RS, Author, Novelist on Nostr: npub1arrgf…cuugh I was reading a [fun and cosy] book where the MC suddenly called a ...
npub1arrgfhys96h65fzc820n45rmfa2wyll8xdgqxr5dz8qph5u8yg4qccuugh (npub1arr…uugh)
I was reading a [fun and cosy] book where the MC suddenly called a woman a gender slur ... [there was n]o need for it at all in that context [a fantasy novel?].
I agree.
I use them carefully and advisedly, if at all. In fantasy—such as a story that might have a goddess that isn't set in the here and now—a modern gender slur is likely the wrong word. It will lack verisimilitude. Except for the F-word and maybe the inscrutably long lasting dude, colloquial words fall out of fashion relatively quickly. It is always the author's choice (or mistake) to use them.
I have written gritty stories that could get potentially read by an early teen audience (not the target, but still). In them, I've described others having used a word the POV refuses (somewhat humorously) to repeat. Alternatively, the narrator has said someone said something that caused everyone to blanch.
Slurs and profanity are sledgehammers as well as a choice. An author is never required to use them.
cc: npub1ct5725prg69wpzc4affrupv82g0sdj5ddls325tzlhepvz5vp04sr8m6n9 (npub1ct5…m6n9)
#EngenderedWriting
I was reading a [fun and cosy] book where the MC suddenly called a woman a gender slur ... [there was n]o need for it at all in that context [a fantasy novel?].
I agree.
I use them carefully and advisedly, if at all. In fantasy—such as a story that might have a goddess that isn't set in the here and now—a modern gender slur is likely the wrong word. It will lack verisimilitude. Except for the F-word and maybe the inscrutably long lasting dude, colloquial words fall out of fashion relatively quickly. It is always the author's choice (or mistake) to use them.
I have written gritty stories that could get potentially read by an early teen audience (not the target, but still). In them, I've described others having used a word the POV refuses (somewhat humorously) to repeat. Alternatively, the narrator has said someone said something that caused everyone to blanch.
Slurs and profanity are sledgehammers as well as a choice. An author is never required to use them.
cc: npub1ct5725prg69wpzc4affrupv82g0sdj5ddls325tzlhepvz5vp04sr8m6n9 (npub1ct5…m6n9)
#EngenderedWriting