Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

Offensive Language - Being Aware

My next chapter is on -- you guessed it -- writing offensive language in stories. Many of the stories on Wattpad have some sort of curse words or other use of language that could be considered offensive to some readers. To clarify, I'm not here to preach about how using swear words are bad and you are all going to Hell; you may have noticed that I actually use them too, sometimes. Instead, I want to make sure that you understand what may result from you deciding to use that language, and also when it's appropriate to and when it isn't.

For starters, you should always be aware of the fact that some readers who are young, religious, or just don't like cuss words probably won't feel like reading your story if you drop F-bombs every second paragraph. Likewise, if one of your characters is racist, someone of that ethnicity might be uncomfortable or even angry reading your story. For the first part, about swearing, I have a few tips that I will be sharing with you.

The first is that you shouldn't overdo the swearing. When swears are used repeatedly, you look like a fifth grader that thinks they are really mature and wants to prove it. You don't look mature; instead, it has the opposite effect. You should remember that swears should be kept mainly for dialogue and not narration. I don't generally swear when I am thinking to myself, only when I am speaking one or two may pop out. However, sometimes characters with a certain personality or who are feeling passionate emotions might swear in their thoughts. 

That brings me to my next point. If a character is the type of person that would swear, fine. If they are that quiet girl that sits at the back of the class that never speaks a word but then randomly starts throwing around things that would make even the biggest potty mouth blush, there's a problem. It has to suit the character's personality. And if it doesn't suit their personality, then they have to be very, very angry for any swears to emerge from their mouth. Those are some really important points for that topic. Something else for you to consider is that swearing is primarily used in narration only when the story is written in first person. Otherwise, it just sounds weird. 

The next thing I mentioned was being discriminatory in your writing. If a character insults anyone of a certain ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality, etc then that character is discriminatory. This is something you should especially try to steer clear of unless you feel it is a necessary part of the book. If you are trying to make a point about a character's attitude or it goes with your theme, these things are acceptable. Why? Because you are advocating against them, not advertising them. Here's the catch: if you choose to include these things be sure to make it clear that you don't agree with them and are trying to make a point. Not to mention that regardless of whether you wanted it to be offensive or not, some people still won't appreciate the discrimination in your story and most likely won't read it.

Now that that's out there, I will leave you to your own devices. I just thought I would let you part with that information so that you are more aware about the effect that your writing could have on other people. Thanks to all for reading.