By Caroline Clemmons
Writers—like real people—have words we avoid. Pet peeves that cause us to grit our teeth.
Years ago I was in a wonderful multi-genre critique group. The three men in the group made fun of the word “wafting” as being a frilly, romance writer’s word. Although I’ve seen it in mysteries and general fiction, I avoid it because of their prejudice.
A personal peeve is “each and every” because the phrase is redundant. Choose either “each” or “every” without altering the sentence’s meaning.
We strive to avoid familiar cliches like the plague (you see what I did there, don't you?)
OMG has become such a common exclamation, but it bothers me. Whether it’s in the letters-only or the three words, this is not to be spoken lightly. For me, it’s due to the Ten Commandments’ caution against taking the Lord’s name in vain. I may be in the minority here.
Swearing in general also bothers me. Neither my father nor Hero swear in front of women. I know my dad did when he was around only men (and didn’t realize Little-Miss-Big-Ears was listening). I’ve only heard Hero swear once, and that was a surprise reaction. In a small town where we once lived, there lived a sweet, elderly woman who was a member of the same church as our family. She was no doubt legally blind, but she’d lived in the same house all her life and drove the few blocks to the grocery store and church. Everyone avoided her distinctive gray car, as if she was the nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo. One Saturday afternoon when we’d been to visit friends, we were on our way home and saw her car heading for us. Hero said, “Oh, d__n, it’s Mrs. Snow!” He quickly turned the car into someone’s driveway until Mrs. Snow had zig-zagged past us.
The point of the little story is that the people I know don’t swear like an R-rated movie, book, or television show. Even if I’ve been desensitized by the media, I still prefer not to hear or read cursing. I’ve always considered swear words as fuel for people with small vocabularies—a prejudice of my upbringing.
If you enjoy reading clean historical western books, why not preorder my upcoming release QUINN, book 3, Texas Hill Country Mail Order Brides.
https://www.amazon.com/Quinn-Order-Bride-Country-Brides-ebook/dp/B0BSTMWV5X
Priscilla Bradford is
determined she and Quinn McRae will have a happy marriage—all she has to do is
convince him.
Priscilla Bradford’s once-impressive family has fallen on desperate times. She and her brother have lost everything. Against her brother’s wishes, she leaves Boston to become a mail order bride to a man in Texas. She’s relieved when she arrives and finds her groom is a handsome and charming man. His family welcomes her—at last, she feels part of a loving, happy family. But her husband soon behaves as if he were two people. She’s certain he’s a good man, and is determined to discover the reason for his mysterious behavior.
Quinn McRae is overjoyed to reunite with his brothers after being apart for fifteen years. They don’t understand why he doesn’t fit into ranch life on their terms. How can he explain the heartbreaking event that continues to create his horrific nightmares? He can’t—at least, not without revealing the secret he believes would cause them to send him packing. In addition to his internal battle, a local bully is determined to kill Quinn and his brothers.
How will Quinn overcome the bully’s attempts to destroy his family? Can Priscilla and Quinn conquer his doubts to become the happy couple of her dreams?
I laughed at myself as I read this, because in trying to think of words that trigger my reading disdain, I realized "trigger" had become one of them. Like many words before it--awesome, anyone?--its overuse has made it annoying and ineffective. At least, to me. I don't like quip, and although I don't mind some swearing (and do some), I never lost my dislike for the f-bomb. Thoughtful post, Caroline!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. There are quite a few overused words, aren't there?
DeleteAs one of the men who would comment about "wafting" I do believe we made fun of a lot of things and did not necessarily assign blame to a genre.
ReplyDeleteThe one that really gets me is the over use of "unprecedented." It is being used to describe everything, even routine events such as the winter weather that has gripped the area this week.
We did make fun of many things. Your comments helped my writing, and I appreciate your help and encouragement.
DeleteI was in a FB writers' group and mentioned that Louis L'Amour said there are more creative ways to write without using swear words. I have never had so many young folks jump in, and on me, saying that in today's world, real characters swear and are part of the writing process. I guess I'm just old fashion because all my western characters just say tarnation or dang.
ReplyDeleteJudy, I believe swearing was limited to the sort of words we use rather than the expletives most used today. Louis L'Amour is one of my heroes, so I would never argue with anything he said. We should be so successful, right?
DeleteGrowing up, the closest I heard to a swear word was my mother calling someone a hussy. I have to admit, over the years with my work in mostly male environments and also having been married to a state trooper, I have picked up a few bad habits and occasionally I slip. Generally, it is prompted by unexplainable rage at a situation where I feel I have little control. I do get frustrated though when I feel like swear words were added just to change the movie rating and totally out of character or context. I primarily try to keep my writing rated G though because someday I hope my grandchildren read it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a worthy goal, Sherri. You are a great writer, and they will be proud of what you've produced.
Delete