Thursday, April 12, 2018

Playwriting - Part 7C - Creating Unique Dialogue, Using Swear Words

Warning: This post will contain swear words.

People use all different types of expressions in their speech. Some people don't like swear words at all and try to avoid them all the time. Some people don't mind them, in general, but they try not to use them, especially in the company of others. Then, there are those people who use them all the time.



That doesn't mean that you have to include swear words in plays that you write. Most plays probably don't contain swear words. However, in general, when swear words are used, they should be used sparingly. The reason for this is that then when they are used, they make more of an impact. There is a reason for the swear words to be there. They may be because of anger or they may be celebratory. They may just because a character talks that way.

However, if one character talks that way, you probably don't want all your characters to swear. Maybe two might, depending on how many characters are in your play. However, you don't want your play laced with swear words.

If you are going to include swear words, listen to how people use them. If you use them, pay attention to how and when you use them. It is important to sound natural. Being creative is a good thing, but don't try to be so creative that it doesn't sound natural. If you find somebody that uses swear words in a creative way and you can fit that into your character's speech, do that.

I know of poeple that use the word "fuckin'" to emphasize that something is great or pretty. It's not used in an offensive way. A character might say, "Those are some fuckin' awesome shoes." I know of people who yell "Fuck!" when something extremely scary happens. I once slid off the road while driving in the dark and hitting some gravel. A friend that was with me, yelled, "Fuck!" It was completely understandable. I saw a play where many of the characters spoke Spanish. One of them was extremely foul mouthed. In the play he said, "Como fuckin' esta?"

If you use swear words or even fake swear words, you want to make sure that they way they are used sounds natural. While you may not agree with everything in this post, Taylor Dennis's article on the Grammar of Swearing can help you to make swearing sound more natural. Don't force yourself to include swear words in your play, but if it seems like they should be there, write them. Of course, if you have to write a play for a class in high school, if you do use swear words at first, you should probably either remove them or replace them with fake swear words. However, that is up to each person.

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