I Asked Metafilter:
Writers: When do you use profanity in writing?
I’m working on an essay, and I’m at a section where I’m yelling at my boyfriend for doing something stupid and I’m waffling between putting down what I really said (“You better cut this shit out”), and making it nicer (“You better cut this out.”)
Eventually I’d like to submit this essay to a major newspaper so I’ll take out the profanity, but I was just curious if you other writers have policies on how much profanity you use in your writing–as much as you want? Just for effect? None at all?
Obviously, if you’re writing for the New York Times, you’re not going to be dropping f-bombs in your pieces, but how about for your fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, blogs, plays, screenplays?
Want to see what other writers have to say on the topic? F*@k yeah you do.
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