Cursing in inspirational fiction opposed to Christian fiction

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stargazer11

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I am wondering on people's stance on cursing for inspirational fiction. After going through numerous threds in this forum, cursing for Christian fiction is considered a negative and should be removed. But if a novel is considered Inspirational fiction, is cursing and premarital sex okay?

I consider Inspirational fiction one step lower compared to Christian fiction. Is cursing okay in inspirational fiction?

Thanks all...
 

Calla Lily

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stargazer, you're still kind of new to AW so you get one pass. :)

This:

I consider Inspirational fiction one step lower compared to Christian fiction. Is cursing okay in inspirational fiction?

Is genre-bashing and is not acceptable at AW. It's the same as saying that romance is easy because it's tailored to bored housewives, or SF is hackwork because it's all ST:TOS and Star Wars ripoffs.

Thanks.
 

katci13

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I was thinking they meant it was considered more lax in the way of cursing and such. Maybe I'm wrong.

But I would think the answer to your question depends on who you're trying to market to. Inspirational fiction is a large market. If you have a religious theme and thus aiming to promote your story in a Christian or other religious market, I would say no. If you're trying to just inspire people and aiming for outside the Christian & Religious market, I would say some language and sex is fine, but still keep it to a minimum so you don't distract from the overall message of your book. But this is just my opinion as I don't read a lot of inspirational fiction outside of things like Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Inspirational fiction isn't a sub-category of Christian fiction. It's a sub-category of Inspirational literature in general. A lot of Christian fiction is inspirational, but they're not the same market.
 

Lavern08

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I've written a number of inspirational plays that have been performed in churches up and down the east coast.

They contain no cursing and no sex. ;)

When reading inspirational or Christian work, if hell or damn (since those words are in the Bible) are used as swear words, I wouldn't be offended.

But,

If there are more "hardcore" curse words, I'm putting the book down.

But that's just me. :Shrug:
 

stargazer11

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Thanks Lavern08... I think it is best for me just to tone down the language in my story. Better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks...
 

J. Heather Leigh

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this is such a great question. I just published my first Christian book through Kindle and I included a character calling another an "ass"-- I struggled with that. I'm still not sure I should have included that word.
 
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