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Victoria Dahl

Victoria Dahl


Last Updated: 11/18/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 37
Country: US
Signup Date: 2/17/2007

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KateThe Gre.. (2)
~Katie-Bug~ (2)
Jeri Smith-.. (2)
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October 24, 2007 - Wednesday 

Current mood:  pissed off

Last night I settled into my couch to crack open my new Romance Writers Report. This is a wonderful industry magazine sent every month to members of RWA (Romance Writers of America). Usually there are a few interesting articles and maybe a letter to the editor that makes me chuckle. I wasn't chuckling last night.

A Ms. Arlette Gaffrey had this to say to the editor and her fellow romance writers: "I'm so sick of filthy language that I have stopped reading the trash that is printed and is supposed to pass for romance.

Call me a prude or old fashioned. At least we had a sense of decency back in those days. Something that is sorely lacking in today's society...

If every sex act has to be spelled out and every filthy word has to be put in every romance novel, then it only shows me that these authors have a limited vocabulary and little or no imagination."

Nice.

Look, Ms. Gaffrey, I'm not going to say what I really want to say because I am a professional. If your idea of "decency" includes blindly attacking your colleagues, then I'm thrilled not to be included in the definition. Instead of telling you what I think of you labeling my books "trash", I'd like to make a few points about why I don't hesitate to use "filthy language". Ready? Actually, I don't think you are ready, but here we go anyway...

1. I use bad language. Yes, it's true. I use bad language every day, and not only am I educated, I'm also a mom. *gasp* I don't mean that I whelped a few kiddies and left them at the foundling home, I mean I'm raising children, cooking dinner, and volunteering in my kids' schools. (You may want to check with your grandchildren to be sure they haven't accidentally stumbled across my trashy ass.) Not only do I use bad language, but my friends use bad language. Really, when you're discussing politics, it's the only way to go.

So, yes, my heroines cuss. They're not even embarrassed about it. They're just like me and my friends, because if they weren't, I wouldn't want to spend 350 pages with them.

2. My heroes use bad language. You know why? Because they are -- brace yourself -- boys. Scandalous, I'm sure, but men cuss. Policemen cuss. Soldiers cuss. Husbands and fathers cuss. Now I'm not saying that every single American male uses curse words every day, but let me put it to you this way: My cold-hearted, 200-year-old vampire hero is a killer. An assassin. He hunts down monsters every night and does horrible things to them. And when his lover has been stabbed in the chest by the bad guy, I'd rather slit my own throat than have him say something like, "Oh my goodness! What have you done, you scurrilous rogue!" *gag*

And here's a little secret. Come closer, I don't want to embarrass you. If a man had never said a dirty word to me in the bedroom? Well... I'd think it was time to spice things up a bit.

3. I have a good imagination. And I know lots of words. In fact, I'm so smart that I know filthy words are, in fact, actual words. Disappointing for you, I'm sure, but still true. And my vocabulary is so good that I even know how-- and when --to use the naughty ones. I'm not afraid of language, Ms. Gaffrey. In fact, I'd argue that I love it even more than you.

So do I think all books should include bad language and filthy sex? Of course not. No more than I think NO books should include bad language and filthy sex. There's a whole world of books out there, ma'am. You have your books, and I'll keep mine. Along with a hero who likes to use a dirty word or two. And if you need to call me filthy and indecent, I guess you'd better just knock yourself out, lady.

In conclusion, I'd just like to say: My fucking books are not trash, damn it.

2:45 PM
 
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KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs)
kate garrabrant

 
I bow down to you! :)
I was at Borders and looking over the romance section and this woman was there also. She looked at me and said, "I love to read this trash also". What an unintelligent and moronic things to say!
If you don't like it, don't read it but don't say what I read is trash.
What's wrong with a little cussing? What are they suppose to say during the bedroom scenes? Come here so we can cuddle and rub noses?
 
Posted by KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs) on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 3:48 PM
[Reply to this] 
~Katie-Bug~

 
ROFL! You go girl. It is like that argument that our generation and the older generation have about soap operas. They call it day time porn. I call it Chic Lit.

Now the cussing part, I have been known to say a few colorful ones. Sometimes you just have to and they are the only ones that can get that feeling across. Hell (uh oh, that one just slipped out), I love to cuss.

The sex part, well I don't know about you but those books that just skim over it I HATE. I don't want them all over each other and then all of a sudden it is the next morning. He looks her in the eye and aks, "Baby, was it good for you?" Uh, no! She should tell him that she couldn't remember anything because it didn't happen. I don't need real dirty but enough to know that they had sex. Do you want your hero to turn to the heroine and ask if she wants him to make love to her or ask her if she wants him to F the S out of her? I mean come on.

Some of the words they use for the "member" in books is sometimes plain hysterical. Throbbing member?? I could go on but I wont. lol

The book I am trying to write has a few, well a lot of the cuss words. Why, because like you said, they are boys and yes girls too. It is only human.

Katie
 
Posted by ~Katie-Bug~ on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 3:59 PM
[Reply to this] 
Jeri Smith-Ready
Jeri Smith-Ready

 
Yes. She. D'id.

Nowadays when I see this argument I just roll my eyes and think "different strokes, etc.," but it used to get me really torqued. There are a few people on one of my loops who routinely lament the rise of erotica and foul language (especially "The F Word") in romances. Lots of others stand up to defend erotica, but no one ever stands up for 'fuck,' the single most satisfying word in the English language.

