Warning: Due to the discussion topic (swearing in fiction), profanity may be used within the post and comments. Do not proceed if you do not wish to risk encountering vulgarity.
Swearing is a part of life. You swear. Your neighbor swears. Your mom swears. The eighty-year-old Walmart greeter swears. I swear, too. I swear a lot. You may not believe it when you first meet me but give me some time and I’ll be cussing like a sailor. I’ve never had any problems with swearing in fiction. Vulgarity often slips into my writing without a second thought. It’s not until the editing stage that I go back and question the use of cussing because it’s second nature for me.
This tendency raises a couple very important questions: should there be swearing in fiction? If so, how much is too much?
For me, the first answer is pretty clear. Yes, there should be swearing in fiction when appropriate. Obviously you’ll want to avoid vulgarity in your children’s picture book about a rabbit learning the alphabet. Swearing may be a part of life but it wouldn’t be wise to expose children that young to this reality. Some things require baby steps.
However, the criteria for the appropriateness extends beyond the target audience’s age group. Does the book’s contents call for swearing? If it’s in the narration, does the narrative voice justify it? If a character is swearing, does his/her established personality align with this action? If not, is the change at an appropriate time and justified?
You shouldn’t avoid cussing because someday somebody might read it and become offended. You’re a writer. Frankly, everything you’ve done to this point has already offended someone and everything you write from now until the apocalypse will offend at least one person. What you need to worry about is if the vulgarity is not only appropriate for your piece but adds to it. If the story/novel/whatever needs the swearing, write it. Prudes be damned.
On to the second question, how much swearing is too much?
The answer isn’t that different from the first. If it’s a detective novel with a P.I. who has no filter and doesn’t give a rat’s behind about people’s opinions, a lot of cussing may be called for. However, saturating the work with swear words can become tedious and, counter-productively, boring. As with everything in fiction and in life, moderation is key. Sometimes you want a lot of salt on your food, sometimes none, and sometimes something in between. You just have to use your best judgment. When in doubt, ask your beta readers to focus on that aspect while they’re giving you feedback.
Personally, I think anything for people who are 16+ years old should contain some cussing. It’s just unrealistic to exclude it. Writers even create new swears for fantasy and science fiction worlds. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey contain some particularly amusing examples. If you’re a fantasy/science fiction writer, I suggest getting creative like they did. Not only will it help your readers immerse into your worlds but it’s fun to make up your own swear words.
Now, I only have an opinion on swearing in fiction. I have no clue as to what role cussing should play in poetry or even nonfiction. Any thoughts? Leave them in the comments below.
We all have a tendency to write characters that are like us. Whether we use our personalities, our political and religious views, our appearances, or our social relationships, some part of us weaves into each of our characters. That’s why I’m presenting you with a particularly hard challenge today: writing opposite characters.
What do I mean by “opposite characters”? I’m talking about characters that are completely the opposite of ourselves. Gender, sexual identity, political views, religious views, personality, attitude, appearance, the character is entirely what we would consider to be our opposites.
The prompt is to write a story or scene using an opposite character as your main character. It can be a flash story, short story, scene from a novel, whatever you like so long as the main character is completely opposite from you. Let your imagination run wild and have fun with it.
I tried a less drastic version of this exercise as an undergrad; we only wrote stories about characters who were opposite from us in personality. Looking back, that exercise did not go well for me. The character had an opposite personality from me but her actions and attitude felt very disingenuous and unnatural. It was all forced. That’s where the difficult lies: making the characters convincing as people when we start out not having anything in common.
It’s a real challenge to write a character so different from ourselves. However, the challenge can help us grow as writers. It makes us think in ways that we don’t normally think and imagine perspectives and obstacles that we’ve never considered before. As a human being it can also increase our empathy and allow us to see everyday arguments from all angles.
Did this exercise teach you anything interesting about yourself? About how you write? Did it change your perspective or how you approach your writing? Leave a comment and tell us about your experiences.
Some people think that the writer’s worst critic is his/her audience, that negative reviews destroy him/her from the inside. It’s true that readers and reviews are important to most writers but they are far from writers’ worst critics. Honestly, readers and reviews only have the slightest influence in comparison to writers’ real worst critics: themselves.
I know it’s cheesy to say that we are our own worst enemies but there’s a reason phrases like that exist. In this case the saying exists because it’s true. It’s true for any person but most especially artists. Painters, drawers, sculptors, actors, and, yes, writers are notoriously hard on themselves. We expect perfection and if we don’t get what we consider to be perfect, it won’t matter what anyone else says. We’ve already failed ourselves.
