Culturally Relevant Characters

Comment

Comment by David N Alderman on December 17, 2009 at 2:45pm

I agree with Hunter for the most part. My newest novel has the B word in it because the character is getting really mad and blurts it out to another character. They are both teenagers and are in the middle of a fight. If I were to try and replace the B word with something like freak or idiot, I think the scene would lose its intensity. That said, I think we should use some control over the frequency of those types of words. I'm not using the word just to shock the read, but I am using it to keep my characters true and believable. When I read about characters using replacement words like freakin' and frickin', it really bothers me and makes me take the work less seriously. However, they could just as easily have written some of those scenes without having the bad language or the replacement words at all. It all depends on the scene and the characters.

In response to Lisa's question about sensuality/ sexuality, that is in my novel as well. Once again, I think we need to exhibit some control over how often scenes like that are in our writing, but I don't think it would be fair to say they shouldn't be in there at all. My latest novel has a rape scene in the first chapter. I struggled putting it in the novel because I wondered what others would think about me writing that sort of stuff, but every time I tried to take it out, I realized I was doing an injustice to my character and the flow of the story was altered on a negative level. The character wouldn't be who they are if I didn't have that rape scene in there. It is a huge turning point for the character. The character does have elements of sensuality to them because that is who they are and I plan on bringing up the theme of redemption later on in the series, but in order to do that, the reader needs to be able to relate to the character at least on some level.

Just my two cents! :D

Comment by Hunter Jackson on December 17, 2009 at 1:03pm

I was reading over the wall posts about cussing. In general, seeing or hearing words like "frick" or "freakin'" or "friggin'" in a story reminds me of watching a movie that has been censored. It doesn't carry the same weight as the uncensored cuss words. I understand not wanting to write out the actual cuss word, but I'd prefer characters to be true to themselves and not censored. If the character censor cusses then let him/her, if not then write out what he/she says. I'd rather not control my characters and make them fake for the sake of the reader. It's frustrating to me because I don't want to write out the actual words but I don't want to control my characters and make them less than themselves. I'm a Christian and I cuss when I'm mad or for some other reason. I shouldn't but I do. It's hard not to. Christians should do any of the sin stuff we do anyways, but some do and can justify it. Should we write culturally relevant Christian characters who are not true to themselves because we think we should write them above their sins?

Elizabeth, war novels have cussing in them and lots of it. That's how people vent their anger and how drill sergeants train their recruits. I never went into the military but I had to read a few war novels for literature classes. I cringed at every cuss word and skipped over a few paragraphs of it. If you can write a realistic war story without using cuss words, then more power to you.

Comment by Lisa Lickel on November 4, 2009 at 8:04am

How about pretty frank sensuality/sexuality - no, not the sweet Julie Lessman married type, but the type found by people in today's world who need to be redeemed? I'm reading a book from the Urban Christian imprint. I gave it a pretty good review, but I'm still uncomfortable about it.

Comment by Shawna Williams on August 10, 2009 at 7:40pm

Just wanted to say that--for some reason--my husband and I were discussing the origins the F word recently, and discovered that it's usage in the English language dates all the way back to the fifteen hundreds. Several other European cultures also contain a similar words with a similar meaning. I could list them, but....

Comment by Ashley Ludwig on May 21, 2009 at 3:08pm

F-bomb
Freakin'
Friggin'
H-e-double-hockey-sticks
curse
swore under his/her breath
...?

Comment by Garry R. Kennedy on May 21, 2009 at 2:52pm

I agree.

Comment by Ashley Ludwig on May 21, 2009 at 1:44pm

Nike - well said. We are supposed to be in command of the English language, after all!

Comment by Elizabeth Bennet on April 7, 2009 at 3:18pm

Yeah, I totally agree with that!!!!!!!

Comment by Garry R. Kennedy on April 7, 2009 at 3:15pm

I still unfortunately occasionally still use the F word in my real life. Why? Because I'm still a work in progress and at times a very poor example to others, and I'm not proud of it. However, as a Christian writer I believe it should be one of our responsibilities to set the bar higher rather than lower it to meet the world's standard. The world doesn't expect to hear such language in a Christian novel. They expect better. We don't need to use the devil's language to make the Lord's point.

Comment by Elizabeth Bennet on February 28, 2009 at 12:51pm

I found myself a loop whole! So no profanity actually gets in there.

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