Swear or Swear?

Now that the euphoria of Christmas and the New Year has died down, we can all get on with living life as normally as we can, forgetting the resolutions and the hope that this could be the year it all happens for you. I’m no different to anyone else. I like to think that maybe I’ll get some terrific news about my latest book. You know; world-wide sales, foreign language translations, film offers. My common sense and knowledge of the book world tells me that it is all wishful thinking. But hey; you never know. My immediate thoughts are now about preparing a sermon, a message which I will be preaching at a local, English language church in Pilar de Horadada, a few miles along the coast from where I live. Being an established writer should give me a head start when it comes to preparing something, but there’s always the need for research. Thankfully I’ll only be preparing a 3000 word document. If I have much more than that I will send the congregation off to sleep. But like all story tellers, we know that not everyone will like what is put before them. A lot of our great writers were Christians and used their belief in their work. C.S.Lewis and Leo Tolstoyy are two that come to mind. I don’t use my Christian belief when writing a novel, but I am aware of trying to strike a balance between outright, unnecessary profanity and pure prose. I’ve been criticised by people for this but I like to think that a good writer should be able conjure up dramatic prose without resorting to a cartload of swearing. I can at least say that there is absolutely no way I will be using sharp characterisation with profanities in my forthcoming sermon. Heaven forbid!