How do we deal with these inner critics? As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t know. I can barely get mine to shut up long enough to get any work done, and lately that’s required a combination of anti-depressants and two kinds of anti-anxiety pills. Nevertheless, learning to live and work with the writer’s worst critic is key to being a writer.
Writers can benefit from some self-criticism. The important word there is some. We need to be critical of ourselves and our work so that we can produce the best writing that we can. It’s especially helpful during the editing/rewriting phase. However, there’s a point when enough is enough. If the voice inside your head is telling you that you can’t make it, that you will never make it, that your writing is garbage, that’s when you need to take a step back and reevaluate your situation. Been there, done that, probably will be back there again tonight as I work on my end-of-year portfolio.
Despite what people may try to lead you to believe, it’s not so easy to just turn the inner critic off. Believe me, I’ve tried. It slips back into your thoughts as soon as you think you’re in the clear and you let your guard down. My inner critic especially loves to appear when I’m in the middle of first writing a story and when I’m in the midst of editing. Yes, it can help me edit and improve my work but it’s often in hyper-drive and tries to derail the entire project. I’m sure I’m not the only one. There’s a reason why the stereotypes of writers with addictions and mental disorders have gained traction.
The important thing to remember is to write despite this critical voice. It’ll probably still shout in your head and make you want to curl into a ball, but you can show it who’s in charge. You’ll feel much better if you just get a project done even with the doubt. Sometimes you’ll have to stop and give the voice a bit of a credence–after all, it may actually have a point about the last passage you wrote–but you also have to brush aside comments along the lines of “you’re a failure.” I know, easier said than done. If we don’t at least try, we’ll never get anything done.
TGIF, readers! I’m here to inform you of another contest with an upcoming deadline: the Bridport Prize. You can find all the necessary information on their website, but I will provide some highlights here:
The Bridport Prize was founded by the Bridport Arts Centre and raises funds for the center
The three categories are poems, short stories, and flash fiction
Although based in the UK, the contest is open to anyone of any nationality writing in English and who is 16 years of age or older at the time the contest closes
You can enter online or by post
There’s a small entry fee: 8 GBP per flash fiction, 9 GBP per poem, and 10 GBP per short story
The prizes are as follows (copied directly from their site):
I hope you’ll consider entering this contest, and I wish you all the best of luck.
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A couple time-tested saving and money-raising methods are penny hoarding and quarter rolling. Whether it’s just change you get from purchases or coins you hunt down in your couch and on the street, it does add up.
In a perfect world, we would all become billionaires from publishing our work–or at least we’d be able to pay for rent, food, and a computer. Unfortunately, we live in a far-from-perfect world. Most writers can’t quit their day jobs after the first, third, or even fiftieth book. Some are fortunate enough that they love their day jobs or at least tolerate them. Others, not so much. And some, myself included, can’t catch a break with getting a traditional 9-5 job. That’s why I wanted to do a post on side-jobs, (relatively) easy ways that anybody, writers and non-writers alike, can make extra cash.
The Penny Hoarder: I’ve heard about this one for a while but only started using it recently. In addition to tips on handling debt and saving for your future, there are tips for “side-jobs” ranging from recycling to writing slogans for small businesses. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find a money-making/saving/debt-reducing scheme that works for you without taking too much time from your writing. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for their newsletter to receive tips every day.
Swagbucks: I’ve been using this site significantly longer than any of the other side-jobs I’m discussing–two years, I think. For that reason, I have a lot more experience with them and a lot more to say, both good and bad. On Swagbucks you earn “Swagbucks” in exchange for taking surveys, shopping on certain websites through Swagbucks, using their search tool, and so on. One hundred Swagbucks equals about one dollar. Eventually you can exchange these Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards, iTunes gift cards, even PayPal gift cards, which are as good as cash.
The downside is that Swagbucks is not the most reliable source of payout and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Some surveys and offers don’t pay out and it can be like pulling teeth to get Swagbucks to help you when that happens. Some users have been told by customer service that they won’t help them anymore even though the users have done nothing wrong and haven’t violated the terms of service. I’ve seen reviews which said that multiple users had their accounts deactivated for no reason.
Mind you, Swagbucks isn’t always that way. Overall, despite multiple problems with payouts, Swagbucks has been incredibly helpful for me as an extra source of income and I think it’s worth a try. Just proceed with caution when contacting customer service and always be prepared to prove that you completed a survey or offer.
Ibotta: Ibotta is an app which gives you money through rebates on your shopping. Mind you, it’s only certain stores and certain products, some online and some not, and which rebates are available change constantly, but I’ve already made $20 in the past month just from my usual groceries and a couple iTunes purchases. You can’t exchange them for PayPal or other gift cards until you reach $20 but it adds up quickly. Just be sure to keep your receipts; sometimes you have to scan them to claim the rebates.
