A Case of the Vapors

The Ghost Series spans a few different historical eras. While we do want the atmosphere of each age to come through, we decided early on that we’d be using modern prose. Dialogue is the main place where we have been giving things a more period slant, but even then it’s a balancing act. The line between authenticity and parody can be perilous.

It’s not just in the direct speech of the characters where we have such linguistic considerations. Even though we’re pointedly not adopting an antiquated style, we still need the story’s point of view to feel right. Which leads to debate now and then over word choice, particularly where the earthier words are concerned. English gives us lots of words to choose from, many having substantially the same meaning. But synonyms aren’t always completely interchangeable. Words give off vapor that affects the mood and the sense of place. (In the preceding paragraph, it originally said “… flavor of each age …” but it got changed to “atmosphere” to go along with our theme.)

Swearing gives off a very strong vapor, particularly when it occurs in the narrative.

People have used cuss words forever. When your great-grandparents were little kids, people swore. When their great-grandparents were little, people swore. (Not your ancestors, surely, but other people.) And, certain specific swears go way back. “Fuck” is centuries old, as is “cock” as slang for penis. So, it’s absolutely realistic to include such vocabulary in scenes set in bygone eras. Yet, adding it has a way of feeling anachronistic.

This perception probably comes from the disparity between how people really talked at the time and what it was historically permissible to publish. What’s in books, mostly, is a sanitized version of period speech. As a result, minced oaths like “balderdash” and “tarnation” sound olde-timey to modern ears, while actual profanity doesn’t. But in all likelihood, the words you’d have heard on a Victorian street would have been “bullshit” and “damnation.”

So, it’s something we need to feel our way through, and we’ll fine-tune it on a revision pass. A writing partner is someone to help you with your “cock” usage and adjust your “fucks.”