F___in' Language

Earlier this week, author Karen E. Olson blogged about getting flak from readers over one protagonist's use of profanity. Partly in response, her second series protag doesn't use profanity at all. And yet Karen has still seen a content warning as part of a review and surprising editorial suggestions.

Summing up her blog post, she writes, "Are you easily offended by language in a book? Or do you take it all in context?"

I commented:

Language only bothers me when it sounds "off" for the character or the situation. Profanity seldom bothers me because a lot of people use it. Writers have a responsibility to reflect reality to an extent.

I was bothered recently reading a book in which the protag used the word "perhaps" far too often, making her sound overly mannered, not fitting my image of her otherwise.

Several crime novelists have pointed out that some readers are more offended by language than by depictions of violence and murder. Yes, violence and murder are givens in crime fiction, but no writer intends readers become desensitized to them. They are at heart the vehicles by which crime fiction comments on reality.

Neither should anyone become desensitized to language. Writers want readers to feel characters' anger, fear, anxiety, shock when they use profanity.

62

I happen to be up in the wee hours of my birthday. Above is one way to express my age. Four hours after I was born, I stopped breathing. Fortunately, I started again four minutes later. Every second since has been a bonus never lost on me.

Stephen J. Cannell Dies

Stephen J. Cannell, writer-producer of many of my favorite TV shows (The Rockford Files, The A-Team, Hunter, Booker...), died last night of complications from melanoma. He was 69. Since the late 1990s, he had become known as a novelist, most notably for the Shane Scully novels. He frequently guest-starred on Castle as himself. I've often tweeted my admiration for him, and I hope he saw some of those posts. I will always remember his enthusiasm and encouraging words.