Genre reflects reader expectations. If you’re writing for the general market (whether as a Christian or non-Christian) then the question of whether you can swear or not comes down to genre.

Genre Focus: Christian Fiction

It is generally accepted that the language content of Christian writing is censored of profanity. The question does arise at times about whether or not an author can use profanity in a Christian novel. Some people with a more liberal approach will tell you “it depends”.

In the USA, major Christian fiction publishers sell to Christian booksellers via a third-party (the CBA – Christian Booksellers Association and the CRA – Christian Retail Association). The booksellers are known to be very conservative in terms of the content they would stock. Thus, major traditional publishers are unlikely to publish books (fiction or nonfiction) with swearing or other offensive content in them. The UK also has a “middle man” organisation – the Booksellers Association. There is no such organisation in South Africa.

Authors wanting to go the traditional Christian publishing house route, would be advised to avoid any questionable language in their manuscripts.

Self-published authors have more leeway as there is no “gatekeeper” third-party organisation deciding whether their books are “good enough” or not. They do, however, work with another type of “gatekeeper” – their readers. While there is nothing stopping a self-published author from including questionable language in their manuscripts, the average reader of Christian material does not expect to find questionable language or content in the books they read.

Co-publishers like Sela that assist authors to self-publish their books will give honest feedback on whether content fits the criteria for Christian Fiction or not.

The “gatekeepers” are an author’s friends, and authors should always pay attention to their feedback. This is why it is also important to make use of Alpha and Beta readers before sending your manuscript off to a publisher or editor. Honest feedback pre-publishing is something all authors can pay careful attention to because the feedback received can save them a lot of disappointment down the line.

As a guideline, if a character in a novel needs to express an outburst with emphasis and the author chooses to use unsavoury words, it can be alluded to without being blatantly expressed. In other words, you don’t have to spell it out. As a rule of thumb, it is better to keep your character’s outbursts as implied rather than detailed. Adhering to a policy of “better to be safe than sorry” can save you a lot of money and disappointment in the long run.

Acceptable examples are “He swore.” “He let out a vile expletive.” “He uttered a string of words he hadn’t learned in Sunday School.” “If his mother was here, she would have washed his mouth out with soap.”

It is essential that authors understand reader expectations if they want to engage their readers and turn them into fans. If you are writing for the Christian market, our advice would be to avoid any questionable language.