No, not that kind of cursing. The blue words, the ones you may use when you hit your thumb with a hammer. The ones you never want to hear your kids say. Yeah, those words.A blue word is a curse word; a string of curse words may be said to make the air blue.
Traditionally, there has been no profanity in cozy mysteries. This is in addition to no graphic violence, no child or animal abuse, and no sex. Some prefer ultra-clean books with sex not even implied. Other readers are okay with a little romance that stops at the bedroom door.
I admit to pushing the envelope a little in some of my books but as I move more into cozy writing, I am curbing that. No more “blue” words. If I have a character who feels the need to express themselves this way, I will use a more “fun” word.
Here’s some examples. See any you like?
What about you? How do you feel about swearing in the books you read? Do you feel differently about what to expect in different genres?
Thank you.
I love Mysteries and Cozy Mysteries but dislike the cursing very much. Now like your words you listed are fine in my opinion. OH sure, you have an idea what you’re probably want to say but using the words you mentioned is OK.
Cursing in a cozy would not feel good to me. Neither would sex or violence. When I read a cozy, it is to relax and have “fun”.
So, I guess my answer would be, yes, I expect different language in different genres. A thriller or a crime novel would be totally different from a romance or cozy.
Just my opinion.
I feel the same as Crystal – alternative words placed as needed because there are places where you know the character will say “dog gone it” and we all know the implied curse that normal person’s would use! Those times would be very rare but I wouldn’t throw the book out as long as it is not an actual words but only implied. I feel the same with sex. You know normal people have sex but as long there is only implied with very mild suggestions or actions I am good with that. Along that same thought, we know there was violence – there is a dead body – but by using creative words we can know what happened, how, and by who without using graphic language. It all has to do with words and how they are placed in a sentence to imply an action without actually saying it blatantly!