Recently, I had the opportunity to help cook for an appreciation luncheon at the nearby high school. At the same time as the luncheon, there were kids helping with some painting and renovations of the band room on the other side of the building. In small groups, the kids would pass me as they went to the restroom to wash their hands or whatever. Every so often, I'd catch them say an expletive here and there, and it got me to think about my young adult novel. How much profanity am I willing to include in my novels to make my teen characters believable? Well, if even a bunch of band geeks curse like sailors, then I should find a way to include it without offending my audience, right? Or without having it banned from libraries.

There are several options to using profanity in your novel: use it liberally or sparsely, summarize or sanitize it, or  omit it entirely. The liberal option isn't one I'd want to use, but it does work for some. I wouldn't omit it entirely either, though it might be good to do so for the religious market, I would presume.  So, it comes down to author tastes and whether using it will enhance your novel and make it more real for your readers.

In my novel, if the dialogue calls for an expletive, and it would make the dialogue punch more, then I'll use it with the exception of the F-word. I have a problem with this word and for my own taste, I summarize it or sanitize it. Like in the case where Nick uses it in my novel, I simply say he threw a bunch of F-bombs. I actually have a list of words I will not use. Ones that are offensive to me. Those words are the ones I sanitize completely by avoiding them or hinting at them.

There are words that are part of  teen-speak lately, like when teens say, "What the hell? To me, I don't even flinch at that. Now say, "Shut the (insert f-bomb here)!" and I cringe. So I'd prefer it said like this, "Shut the frick up!" You get it, right? It's all about your readership and making them feel like they're walking to the restroom with their friends . . . even if they're band geeks.

So how comfortable are you with profanity?

Today, my son's birthday, I've been reflecting all morning about the miracles that touch us through our lifetimes. My son was diagnosed with cancer four days after his fifth birthday. At the time, it felt like a tragedy and that our lives would never be normal again. Looking back at it now, with my son cured, it feels like a miracle and one I remember each year on this momentous day. It is a memory that reminds me how sad and frightened I was and also a memory that, once he was safe, brought me great joy and alleviation.

There are tragedies in our lives that we can't understand. Some celebrations where we feel unworthy. And then some plain normal days without much emotion at all. Each day we live is the meat that fleshes the bones of ours souls and makes us who we are at this very moment in our lives. So each of our characters should have similar experiences if we want them to feel alive and not skeletal. That is how our readers will connect to them.

As we write about our fictional worlds, we can draw from our life events to pull emotions into our work. Be they sad, happy, scared, or angry, we can go there to those times that evoked such emotions. Much like actors do when trying to bring a character or scene to life.  By giving our characters human reactions and uncomfortable situations they become more real to our readers and make memorable characters for future readers of our work.

So feel the pain and go there with your characters!

That's all.

Okay, well, coffee will never be the same again *shudders*. This morning's coffee is Starbuck's skinny, sugar free, caramel latte. I might as well be sipping air, in my opinion (can you say diet--I wish I didn't have to). Anyway, my husband is always mocking the movies us girls watch. He 'll say stuff like it's a classic RomCom or Thriller--always the same formula. Of course, this  makes me send hate-eyes his way and say, "It's not about the formula, it's about the journey."

Really, every story fits into a formula. We've been telling stories since prehistoric men drew them on their cave walls. All novels, whether fantasy or thrillers, follow the same basic structure. They all have an arc--beginning, middle, and end--where the characters must travel across the plot to arrive at the resolution of the story. It's the author's life experiences that infuse the story with a unique flare.

What makes a story  worth traveling across the three hundred plus pages to that resolution? The flesh of the story. That's the characters, the setting, and the author's voice that gives the story a different feel. When I read a novel and fall in love with the voice of the author and the characters she's created, I'm hooked to the end.

So, when writing your rough draft, forget about the plot and write from the heart. You'll be surprised where your story will go. We have read stories in  books and seen them play across the big screen our entire lives and our brains already know how to structure a story.  It is during revisions that we can fix all the plot holes and technical stuff. Writing from the hip can uncover raw emotions you never knew were there.

That's it. Slurp! Yuck! *shudders again*