A question came up recently on an elist for writers to which I belong, and it sparked my interest. The list participant wanted to know how much vulgarity is permitted in a novel.
Well, of course on one level, the question is absurd. It’s like saying how much one can use the color yellow, or Paris, or women. What I tell my clients and students (ad infinitum, it sometimes seems) is that the story is what matters. To use an SEO expression, content is king. Your primary function as author is to be a storyteller, and however you can best tell the story is where your focus and energy should be, not whether semicolons or adverbs should be inserted.
So my immediate sense, in reading the question, is to say: how much vulgarity? As much as the story requires.
Still, it’s a decent question when one is going to be seeking publication. Some publishers won’t allow characters to swear. Others revel in it. What’s the writer to do?
My friend Bob Sanchez, author of the wonderful and award-winning When Pigs Fly, has this to say:
Vulgarity is a useful tool for establishing character, but it’s best to use it judiciously. Don’t pepper your manuscript with profanity. If you have a particular character swear a couple of times, it will be clear what type of person he or she is–so you don’t have to show them doing it a lot to get the idea across.
In my novels, the good guy never swears, and the bad guy does it enough to reinforce the readers’ dislike of him–but that’s just my approach. Editors will cut you some slack, depending of course on the nature of your novel. Overuse of swearing is not only a turnoff, but the words quickly lose their impact.
As for characters being gleaned from real lives, don’t be wedded to the idea that they have to be true to reality. They have to be true to your story. Never mind “reality” unless you’re writing non-fiction.
Wise words to think about … let the story be in the driver’s seat. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!
