The Spectacular Power and Influence of Swear Words

The most effective words, and arguably most powerful, we possess in our language are the words that are not often uttered. The taboo surrounding them give them power. I'm talking of course about swearing.

There are many belief systems that the mere utterance of a word without particular purpose will cause a harmful effect. Saying the "true" name of God in the Jewish faith when in vain, is thought to be of grave offense, for you are attempting to overpower God himself. Hence, they use the term "Yahweh", to indirectly refer to God outside of religious function. Taking the Lord's name in vain is a type of swearing known as Paranormal Swearing, but there are many others. 

Abusive Swearing is the most commonly known, and as the name implies, is designed to insult to an extreme degree that normal words would not allow. These words are given power because of the intent and of the rarity of their use. According to economical law, rarity means value. When we hear someone insult us with a rare form of speech, we feel as if the insult is not just an expression, but an injury. If we are able to disregard the speech or practice this swearing more often, it tends to lose it's value. Thusly, we do not feel as injured as, say, a sheltered Christian.

Another type of swearing is Emphatic Swearing. Emphatic Swearing can be quite effective and truly drive the meaning of emotion behind the swear word. A great example of this is the most climatic moment of the popular movie "A Few Good Men". When Colonel Jessup is asked if he ordered the code red that killed a subordinate after relentlessly being pummeled with questions, he shouts "You're goddamn right I did!". The setting is in a courtroom, a specific area where you do NOT swear, coupled by a high ranking officer who should be above reproach. His emotional outburst and swearing while admitting to murder shock and leave the entire courtroom paralyzed for a few moments. That is the power of mixing emotion with swearing.

Quite the opposite, Euphemism Swearing is much less dramatic, and hardly a form of swearing at all. A doctor may politely say, "After the patient went into cardiac arrest, he defecated." That's swearing? In a way, it is so, and worth noting. The politeness around such a traumatic event is to be equally noted, for it is equally strange. A normal person, while frantic at the time, would give a statement to police similar to, "The guy just shit himself and died!" Normal? Yes. The Euphemism Swearing would be most powerful if the "normal person" had been calm when saying that. Many would suspect, if it was a homicide scene, this guy might be a really polite killer.

Alternatively, the frantic person saying "The guy just shit himself and died!", is a type of swearing. This is called Dysphemism Swearing. This means the person might not swear if they were calm, but they swear to really drive home the unpleasantness of the experience that couldn't be conveyed if they said it in a politically correct way. They want their trauma to be the policeman's trauma.

But swearing isn't all bad. Cathartic Swearing, termed lalochezia by medical practitioners, is when swearing relieves pain. Shouting "shit" or "fuck" after you hurt yourself can actually reduce the pain felt. Just don't say it in front of your kids, like in A Christmas Story.

Ideomatic Swearing is shown best, in my opinion, by Stephen King in his novel/film "Stand By Me". This type of swearing serves not as an emphasis for speech, but actually as the opposite. It is used to show an air of casualness, that bringing taboo to light is only natural. "Well, shit man you can sleep at my house tonight.". It's saying that we're all friends here.

What's interesting about all these different swear words is that the power from them is because, as stated earlier, of their economical rarity. The only time where this rule doesn't apply is in Ideomatic Swearing, which holds a power of it's own because it changes the atmosphere of environment rather than effecting an individual person.

As these terms come into popular use and mainstream by television, radio, and other media outlets, people will and have turned to archaic words not really used today to bring back the taboo meaning behind it. Words like harlot (meaning slut) are already circulating in the "underground linguistics" of more eccentric crowds and religious folk. 

The lesson to be drawn from this is that words have power, usually in unusual combinations to invoke vivid meaning to the reader or listener. There are only few select words that have true power all on their own, and those are swear words. Without identifying the meaning, a novice writer might misuse them. More commonly, they might just repeat swear words for shock value, which is lost very quickly with every swear word used. This is why I mainly use Dysphemism Swearing and Emphatic Swearing. 

As always, thanks for reading!

What if TV, YouTube, and Other Media Outlets Came Before Books?

I recently stumbled upon a fascinating YouTube group called Vsauce. Their scientific theorizing and musings are truly captivating, and one of the things they said struck me. They quoted a book called "Everything Bad is Good For You". The author wondered what would happen if books were invented after computers, and pontificated a possible quote from a teacher (to paraphrase) 'Perhaps the most dangerous property of these newfangled books is that they follow a fixed linear path. You have the story dictated to you. Why would anyone want to embark on an adventure choreographed by a singular person? Reading is not an active participatory process- it's a submissive one. The bookreaders are learning to follow the plot instead of leading.'

