Every so often, a writer will sheepishly ask me, “Is it okay if my character swears?”
And every time, I have to resist the urge to deadpan: “Only if they mean it.”
Swearing, like everything else in your story toolbox, is neither good nor bad. It’s just… sharp. You can use it to cut through emotion, reveal character, punch up a moment, or accidentally bleed all over the page because you didn’t think it through. The trick isn’t whether you should use profanity—it’s whether the story earns it.
Let’s break it down.
1. Swearing Has a Time and a Place (Hint: Not Every Second Line)
If your character drops an F-bomb every time they open their mouth, and they’re not a jaded homicide detective, a burned-out ER nurse, or someone trapped in IKEA on a Saturday, then maybe—just maybe—you’re overdoing it.
Too many swear words work exactly like too many exclamation points: the more you use, the less they mean. By page ten, your reader is immune and bored, and now your carefully planted emotional landmine just fizzled like a dollar-store sparkler.
Profanity should spike when tension spikes. It should show up when emotion cracks the veneer. If your character is swearing just because you can’t think of a better line, the problem isn’t vocabulary—it’s intention.
2. Gratuitous Swearing: Just… Don’t
Swearing for shock value is the literary equivalent of someone shouting “Boo!” behind you: cheap, annoying, and guaranteed to make you roll your eyes instead of widening them.
If your character says “fuck” and nothing changes—no emotional shift, no escalation, no revelation, no character moment—then congratulations: you’ve just used filler. Colorful filler, sure, but still filler.
Use it purposefully, or not at all.
3. The Golden Rule: It Must Be in Character
This is the hill I will die on.
A sweet, soft-spoken librarian who bakes cookies for stray teenagers is probably not going to look at a parking ticket and snarl, “Well, piss up a rope.”
Unless she’s been pushed to a breaking point.
Or unless she swears like an exhausted sailor internally, even if she smiles politely on the outside.
Or unless you’re writing a comedy and that one line is your precision-timed punchline.
But if she talks that way all the time, and it doesn’t match her personality, upbringing, culture, education, stress level, or worldview, then your reader will feel the dissonance immediately. They may not know why, but they’ll know it’s wrong.
Characters reflect real humans: some swear constantly, some never swear at all, some only swear when something meaningful slips through the cracks.
Your job is not to make them polite. Your job is to make them believable.
4. Swearing Reveals Who Your Character Really Is
A character who mutters, “Oh, hell,” when they almost crash their car is very different from one who goes straight to, “Motherf—”
And both are wildly different from the person who whispers, “Shoot,” and then apologizes to the universe.
Your choice of profanity (or refusal thereof) tells the reader about:
- Their emotional stability
- Their upbringing
- Their internal filter
- Their lived experiences
- Their authority level
- Their confidence
- Their sense of humor
- Their relationship with the people around them
Swearing is character voice—sometimes the truest part of it.
5. Genre Matters (Romance ≠ Police Procedural)
Romantic comedy? A single, well-placed “fuck” can be the knockout punch of comedy or heat.
Cozy mystery? Maybe rein it in a bit unless Grandma Maureen is the one swearing and it’s half the joke.
Military techno-thriller? If no one swears under life-or-death stress, the readers will assume the characters are mannequins loaded with blanks.
Swearing is part of tone. Tone is part of reader expectation. Ignore that at your peril.
6. Final Thought: Earn Every Word
Profanity is seasoning, not the meal. Use it sparingly, intentionally, and where it matters.
Make sure the character would say it.
Make sure the moment deserves it.
Make sure it reveals something.
Make sure it lands.
If you do that, your story can swear all it wants—and your readers will follow you every @#$%& step of the way.
–Mark