Cursing in Books by Jeff Bailey

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At the most recent meeting of the Sagebrush Writer’s Guild, one of the members, Laura Kostad, read the first three pages of her new project, The Highland Carbonado Golf Club Employee Handbook. Her use of some mild curse words in a couple of places raised some eyebrows and produced some comments from some of the reviewers. As a guild, we rather live by the suggestion to minimize cursing (and sex and violence for that matter.) Comments were inevitable. Part of my personal opinion is that well developed stories can include just about any wording that enhances the mental movie. I also believe that any story that depends on overuse of sex, violence, or cursing to sell the story must be a pretty weak story.On the other hand, I write nuclear thrillers. I depend on violent bad guys and, in some cases, violent good guys to add validity to my stories. It’s hard to have rogue militiamen steal nuclear weapons from an U.S. Army base without a measure of violence to seal the characters. Because of my genre, I almost never use sex scenes in my books. It’s just too difficult to work a sex scene into the covert theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. Cursing doesn’t fit either. Most of my perps (foreign and domestic) are well educated, culturally sophisticated, and working to display an artificial persona in order to ‘fit’ into American culture. Most of them are also not adept enough in American idioms to risk a mistake, to risk being noticed

Kostad’s character was, however, unique. The character was educated, part way through college. She was accomplished, a full scholarship ROTC cadet and national science fair finalist. Best of all, the character was strong, willing to work to complete her education on her own terms. To me, the characterization worked. As for the cursing, if a college co-ed didn’t curse before joining an ROTC program and spending weekends and summers in a military situation, she had to get comfortable with cursing quickly to survive. The same logic seemed to fit the potential new job, being a caddy at a golf country club. Again, if she didn’t curse back, the male dominated caddy shack crew would eat her alive.

I appreciated Kostad’s restraint in limiting the amount of cursing. She could have fallen into the trap of inserting too much colorful language in an attempt to demonstrate her character’s grit. She added just the right amount to subtly make her point. Kostad also showed a mature writing ability in her implication of nervousness and of the underlying presence of threat and intimidation. She never said these things in her story, but as a reader, I felt them. This was the first time that I sat in on a review of a Laura Kostad submission. I was impressed with Kostad and her writing ability. I predict that we will hear a more from Laura Kostad and her books in the future. I want to know what happens next to the newest caddy at the Highland Carbonado Golf Club.

So, back to the original comments about the appropriateness of cursing in the writing arts? If it’s appropriate to make a subtle point and complete a character, I say it’s okay. I guess we’ll have to continue to read Laura Kostad’s books to see if she continues to use cursing with such skill.

My name is Jeff Bailey. I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect in June of 2016. In The Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and why the government covered it up. The Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled to release I’m a Marine in May of 2017. I’m a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but with a more sinister twist.