This is a fascinating concept. It enabled me to look at my computer screen and the words/videos I see on it as a form of a book. Also, it caused me to read books as a sort of collusion of varying outside factors to cause the author not to choreograph a particular work based on their own singular idea, but of the conditions of nature they were in at the time. For example, if one of my author friends, S.G. Redling, wasn't flying on a plane and using hand sanitizer, she probably would've never have thought of her debut novel "Flower Town", even in her own writing space. If Stephen King hadn't been driving in a car listening to religious radio at a specific time, he wouldn't have thought up "The Stand".

The collaboration of events in nature, in part, determine what we write. Authors typically regulate their writing areas to what they deem to be most comfortable. True, while this may comfort us to explore the deepest recesses of our minds to 'discover' these ideas, I propose that perhaps changing the scene and taking us out of our comfort zone might help us reach a more introverted state. Introversion in the first draft manuscript is critical, for both plotters and pantsers alike, so it'd be natural to assume that a structured writing environment will provide us a certain measure of control over the masterpiece we wish to create. But if we think harder, we might find that this isn't the case.

The most ingenious writing pieces we tend to create are created by not what is controlled by us, for that is the nature of the ordinary. Rather, it is created by us questioning what ISN'T controlled by us or what we don't know. Surrounding ourselves by things we are unfamiliar with may be the key to piecing something together that we couldn't do with what we have familiarized ourselves with. It is easier to familiarize the strange, but harder still to make strange what is familiar. One of my favorite writing quotes actually dictates something similar. "The best asset a writer can have is the ability to make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange."

The randomization and rationalization of that randomness we place ourselves in brings us to the reality we live in. And you know what? Each person rationalizes their reality differently. Surely you've heard of the exercise where one person will whisper a sentence to another, and they to another. By the end of the line, it's a new sentence. How then, can something so concrete be so misinterpreted? It's because of the variation. In this case, the variation of the person's dialect, audibility of their whisper.

The lesson to be drawn from here is that variation is the opportunity of exploration. The deeper we explore, the farther we will get from anyone else. This unexplored portion of our realities is where we will find the next Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, etc. While everyone can reach these unexplored realities, only you can reach yours.

Marketing: Advertising vs. Publicity

In a nutshell, there are two types of marketing, and those are advertising and publicity. Advertising is, in my opinion, the lesser of the two. Advertising requires research on who you're targeting and what your target audience will see. Your ad has to be carefully tailored, both in appearance and in location, to effectively reach the targeted demographic. You're paying for a placement and are relying heavily on either credentials or market need for the book you're choosing to advertise.

Book publicity is the effect of being chosen, whether it's by an agent, editor, etc. This automatically gives your book credibility. Having a third party verify your writing skills is usually more effective than an ad campaign, because in this way you are getting people to talk about your book rather than you telling them. 

I remember seeing an article that said, statistically, 84% of people talk about a book they read. I wouldn't disagree with this number. That being said, if you get one person interested in reading your book, odds are you'll get at least two people who know about it. Generating authentic interest is crucial to creating public interest. This is why so many emphasize the critical importance of quality content. If you're writing isn't up to par, then you're going to have a more difficult time selling your book.

If you choose to embark on a publicist, be sure to research them and ask them questions. They don't come cheap, but you can learn things along the way. Some are better than others, in the sense of experience and contacts. Be sure you're making the right decision, because a PR campaign is something that is very serious, and you will always be the biggest advocate for your work.

If you choose to embark on an ad campaign, be sure that you're targeting an audience as opposed to simply putting an ad up for all to see in a random location. You'll see more interest in your work. 

Game of Thrones (The Book Version) Review

I must admit, I disliked the book's beginning. I felt like George RR Martin, my genre idol now, just completely threw me in the deep end of the pool. He built this world and seemed to expect me to know it, throwing names and locations at me rentlessly. However, I pressed on.

At the end of the first chapter, I was shocked, and I couldn't stop reading. By the end of every chapter, I was hooked.



There were so many plot points I could see building up each chapter, and I couldn't keep up. When each bombshell fell, I remembered. He made coherent such an incredibly complex plot without losing me, which is something very difficult to do in writing.

The characters were entirely believable and memorable. Every single one. I found myself wanting to skip ahead chapters to get back to a character, but had to resist. *(SPOILER ALERT) I knew Ned was going to die from the start, however. He was too clean, and I would've been disappointed if he hadn't.

I can't wait to read the rest of this novel. In his interviews, George RR Martin says that the series adaptations follow the books perfectly, aside from adding scenes. This is highly unusual for motion pictures and TV shows to follow original writing so closely, but is only a testament to his creative talent.

His style and voice is fresh, and he knows things about the era that are not only true, but unknown. When I looked up certain things that he wrote, I was LEARNING! That is something, that few books do, that I absolutely love.

If you want to learn, go on an adventure, and become emotionally traumatized, pick up Game of Thrones.

What's the Point of a Beta Reader?