(Side note: I often see soldiers and cops held up as examples of as men who cuss, but I got my "bad" language from computer programmers and chefs. NO ONE cusses like a chef--they make college basketball coaches sound like nuns.)

But back to writing: I think it all depends on the book and whether the language fits the situation and the character. To be narcissistic and use my own work as an example: My epic fantasies have no profanity, because it would yank the reader out of the world as much as a character suddenly pulling out a cell phone. They still curse, if they're the cursing type, but it's not spelled out.

But my urban fantasies require the reader to feel like it could all be happening in our world. Hence, profanity (except for one straight(er)-laced character who only says 'fuck' when discussing his mortal enemy--again, another deliberate authorial choice).

The thing is not to take these people's arguments as personally as they intend it. They want to insult you because it makes them feel superior. They can't just say, "This is my preference and I'd like to see more profanity-free books," they have to attack the authors' talent and moral decency. It's their loss for being shrivel-minded.

But as long as you remember that you're an educated, decent, damn fucking good writer (and mother), they can't touch you.
 
Posted by Jeri Smith-Ready on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 5:16 PM
[Reply to this] 
Victoria Dahl
Victoria Dahl

 
Hahaha. NO, she di'int!

I use the easy point of cops and soldiers because I feel certain she is the kind of woman who would hold up our soldiers fighting in Iraq as Heroes with a capital H. She can call a cop or a soldier a hero without ever wanting to know what their world is really like. I daresay in Iraq the F-bomb is one of their foremost weapons. Does that mean they're heroic in the real world but not in a romance novel? Or maybe they're not heroic at all because they don't temper their use of "Fuck!" in front of their female driver? Hmm. I can't imagine.

I suspect that she wants to read and write about gentle people interacting gently with each other. That's fine. As a historical fan, I want to read and write about gentle people doing all the things they know they shouldn't be doing. Maybe a Victorian lady wouldn't say Fuck, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't want to do it. (I'll be blogging about this on History Hoydens next week.)

And Jeri, I love your epic fantasies, with or without cussing, because a good book is a good book, which is apparently something this woman would disagree with. *huff*
 
Posted by Victoria Dahl on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 5:45 PM
[Reply to this] 
Kiki

 
Nothing to add except BRAVO!

Girl, you rock and I love your non-trashy book (soon to be books).

Write on, Victoria. Write on!

Hugs,
-Kiki
 
Posted by Kiki on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 8:50 PM
[Reply to this] 
Victoria Dahl
Victoria Dahl

 
Thank you Kate and Katie and Kiki!!! Hmm, that's very suspicious, all those K names. I think there's a konspiracy. A dirty konspiracy, apparently.

And I do agree with Jeri that we have to let this stuff roll off our backs, and I usually do. I just Could. Not. Believe. that this was coming from a fellow writer. She basically went on to say -- in an INDUSTRY PUBLICATION! -- that she could not break in as a romance writer because we're all whores!

Damn whores and their damn whorey ways. hehehe
 
Posted by Victoria Dahl on October 24, 2007 - Wednesday - 9:42 PM
[Reply to this] 
KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs)
kate garrabrant

 
So if romance writers are whores, who are the pimps? I guess I am the "John" then!
Keep the whorey books coming! :)
 
Posted by KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs) on October 25, 2007 - Thursday - 1:47 PM
[Reply to this] 
Victoria Dahl
Victoria Dahl

 
Come on now, Kate. The pimps are clearly the publishers!

And you can be my john any day! *g*
 
Posted by Victoria Dahl on October 26, 2007 - Friday - 3:54 PM
[Reply to this] 
Victoria Dahl
Victoria Dahl

 
No, no, of course not. You are all that is good and decent in the world. Duh.
 
Posted by Victoria Dahl on October 26, 2007 - Friday - 3:55 PM
[Reply to this] 
Jeri Smith-Ready
Jeri Smith-Ready

 
Ah. Just got my RWR and saw the letter you were talking about. All this time I thought you were referring to *last* month's letter-writer complaining about profanity in romance. This one was much more strident. I don't have a problem with her expressing her preferences and even frustration. But the letter was insulting to her colleagues.

The weird things is, I don't know what she's talking about. Most romances I read aren't chock full of profanity and/or graphic sex. It's there if you want to go looking for it, but I wouldn't say it runs rampant throughout the genre or that there are not a plethora of alternatives.

There, I used "strident," "rampant," and "plethora" in their proper context, with the correct spelling. Fuckin' A.
 
Posted by Jeri Smith-Ready on October 26, 2007 - Friday - 8:59 PM
[Reply to this] 
KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs)
kate garrabrant

 
I double that! *fuckin A+" *G*
Well, since I am, not a dude, I guess I will be a Jane instead of a John.
 
Posted by KateThe Great (aka Katiebabs) on October 28, 2007 - Sunday - 1:27 AM
[Reply to this] 
Rachel E. Moniz
Rachel Moniz

 
This particular blog has made a subscriber! Sign me up for more!!!!
Rachel (also a cusser and a damned good one at that!)
 
Posted by Rachel E. Moniz on November 28, 2007 - Wednesday - 4:38 PM
[Reply to this]