Vulgar language in fantasy

[Mouseferatu]

I don't like it and I'd ditch that author.

Really? Not just the book, but the author?

That seems a bit of an overreaction to me. Now, if it's something the author does all the time, in every book, sure, that makes perfect sense. But I know that many authors, myself included, often try to write books in different styles. The heavy use of profanity in one doesn't necessarily translate to said use in others.

 

[Morrus]

Fair enough, but it doesn't change my actual point.



Sure, if you're writing in such a setting. But...

A) Not every fantasy setting has such a verifiable "realm of damnation" to draw on, and

B) Even if they do, blaspheming is only one of the standard methods of cursing in most given languages.

You're still going to have people cursing through other means and methods. The use of biology in swearing is common to a great many languages, to a greater or lesser extent.

it was an example, Ari, not an exhaustive list of... one.

I think Paul's example, above, makes the point as well as any. The use of the expletive establishes character and gets the point across in a way few, if any, other words could have done so succinctly. I don't understand how it could be considered either lazy or detracting from suspension of disbelief.

What can I say? It detracts from my suspension of disbelief - as much as a fantasy character saying "Yo, dude!" would. Unfortunately, in my experience, fantasy writers tend to be much weaker than their mainstream contemporaries (with exceptions, of course).

 

[Mouseferatu]

it was an example, Ari, not an exhaustive list of... one.

Again, fair enough.

What can I say? It detracts from my suspension of disbelief - as much as a fantasy character saying "Yo, dude!" would. Unfortunately, in my experience, fantasy writers tend to be much weaker than their mainstream contemporaries (with exceptions, of course).

Huh. I just don't see it; the word, and its various permutations, are much older than "Yo, dude!" (Which would, I happily agree, detract from my own suspension of disbelief.)

Please understand, my frequent posts in this thread aren't (necessarily) aimed at changing anyone's mind. I really, truly am having trouble comprehending why people react to profanity in fantasy the way they do, and I'm trying to get my mind around it.

 

[Croesus]

I'm sorry, but someone upset by that sentence has no business reading.

It's when I see comments this absurd that I stop reading a thread. Bye.

 

[Morrus]

Again, fair enough.



Huh. I just don't see it; the word, and its various permutations, are much older than "Yo, dude!" (Which would, I happily agree, detract from my own suspension of disbelief.)

Please understand, my frequent posts in this thread aren't (necessarily) aimed at changing anyone's mind. I really, truly am having trouble comprehending why people react to profanity in fantasy the way they do, and I'm trying to get my mind around it.

It's just a tonal thing for me. And it's linked to modern casual sentence stucture. I agree that writing in Olde Englishe is just daft, and makes for a difficult read, but having the characters speak exactly like us doesn't work for me either.

To be clear - I'm fine with the words themselves being in such a novel. It's the contemporary urban slang usage of them that doesn't resonate with me. The words may have existed for centuries in the real world, but the usual phrases containing them and current modern speaking styles have not.

Yes, one can (and should) compriomise to make it an easier read; but not quite that much.

It's a personal thing, sure (well, other than the fact that Ryan is writing a novel for me to publish....)

 

[Pants]

The first sentence of my story, "Confession," published in Dragon 356, elicited a similar discussion on the Paizo boards. The first sentence went like this:

"I sloshed through sh** up to my ankles."

Some readers were (and are) offended by that sentence. Here's my thinking on the matter (this is more or less a cut and paste from my response on the Paizo boards):

I don't get that. At all.

Using the word in this way is probably the least vulgar way you can use it (as opposed to 'You piece of sh*t!', 'Aw sh*t!' or some other usage), IMO. I was, admittedly, a little surprised to see it in Dragon, but I wasn't offended.

Nor do I understand how someone can be offended by that. I can understand someone disliking the use of 'modern' vulgarity in their fantasy, but offended? Please. Go find something real to be offended about.

 

[Tonguez]

The first sentence of my story, "Confession," published in Dragon 356, elicited a similar discussion on the Paizo boards. The first sentence went like this:

"I sloshed through sh** up to my ankles."
.

I can understand that some might be shocked and even offended - dragon was a magazine availble to the general public and its use was unexpected in that context. In a novel which I have chosen to read expecting something 'gritty' the sentence is barely even rateable. Then again crap would do the same job wouldn't it? and of course if the character was sloshing through that much crap perhaps he should have avoided the cows

 

[GSHamster]

"I sloshed through sh** up to my ankles."

This quote is interesting. If you published that sentence in Dragon, why did you feel the need to censor it on this board?

Obviously, you censored it for a reason, and I think that reason has a lot to do with the entire topic.

 

[Mouseferatu]

This quote is interesting. If you published that sentence in Dragon, why did you feel the need to censor it on this board?

Because the ENWorld filters don't allow use of the actual word, maybe?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Gord the Rogue, maybe, would not be cursing...

Huh?

Saga of Old City, chapter 1, page 1, paragraph 2, has Gord cursing.

One word sooner, it would have been in the very first paragraph of the book. And even in paragraph 2, it's still the first word we ever hear out of Gord's mouth.

-Hyp.