Beta readers are invaluable to an author, and many don't understand the gravity of the position that they are in. They are the author's first readers and objective editors of a product that the author put a great deal of time into. Often, they don't get back to us as early as authors would like, but that's just a price you pay, and in the writing world, patience is a requirement.

Recently, I donned my beta reader's hat for the first time for a book by an author. By now, I was thirsting for someone else's creativity to inspire me. As soon as I began reading, I found several things wrong. Pacing, character reactions, etc. However, the more I read, the more invested I was in the plot, and I was intrigued enough to overlook some of those things for the sake of a good story.

However, the author posted on his Facebook account that he was beginning edits on the book. Huh? When you give a book to your beta readers, it has to be the best you can possibly make it. If it's not, then you're sending book (in this case, unfortunately, an epic) that isn't as attractive as it can be. Annoyed, I decided to press on with the book.

A few days later, I got an invite to an event. Yep. You guessed it, the book's release party. Now, I wouldn't mind if it was scheduled in far in advance, but this author was releasing it in 2.5 weeks. There was no way that I could read the book, list the editing advice, and the author be able to change it.

The result? I dropped the book, and I have no intention of telling this author. Why? Beta readers are the most valuable things to an author. They are people who believe in your work and make a heavy commitment to help you to success. If you give beta readers less than your best and schedule the book to be released within a fortnight, you're not only putting pressure on the beta reader, but you're mitigating them and their role. Thus, you make a beta reader feel unimportant.

Something I learned when I started writing was the author works for the reader, not the other way around. However, the few that are willing to work with the author, directly in this case, deserve nothing but the utmost courtesy, because they are doing what no other reader who picks up your book will do for you- help you make it better.

Tips for Aspiring Writers/Authors

Writing Tips for Other/Aspiring Authors

1.       The best way to learn to write well is to read from both good authors and bad authors. You have to decide what’s good writing and what’s bad writing.

2.       Give your characters choices and consequences; it shatters the linear feel of a storyline.

3.       Live in the world you create. Many writers know things about their world that never make it into the book(s) they write, because they want to make it real to themselves so they can make others believe it’s real. Readers are intuitive creatures, and they know if something has been fleshed out without ever knowing it themselves.

4.       Treat all your characters as if they are secondary characters. Some of my best characters are secondary characters, because I’m not committing them to a preconceived plot line. Don’t be afraid to exaggerate character’s personalities and mannerisms.

5.       Once you really know your characters, let them take over the story. They usually will not disappoint you.

6.       Most good ideas that ‘stick’ aren’t produced after a moment of inspiration. They are produced after you toil and write shit.

7.       Speaking of writing shit, write, even if it’s shit. I have a saying “It’s easier to edit a scene than it is to build a world in your head.” Writer’s block is the expectation that the next thing you write will be unedited and perfect. It won’t. It never is. Write that shitty shit.

8.       Learn to convey emotion and find your voice. If you write about the worst thing that ever happened to you, and then you place that next to the worst thing that ever happened to your character, does the voice and style match up? If it doesn’t, you don’t know your character as well as you thought you did, and you need to bleed that emotion into you character.

9.       If you love your [unedited] book so much you want to marry it, throw a George RR Martin themed “Red Wedding” for it, because it needs to die. You need to be as objective as possible before you even begin editing. That’s why most authors recommend waiting a few weeks to a month to edit it after they finish. For example, here’s an atheists view of the Holy Bible (quiet possible the most objective person to read it):

“Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.”

Motivation for Writing

               The most difficult thing about writing is, of course, writing. The motivation just isn’t there, your job is stressing you out, your free time is too dominated for such scholarly activities- so many distractions! But a writer isn’t a writer until they actually write. The planning and plotting that is schemed doesn’t make anyone a writer. So, what can you do to be motivated to write?

1.      Listen to music that matches the scene you’re writing. If it’s scary, listen to a Halloween track. If it’s a war scene, listen to percussion tracks. If it’s peaceful, listen to classical.

2.      Don’t set a word count goal for that day. The thing that is blocking you from writing is usually an idea of how much you need to get done.

3.      Keep your writing area clean. If it has soda cans or last night’s dinner leftovers on it, you’re not going to want to sit there, usually. Place a bonsai tree or something aesthetic there to make it more inviting and beautiful.

4.      Go somewhere else and write. Sometimes, a change of location can work wonders. Coffee shops are a great place, because you can keep rewarding yourself for writing as long as you are there. $10 or $15 can go quite a ways in a coffee shop!

5.      Find one interesting thing about the era your writing takes place and try to write a scene to include it. It’s great for world building!

6.      Associate with other readers and writers. For me, I added a lot of authors on Facebook. Now, when I Facebook surf, I see the progression others are making with their books or writing, and it makes me wonder what I’m doing on Facebook and not writing!