It has been nine months since Forgive Us was published, with Abandon Us steadily on the way. I always suggest for the people I give copies to leave their reviews and honest opinions. Most people love the tri-story setting of Forgive Us, while criticism varies. One of the criticisms I often receive is about my characters swear in dialogs.
In writing, I try my best to make my characters human. Some of my writing reflects my life. I inspire what characters say from real speech patterns, and have them act as humans would. I try my best not to have them doing anything outwardly stupid, and I don’t censor them. Real humans swear.
In the Odemark series, I specifically try my best to depict survivors as human. No mention of raiders or any other alienating terms for another group. Everyone is hungry. None of my characters so far come from good backgrounds. None are religious, have formal education, or have strict moral codes. They swear when they’re angry, they swear when they’re in pain.
I think it is genuine, and it is what people like my characters would do. I personally don’t swear a lot, far less than my characters, and I believe that my characters always have reason to swear. They live in the wasteland! There is barely any food, water, nowhere to bathe, no medicine, nothing. Failure in their world is amplified and could mean death. In short, life sucks for them.
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