Cursing in inspirational fiction opposed to Christian fiction

[stargazer11]

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...

[callalily61]

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

This:

Originally Posted by stargazer11

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]

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.

[stargazer11]

Thank you Katci13...

[Lavern08]

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.

[stargazer11]

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]

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.