DANGDABBIT

By Kimberly Johnson

I’m so annoyed that I could curse. Should I use curse words when developing dialogue when my main character and her momma fight it out? I am developing a character profile, right now. The protagonist’s name is Anjie and she has problems (baby daddy drama, trying to finish community college, paying the rent on time, and a part-time mother who doesn’t want to babysit). Anjie and her mother have a relaxed and tension-filled relationship (I’m still trying to figure that out).

The angel that sits on my shoulder says: “Good heavens, no. Using bad words shows a lack of education, you don’t have a developed vocabulary”. The horned one chimes in: “#$!?* Yeah. What’s wrong with a little spice? Plus who's gonna read that stuff if there ain’t no *&%%% going on.” BTW, I like a good swear word every now then.

To help me with this conundrum, I sought out a higher power—Writers’ Digest. I found a three question checklist that I liked:

1. 1.      Does it work for the reader?
2. 2.      Does it work for the character?
3. 3.      Does it erode my integrity as a writer?

After I punched out the angel and the horned one (too many voices, too much noise), I put some meaningful thought into that checklist, especially number 2. My preliminary writings show that Anjie is still figuring out her upside-down, right-side up life. I think cussing out her momma, every now and then, reflects the strain between grown-ups; not a walking- a- tightrope- mother-daughter relationship. Hmmm. What do you think? Should I use curse words when Anjie and her mother argue?