When you tick someone off

A relative of my wife, a very sweet and generous lady, once asked me if I use the f-word in my writing.

"No," I said, primarily because we were guests in her house and it would have upset her.

Of course, I lied. I use the f-word, but not gratuitously. In On Writing, Stephen King addresses this by saying that if your writing calls for profanity, then profanity it should be. When Stephen King talks about how to write a story, it's good to listen. So, some day, I might irritate this lovely person when some dialog saves her money on her next perm.

In her recent post on Murderati, Cornelia Read does that one better. She bases part of a plot on events that happened to her and her sister as a child. Because of what happened, and her mother's role in it, her mother is quite angry with her.

Sometimes, there's going to be a tension between what we write and what might anger or hurt others. And while the writer is me says if they have to be hurt, then hurt they should be, the human being in me isn't so sure.

I haven't read Cornelia Read's story, but if she does a good job with it, I think there'll be a lot more good done by her writing it, than the harm she might cause locally. And that's really the key, isn't it? It's like using the f-word, or doing anything else in your writing. You have to do it with a purpose and that purpose should move the story forward and add to its value. Sometimes the hardest material to write is also the best.

Here's hoping that you never have to find out. Or maybe that you do.