What About Profanity When Writing Dialogue?

by PeggySue Wells @PeggySueWells

By the time she was ten years old, my daughter had surpassed all the art instruction I could give. At a local art show, she considered the pieces on display and pointed to a group of portraits. “I could learn from that artist.”

And so she began group lessons at the artist’s studio. When I picked her up after the first class, my daughter eagerly described the new techniques she learned and finished with, “And there is a little old lady who swears like crazy.”

The following week, the instructor and I talked about my daughter’s progress. “She mentioned that one classmate is particularly colorful,” I said.

The instructor nodded. “When your daughter joined the class, that student really cleaned up her language.”

To use or not to use. What does a writer do with the question of profanity? Writing about our artistic little old lady with the surprising vocabulary, what words get included in the dialog?

When writing about a street gang, an author wants to portray the character authentically. To do anything less will lose readers. When author and filmmaker Frankie Schaeffer produced faith-based films, his biggest challenge was to make a product a church would show while portraying characters realistically. After all, what uncouth bad guy is believably going to say, “Golly gee whillikers”?

Language is a non-issue for some writers, and some publishers have policies that require no profanity. Additionally, to include such words limits the audience. There are readers who prefer family friendly works. Projects with mature content is not recommended for younger readers. 

So what does a writer do when writing realistically about a character whose language would be populated with profanity? What about those shocking plot points that would illicit such an exclamation even from a character who is not known for using such terms?

Options for Handling Profanity When Writing Dialogue

• Use a grawlix, the series of keyboard characters that often appear in place of profanity. Think of the symbols as graphically bleeping out unacceptable words. This is often seen in comic books as #@*%.
• Use the term that describes for the reader what is said. The faces of his two sisters filled Michael’s mind and he cursed.
• Another term to describe for the reader what is said. He swore.
• Hint at what is said. “You son of a…” Marc swung his fist into the man’s nose. 
• A similar way to hint at what is being said. “Son of a…” the oath seamlessly streamed into another language that Marc guessed to be Arabic.

Using profanity just for the sake of using such words is lazy writing and tiresome for the reader. What other ways can you use to show who the character is while remaining family friendly? How can you show the seriousness of the situation without the use of profanity?

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Tropical island votary and history buff, PeggySue Wells parasails, skydives, snorkels, scuba dives, and has taken (but not passed) pilot training. Writing from the 100-Acre Wood in Indiana, Wells is the bestselling author of thirty books including The Slave Across the Street, Slavery in the Land of the Free, Bonding With Your Child Through Boundaries, Homeless for the Holidays, Chasing Sunrise, and The Ten Best Decisions A Single Mom Can Make. Founder of SingleMomCircle.com, PeggySue is named for the Buddy Holly song with the great drumbeat. At school author visits, she teaches students the secrets to writing and speaks at events and conferences. Connect with her at www.PeggySueWells.com, on Facebook at PeggySue Wells, and LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/peggysuewells