Bad Language or Art?

I was taken to task by two readers for using, what they termed, potty language in ONE GOOD DOG.  In both cases, I defended myself by saying that 1) I write for adults and, 2) in order to draw authentic characters, one must write as real people behave.  Yes, there is an f-bomb or two, but used exactly as a man would use it, under the circumstances that would make it unthinkable that a man wouldn’t use it.  If I’d substituted ‘doggone it,’ well, it wouldn’t have been believable and it would have diminished the carefully constructed character that used that language.  Dialogue isn’t random, it’s chosen to reflect the character that’s being written.  If a word is out of character, the illusion that this is a real person is threatened.   I did put that word in the mouth of an angry teenage girl; but again, it’s what a furious, frustrated, young woman at the end of her rope might scream as she runs out the door.  And, yes, I did use a term for excrement that might have offended.  But, again, when Adam steps in it, that’s the word that comes into his head–wouldn’t it come  into yours?

At heart, I think that a generational disconnect is partly what prompts this complaint.  And the fact that woman has written those words.  But I can assure you, the use of ‘bad language’ isn’t gratuitous.  In today’s world, when used judiciously, such language is authentic.

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