Hi all,
This week's post is a bit of a different one - revolving around swearing in YA fiction. I didn't realise it was an issue before I joined Twitter and I stumbled across a series of tweets asking if it's okay to have characters use bad language in YA.
My opinion?
It is.
All of my books are filled with crude language and mild sexual innuendos. There's nothing wrong with including it. When writing about teenagers you have to make sure that your characters are actually believable teenagers. Whether you like it or not, a lot of teenagers swear.
Although not all teenagers use bad language, most of them do from time to time. When they've just learned these words they will use them in any way they can, as it makes them feel grown up. Older teenagers tend to use them less.
All of my characters swear.
An example of swearing in Blood and Water - no, she isn't really a vampire.
Blood and Water was even rejected by an agent because I included swearing, and I was told that I should take it out or I would never get published.
She also said that it's unrealistic as teenagers do not swear.
When I was teenager, I swore profusely. I still do now.
To say that teenagers never swear is a false statement, and not one she should be telling authors who are hoping to get a few with her.
I've published Blood and Water by myself, and I have not removed the language.
Some authors get around this by inventing new words for their characters to use in place of swear words. You can do this if you want to, but I didn't want to invent new words to replace swearing. When your target audience is YA, it's okay to use swear words. I'm sure 99% of your readers swear, they're not going to hate you for it.
I don't think it should be as big of an issue as people make it out to be. If you want to include swearing, fine. If you don't want to include swearing, also fine.
Do what's best for you and your story.
Personally, I prefer having my characters swear as it makes them feel more human to me. At the end of the day it's just words anyway, and just because you don't write about it in your books doesn't mean that people will stop doing it.
Do what you want to do, and don't let anyone shame you for your decision.
That's it for this week! Next week I will be talking about how I'm feeling about self publishing, as Blood and Water is due out in nine days!
See you next week!
