Curses

[Writers Plot]

posted by Doranna Durgin
Oy. These characters sometimes...

Okay, that should give you an idea right there how I use off-color language. I mean, "Oy?" How risque can you get? Not that I won't let slip a few scorchers under inspiring circumstances (oh yes), but my repertoire is, how shall we say...limited.

Alas, not so all of my characters.

This wasn't a huge deal when I was primarily writing fantasy. I could make up phrases that were society-appropriate, words based on the same factors that affect our own swearing--religion, bodily functions, etc. But those were made-up words, so they didn't trigger my wince factor. I could happily type them all day, nary a hesitation.

But now my work is more weighted toward the contemporary. And while I don't think twice about using a word on the intensity level of, say, ass, the kind of language that certain people--bad guys, natch--use as a matter of course tends to stop me short. (Hey, now I've got the words "fantasy" and "ass" in the same post...whoo hoo, the search engine hits should come pilin' on! If I could only think of a way to sneak in the word, "Beyonce"...)

So where was I. Expletives. As it happens, the hero of the current book, in certain company and with due inspiration, becomes significantly, um, blunt. Way more blunt than I! In the past, I've managed to fudge such moments. Characters get cut off in mid-word, or colloquialize a word significantly, or I insert some vague allusion to the cursing. All of those things are just as effective...sometimes more, because what the hey (see what I mean), the imagination is always worse than what I can actually come up with to put on paper.

But no fudging with Dolan Treviño of THE SENTINEL. Oh, no. When dealing with those people that inspire him to be--right, blunt, wasn't it?--he wants to say his words in no uncertain terms. Over the course of this book, he backed me into a corner several times. I won't say he totally got his way, but on the other hand...I'm not totally happy with the fact that he didn't. I feel as though I should be able to divorce myself from my characters so they can be completely themselves. And then I lecture myself--they're just words. Words only have the power that you give them. It's not you, it's him. Etc. But...I still can't quite go there.

How I'll resolve this with Dolan in second draft (having finished first draft late last week, yay!) is as of yet undecided--he hasn't given up the fight yet, I know that much! He has some choice, pointed phrases in mind, and he wants to use them. Spelled out, clear, and right out in the open.

You know, sometimes words still surprise me with their power, even the power they have over the one who writes them. Doggone it!