A (Mostly) Clean Challenge: Writing a Novel with Minimal Profanity

The question was: Could I do it?

First of all, I didn’t think profanity fit my forthcoming novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, and secondly, I like to give myself challenges as a way of stretching my abilities.

When I shared this no-swear idea with my fellow writers, one said “My books are really sweary and the characters kill each other. Going F free is an achievement.”

Another writer said, “I had a fuck in my first book. Since then, totally fuck free.”

My neighbor commented: “In my mom’s later years, I let out an f-bomb in her presence. Once we recovered and realized there was no lasting damage, she said, “You know Denise, this isn’t the first time I heard that word. I just worry that people who rely on using it lose the ability to employ more interesting words.”

My first novel had plenty of fucks

One reviewer of In the Context of Love wrote “The one issue I had with this book was its profanity. It had quite a bit of it. This had way too much for my taste.” The fact that I used profanity in a specific way at specific points in the story was apparently lost on her.

As a young woman, Angelica did not swear, but her high school sweetheart did. Hungarian cursing, an art form in itself, played a big part of her boyfriend’s language. As she matured, her life became a struggle and as a result she cursed more herself, especially after she married a man with a questionable past and a filthy mouth. When she had children of her own, she struggled to keep it clean and teach her children not to swear. The profanity had an arc that mirrored the character’s internal development.

That said, every reader has their own comfort level, and apparently the cursing was too much for one reviewer. Side note: she also said too much sex took place in the novel as well.

Often it really is too much

In some books and in film, cursing is part of the landscape. It fits the narrative. But is it necessary? Swearing loses its shock value at some point. Your eyes glaze over. Excessive profanity becomes distracting, desensitizing, or even monotonous if it loses impact due to overuse. In some cases, it alienates certain audiences and limits distribution or overshadows the actual story and character development. Like any literary tool, profanity is most effective when used with purpose rather than excess.

Memoirist and fiction writer Rick Bailey said, “I realized [profanity] didn’t add anything to my writing. I don’t need it. A few years ago, I started watching Jeremy Renner’s series Mayor of Kingstown. The script was a fuck a minute, way more. It struck me as a failure on the part of the writers. It’s sort of like comedians who do sexual and scatological humor. To me that reflects a failure of imagination and invention.”

Hence, the challenge

So, I wondered if I could write a book without cursing. Mostly without fuck, because damn, shit and hell are not the pearl-clutching vulgarities they once were.

Consider the main characters in my book–a lonely hypochondriac, an affable carpenter with a daughter, a young neighbor with a baby, a grizzled retiree, a twelve-year-old immigrant, and an octogenarian:

The retiree might curse, but I decided Burritt did not need to say fuck this and fuck that. The only “shit” in the manuscript comes from him, spoken so casually that it’s jarring. He also shouts the one-and-only fuck, which gives his angry retort a strong impact.

The affable carpenter, Jake, is an even-tempered, kind-hearted lug with a seven-year-old daughter. He keeps his language clean for her sake. He might let a string of obscenities fly if he nailed his thumb, but that doesn’t happen because he’s a good carpenter.

The neighbor with the baby, Emma, is a born and bred Southerner with a unique way of speaking. When she gets fired up, she lets loose with idioms such as, “You can kiss my go-to-hell,” or “Lord, give me strength or give me bail money.” She calls her papa a dipshit but that’s as close to profanity as she gets. She’s been a blast to write.

The twelve-year-old, Raf, has learned to watch his mouth with adults. The octogenarian, Quade, would never curse. He can still taste soap.

And Serenity never ever swears.

Why would a writer limit profanity?

A writer might limit cursing in their book for several reasons:

1. Wider Audience Appeal – Excessive profanity can alienate readers, especially younger and much older audiences. Reducing it makes the book more accessible.
2. Creative Challenge – Some writers see it as a challenge to convey strong emotions, tension, or humor without relying on swearing. It pushed me to be more inventive with dialogue.
3. Tone and Style – A book’s tone may not suit heavy profanity. Too much cursing may not fit a fantasy or heartwarming drama.
4. Marketability – Books with minimal profanity may have better chances for reading lists, adaptations, or broader publishing opportunities.
5. Character Authenticity – Not everyone swears. Limiting profanity can help maintain distinct voices and reflect real-world diversity in speech patterns.
6. Avoiding Overuse – Too much profanity can dilute a story’s impact. Minimalizing profanity makes swearing more powerful when it does appear.

Ultimately, Love and Other Incurable Ailments contains one shit and one dipshit, four damns, four hells, but just one well-placed fuck. I feel a sense of accomplishment, even though my friend Olga says she’ll miss the profanity.

How do you feel about profanity in what you read? As a writer, have you ever tried to limit profanity? Did you find it to be a fun challenge or a struggle?

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Thank you for visiting.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist
Books: In the Context of Love | Gordy and the Ghost Crab | Sleepwalker
New novel,  Love and Other Incurable Ailments, coming fall 2026 from Regal House Publishing
Connect with Linda on social media: LinkTree