We can be articulate and say F¿#K at the same time

Or at least I can.

The concept of storytelling for me, and I think a lot of people, is housed inside two elements. First the content, what the story is and how that story unfolds. The second, and equally important factor is the way in which the story is told. Whether you're an author, film director, or stand up comic you tell your stories in a distinctive voice (if you don't use a specific voice your work will suffer for it). Now then, in my not so celebrated career as a storyteller I've written in various styles and attempted to use the correct voice for whatever I was writing.

When writing a screenplay, novel or even a short story a writer is not just tasked with that one voice of the overall story, but the individual characters' voices as well. Your villain should not sound like your hero; the romantic lead's style of speaking should not mimic that of the girl he's pursuing nor his best friend who's in the script to garner a few laughs. This is difficult, and I have failed in adequately giving my characters distinctive voices on a number of occasions. With failure, and helpful readers pointing out your lack of this skill, you learn, and begin to take the idea of voice very seriously. Which leads to my initial point, I use 'foul' language with great frequency in my daily life. Therefore if I'm telling a story from my point of view I'm going to use a great deal of off color language.

I have written entire screenplays with nary a single curse word. I have written articles on this blog, here or here, in which the subject and style I was aiming for didn't call for me to use words like shit or fuck. But in other instances I am very purposefully using such words to project a distinctive voice or illicit a specific response. The Miss Piggy Line 'O the Day (I mention it again cause it's one of my favorites) uses 'fucking' to implant a more visceral idea into the readers mind than just saying 'having sex' would have drawn out. There it's a juxtaposition, the harsh use of 'fucking' laid next to a puppet who's main audience is children. I'm not just writing stuff down (OK sometimes I am), I think about it on that level, of what words I need to use to get the response I desire. Ideally I know my story inside and out as I'm writing it, and I know my characters well enough that it isn't a chore when I'm typing. The process of converting a character's motivations, back story and my own sensibilities should be smooth as I write out a line of dialog. Not effortless, but hopefully fast and skillful.

For something like my farm stories the desire is to give the words on the screen as close a connection to my own spoken voice as I can. The difficulty is that I have the time to think about it, write it out and edit after the fact. We do this to an extant in conversation, but in writing you're inclined to clean it up a little too much. If I'm writing out a story and feel like referring to someone in the tale as a cocksucker, I've diligently weighed the value of using that word. Reckon I could call them a fellatio enthusiast, but then that would alter the way the reader envisions the person or the situation. Right there is another example, using 'reckon' the way I did in the last sentence. Using 'reckon' as the first word in the sentence forces a dialect and a cultural background into the readers mind.

Personally I have never subscribed the old notion that a man who curses has a poor vocabulary. I am very conscious of the words I use and the response they illicit from others. I'm also aware of the societal parameters of language. Again, I can play inside a sandbox and use the tools that are available inside (say, all words save Carlin's list).  But for me, and therefore my personal farm stories having those other words at my disposal makes life and writing more fun. And that's all I'm here for is to have some fun at my keyboard.