This is a common question from new fiction writers. As with so many writing questions, the answer will depend. In this case, the answer depends on the genre you’re writing and the market you’re writing for.
Market
There are two major markets in the USA and other English-speaking countries: the Christian market (historically represented by the USA by the CBA, or Christian Booksellers Association, and now represented by the CRA, or Christian Retail Association) and the general market (represented by the ABA, or American Booksellers Association).
Major Christian fiction publishers such as Harper Collins Christian Publishing (which includes imprints such as Love Inspired, Thomas Nelson, and Zondervan) and Baker House Books (which includes Bethany House) sell through the CBA/CRA to Christian booksellers. These booksellers have historically been very conservative in terms of the content they would stock, so major traditional publishers are unlikely to publish books (fiction or nonfiction) with swearing or other offensive content that they know won’t be accepted by their major customers, the Christian booksellers.
As such, authors aiming on working with a traditional Christian publishing house would be advised to avoid any questionable language in their manuscripts.
In many years of reading Christian fiction, the strongest language I’ve seen was “crap” in a novel from Bethany House.
Self-published authors have more leeway, in that there isn’t a single gatekeeper like the CBA/CRA deciding whether their books are “good enough” or not. Instead, they have to work with thousands of gatekeepers aka readers. While there is nothing stopping a self-published author including questionable language in their manuscripts (in the same way as there is nothing stopping them including explicit sexual content in their manuscripts), the average reader of Christian fiction does not expect to find questionable language or content.
Your characters can swear, but it’s better to keep their outbursts implied rather than detailed.
Christian fiction readers can have strict standards on what constitutes bad language in a novel. I once saw a reviewer roast an author for taking the Lord’s name in vain in her novel. I’d read the novel, and what that review saw as taking the Lord’s name in vain, I saw as arrow prayers from a desperate character.
Common examples include:
- He swore.
- He let out a vile curse.
- He let out a stream off words he hadn’t learned in Sunday School.
- If his mother had heard him, he’d be eating soap for a week.
Genre
But what if you’re writing for the general market?
If you’re writing for the general market (whether as a Christian or non-Christian) then the question of to swear or not to swear comes down to genre. And genre reflects reader expectations.
For example:
- Readers of sweet romance (e.g. Harlequin Heartwarming) expect the same standards of questionable language and explicit content as Christian fiction readers i.e. none.
- Paranormal romance readers expect a lot of sex, and won’t be offended if that’s accompanies by a lot of graphic violence and a lot of bad language.
- Hard-boiled thriller readers expect the characters to swear, saying the novel wouldn’t be true to life otherwise.
How Will I Know?
How can you tell what’s appropriate for your genre?
Research.
The only way to understand the language norms for your genre is to read a lot of books in your genre. (Tragic, I know.)
What if you don’t know what genre you’re writing?
Research.
You need to read a range of books and find three to five comparable titles i.e. books which are similar to yours.
Click here to read an introduction to genre and why it’s important.
Click here to read a post on comparable titles and why they are important.
Understanding reader expectations is vital if you want to engage readers and turn them into fans. This means writing in a clear genre, using familiar genre tropes but twisting them to create a unique story.
Click here to read about popular genre tropes in romance.
Click here to read more popular romance tropes.
If you’ve decided you are going to include swearing in your novel, then how much swearing is okay?
Again, this is going to come back to genre and reader expectations. The character’s situation may also play into the language. For example, The Martian by Andy Weir includes swearing in the first line. but the character has just realised he’s alone on the planet Mars, with no way to escape. If people swear when they are stressed or in an impossible situation, Mark Watney is that person.
But don’t overdo the bad language. Like any writing technique, like, bad language, like, can turn into a, like, tic if used too often, like.
Alic F, posting on The Story Doctor blog, suggests replacing swear words with “green” to see if they add to the plot or characterisation, or are merely repetitive.
(His vote is that the swearing is likely to be repetitive and cliché rather than fresh and original writing).
In general, I agree. But I can accept there are some occasions when swearing in general market fiction might be both appropriate and true to the character. I use the Mark Watney test: if your character is trapped alone on a planet with no hope of escape, they can swear. Otherwise, find a more creative and original way of making the point.
