When I wrote fanfics as a teenager, I didn't write curse words in them.
Or let me just say that my fanfics were almost like Disney Channel series because of the lack of curse words and stuff.
Like saying "what the heck?", "dang it", "oh shoot" etc...
Well, one of my fanfics said this:
Onew just watches them with a What-the-@%#& face.
Wow, my English was so good back then. /sarcasm
I feel like some of my fanfics have more curse words in them. (some are also "steamier" than the ones I wrote as a teen)
Even though I feel like I only write curse words when they feel "necessary". Like it is not me saying the F-word in every sentence. (I'm not that edgy of a writer)
And for the steamier fanfics, I tone it down.
But when it comes to writing short stories, I feel like I'm stuck in the self-censoring, because I feel like I would get scolded by family members if I wrote stories and stuff that had curse words and "steamy" stuff.
Heck, even saying my native language's version of "shut up" feels like too much. And I can imagine my mother probably saying "How dare you write that?"
I feel like there are times when I write something and the dialogue or something sounds a bit too unrealistic in a way where you kinda can tell that I was censoring myself.
Like I was writing a scene once that I imagined would be in a short story. And in that scene, one character says, just to annoy the other person, "I frenchkissed your mom". Well... can you tell what that character could have said instead?
And I feel like there is a difference between a character saying "you fucking bastard" VS "you freaking jerk".
Like the second one probably sounds like something from a Disney Channel show. (even though they would maybe say "mean jerk" instead)
And the first one sounds like someone being really angry.
And it would maybe also seem unrealistic, if I wrote a novel targeted towards adults that had no curse words. (unless it is a certain genre, where you definitely wouldn't expect curse words)
I feel like I maybe might be caring a bit too much about what family members and other people that I personally know, might think of my short stories.
This is kinda one of the reasons why writing stuff like fanfics anonymously is easier for me. (but I don't think I can publish anything anonymously in my country)
BTW just to clarify, I'm not saying that fiction targeted towards adults have to have curse words and "steamy stuff" to be good-written.
