Curse words and context
Added 2022-11-15 00:40:47 +0000 UTCAs I'm sure you all remember, toward the end of LF, FantumHat aka Philip Clayton Harris III is holding a gun on Bree. At this point, he calls her a bitch. Now, I've waffled quite a bit about this. The books are rated age 12+, and I know 'bitch' is a word that kids - at least here in the US - hear far too frequently, so to me, it's not much worse than 'damn', which I sometimes have my adults use. Also, the word is very appropriate to the context and the character. Honestly, anything else would feel forced and false to me. In this situation, this guy would probably be cussing up a storm.
My conundrum is this: Do I or don't I post a warning to the readers about it? "There is one use of the word b---- in this book. It is appropriate to the context and character."
I feel like that's drawing too much attention to it. Too self-conscious? Asking for trouble? I think I've actually used bastard before, too. (I know I did in the original, and I can't remember if I edited it out.)
It's really making me crazy, and, btw, I've already pressed the button on submitting the print book, so I may be closing the barn door after the horse got out 😂 What do you think? For example, in GT, I would never use a 'real' swear word, but LF is different.
Argh!