Foap: Foap.com is particularly interesting. Basically you download the Foap app, register on the site/app, and upload photographs you have taken. Hopefully someone will buy the rights to your photograph ($5 a piece). You can sell the rights for the same photo as many times as you like. Right now you can only upload photos from your phone but I’ve heard they’re working on a way to upload from your desktop. It’s not a guaranteed way to make money and you’ll definitely have to read all of the terms and conditions before posting but it’s an easy way to try to earn money. Not to mention it’s fun to look at all the photos and have your photos rated by other users. Even if you take horrid photos or can’t hold your phone still to save your life (guilty to both!) it’s worth a try. Besides, you never know which of your pictures people might like.
Etsy: I haven’t tried to sell anything on Etsy yet but the concept is pretty straightforward. If you make things (ex. sew mittens, create personalized drawings, etc.) or have antiques you want to sell, you’ll find buyers on Etsy. Etsy takes a certain percentage and you have to remember to account for taxes but if you have a unique product, you’ll probably make some extra cash on this site.
Fiverr: I just started Fiverr so I don’t have experience with payment yet. However, Fiverr is one of the best-established sites for exchanging services. I wouldn’t be doing this list justice if I didn’t mention it. You register on the site and post your “gigs”, anything from freelance editing to having “Jesus” make a personalized video message. (I’m not even kidding; there’s a user who offers that.) The prices start at $5 and you can provide three different “packages” per gig.
Warning: You must word your gigs very specifically and carefully. I didn’t make it clear enough that I would edit and give feedback on essays, not write them, so that gig was denied and removed by Fiverr. Fortunately that was all they did and I’ve been able to put up more “appropriate” gigs since then. Just be careful how you word things, don’t forget the terms of service for even a second, and always remember that you must exchange payment through Fiverr and you’ll be fine.
Again, Fiverr takes a percentage and you’re responsible for your own taxes but that’s the norm with these sites.
Freelancer: Freelancer is pretty much just a site where registered users can find job opportunities based on their skills as well as post jobs for other freelancers. Just like with Fiverr and Etsy, you have to use their payment system so that Freelancer can get its cut and you have to remember taxes, but it’s a simple enough system to use.
Warning: Beware of scammers! I cannot emphasize this enough. Specifically be wary if they send you an offer in your inbox when you didn’t bid on their job first. Repeated job posts, job posts with bad grammar, and anything asking you to contact them outside of Freelancer are all things you must take as red flags. Look them up and, most importantly, trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.
Upwork: Upwork is essentially the same as Freelancer. However, there’s a reason why it’s at the bottom of my list. I had incredibly bad luck on Upwork in an incredibly short amount of time.
Within my first month I almost fell victim to a scam. (If you come across a posting from someone claiming to be from Natco Pharma, REPORT IT IMMEDIATELY. The company name is a real company but they just use the name to make you think it’s legitimate.) Then I had a very unprofessional potential client. We scheduled Skype interviews but both times I couldn’t get a hold of her via Skype. I checked and nothing was wrong on my end. The first time she just didn’t answer and the second time she kept pushing it off on me in the chat and wouldn’t answer any of the questions I had for her. I finally contacted the company she claimed to work for, giving them my email address to respond to, and she responded to me on Upwork thanking me for contacting their website and telling me that they had already given the job to someone else. Mind you, that was the SAME DAY as the second scheduled Skype interview.
The final issue was my fault. I had a lapse in judgment and I offered to take the first payment from a client without an Upwork contract because he was new to the system and didn’t know how to use it well. Otherwise I insisted on an Upwork contract and offered ways for him to get help with the system, but my account was deactivated just for the suggestion. No warning, no second chances, my account was just deactivated. Fortunately I was able to contact that client outside of Upwork and still got the job. Overall, with the problems I had, my boneheaded mistake may have been a blessing in disguise.
I don’t want to discourage everyone from Upwork. Others have had problems like I did but others have had success. All you can do is try. My advice is this: be vigilant and don’t forget their terms for even a second because, unlike the more user-friendly Fiverr, they aren’t big on second chances.
As with everything I say, take this list with a grain of salt. Some things may work for you and others may not. I still think that all struggling writers should give these side-jobs a look. You never know what doors these sorts of sites will open for you.
Shameless plugging: I offer freelance editing, proofreading, critique, and writing services on Freelancer and Fiverr. I also provide book reviews and personalized Disneyland tips on Fiverr. My username on both sites is dragonet07, so be sure to look me up.
Do you have any ideas for writers struggling to make ends meet? Help out a fellow writer by leaving your recommendations in the comments.
This tendency raises a couple very important questions: should there be swearing in fiction? If so, how much is too much?
