What I'm Reading: I just finished TEETH by Hannah Moskowitz. It is about a quasi gay merman and some magic fish. I loved the premise, and I read the thing in just a few short days, but I only gave it three stars on Goodreads. Why only three, you ask? Excessive use of the f-word. I know that this makes me sound like an old fuddy-duddy and a goody-two-shoes and all other sorts of hyphenated insults, but Oh. My. Word. F-bombs on every page. Sometimes twice in a sentence. I totally get how using profanity is a part of writing voice, and it's not like none of my characters cuss, but I found it distracting enough here that it pulled me out of the story. What do you think about excessive use of swearing in YA? And what is excessive?
What I'm Writing: I am still plugging away at my Mary Poppins remake, and I am just past 35K. It has been rough trying to get writing time in since we have had house guests NON STOP this month, so I will probably need to get a few trips to the library in to finish my 50K by the end of the month.
What is Inspiring Me: My daughter, who is five, carries around a little notebook and a pen and says that she is an "Are-fur" like Mommy! Love, love, love this girl. I can't believe she will be starting kindergarten in just a few short weeks!
What Else is Going On: We are still in potty training hell. Took my kids bowling today and my son peed in the rental shoes. Sigh.
It's amazing how tiresome swearing gets when it's overused. I don't notice it when it's sparsely used, but multiple uses per page? Nope!
ReplyDeleteGood luck hitting 50k! :D
Sorry to hear about the potty training incident. Hope he gets the hang of it soon :) Crocs and sandals are great shoes for kids to wear during potty training 'cause you can just wash 'em straight out ^_^ As for the rentals, that's what sprays are for ;)
Sorry that I laughed out loud at peeing in the rental shoes! :) Some day you'll be able to look back and laugh, too! I agree with you on the f-bomb. Once in a while use is okay but too much usage is like they are just doing it for shock-value and what's the point in that?! I hope you are having a great week (despite potty-training hell).
ReplyDeleteOoh a Mary Poppins remake?! That sounds like fun! I hope you can get to the library to get some work done. Distractions are never a good thing!
ReplyDeleteUsing curse words multiple times on one page is overkill. It doesn't do anything for the voice and it takes away from the story.
I couldn't help laughing at the peeing in the rental shoes. Hoping you emerge from potty-training hell soon. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on use of the F-bomb in YA. I'll be honest and admit in my first draft of my current WiP, the first half contained a lot of unnecessary cursing. When I read through it for revisions, I actually facepalmed and said out loud, "What was I thinking?!"
Hope you have a great week and get some words in!