https://www.wattpad.com/story/43453733-gunlaw
And it's about "bad language" / cursing.
I understand that some people do not like and want to avoid cursing. I get that. When I stop getting it are the cases when that desire is juxtaposed with the desire to read violent fantasy fiction - and let's face it, most fantasy fiction is violent. When there are swords being carried, hungry dragons, pitched battles etc … there's generally going to be violence.
So, here's the exchange. I'll admit that I took it as a passive aggressive attempt to control what I wrote, and reacted as I generally do to passive aggression - i.e. with actual aggression. That just feels more honest to me.
First note that the person complaining about the word "damned" had earlier on the page been lolling at the idea a minotaur had broken a prostitute.
And here's the exchange where they make their point about the "bad language".
(click on text to enlarge)
(click on text to enlarge)
So, yes, by all means take steps to avoid reading curse words if they offend you. But I reserve the right to think it's madness to be somehow morally outraged by the word "fuck" and yet be entertained by violence and murder.
And of course it's fine to be entertained by stories of violence and murder. We have been for millennia and will doubtless continue to be. Reading a story about them doesn't condone them. And if the person whose arm has just been chopped off with a sword says, "Well, fuck!" We aren't condoning the naughty word either.
It seems odd that I need to explain this...
And for those interested, here are the fuck-counts for my traditionally published works:
For the record, the fuck-count for Gunlaw is 29!
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #Prizes #FreeContent
It's interesting and sad that people are indeed thinking that way. I remember that there were indeed a few people who responded to headlines regarding the theft of your daughter's laptop like "Father tells robber he hopes he dies in a fire after he steals disabled daughter's only way of communicating" pretty negatively. Because one does not wish anyone to die in a fire! I had to take a deep breath. Thinking more about it, the newspapers loved to put that into the headline, as it was likely to attract more attention/clicks. I once thought that apparently it is absolutely okay to be an absolute a-hole if you also have excellent manners. I still cannot quite understand how a person being fairly entertained by minotaurs breaking young girls does give a f... erm about proper language. It's a weird world we are living in.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they were being passive aggressive or not, but I they might view actual swearing as something different than pretend murder. As an example, I think many (most? people aren't bothered by seeing a character killed on stage or television but they might think quite differently if they saw a real person being killed--even if it was televised.
ReplyDeleteOk, so if you define writing a story with a murder as 'pretend murder', then how is including swearing in a story not 'pretend swearing'? A *pretend person* said some naughty words. What the hell? <----real swearing by a real person. Feel free to be offended.
ReplyDeleteBA Ha Ha Haaa! I am not a huge cursing fan and I understand that there are times when nothing else says it all, so I understand. Fuck, If you are going to complain about curse words at least use proper English! "Hope you don't have much worse language?"
ReplyDeleteEach to their own? lol
ReplyDeleteI chuckled at your response early on: Bye
Simple yet to the point.
Well... if they don't like cursing and won't read a book because of it, that's their business.
ReplyDeleteThe world isn't pretty, and swearing happens. It's sometimes unrealistic to NOT have swearing at all.
-Hariman/Nevix Astari on Twitter.