to write curses rather than have someone express themselves in a less-vulgar way. So if your character needs obscenities that much, either they are purely dysfunctional (Which I can relate to because one of my newest protagonists is very dysfunctional), or you're getting lazy.

And so I don't get confused people asking what I mean by lazy, I mean when kids just write curses because they can't think of anything more intelligent to write in dialogue situations. When all the character is doing is griping about his job and swearing, and that's all there is to it, and there really isn't anything special about the moment. That's okay, I suppose, if it's done for one or two scenes, but when the book is nothing but a character griping and swearing about nothing important, then that's when you know you've got a lazy writer on your hands.

EDIT: and on a side note, my post count is at 888. That's cool.

Krupp makes some excellent points, as usual. Also, congrats on your 888 post. xD I'm sort of a geek with that sort of stuff--I love it when I see someone with 123 posts or when the clock is at 12:34.

I have to agree--sometimes I think it would be easier to have my characters say something along the lines of "d--m" to express unhappiness, but when you don't want to have them curse, you're forced to be more creative with it.
And also, although it doesn't offend me to read swearing in books, I know some people who do try to stay away from it because they don't want to pick up the habit themselves. And I get that the 12-15 kind of YA age group is probably going to be swearing anyway, but seriously, why write a book that not everyone can enjoy?