The "F" Word

This is a rant, if anyone is not interested in my rant you may leave now.
The subject it's a word that is creeping into so-called "romance" books. It's the F word, and I don't mean Fork. See Definition from Dictionary.com

I have no problem in using the word, if appropriate in my writing. My character Bjorn Tremayne uses it as an expletive--a lot. But I'm not a big fan of it in using it as a--well--verb. I find it vulgar. Especially when used by women. But then I'm from the old school where women were taught not to swear (and I do my share of it on a daily basis), or spit (I only spit when I'm brushing my teeth, or eating watermelon at a picnic).

Anyway, I got something in my e-mail box the other day, and it simply bothered me, when I read the excerpt. I don't know why I went ahead and opened it. The title [of book] should have warned me off. It's called "Carnal Magic" by Lila Dubois. The site is Paranormal Book Reviews. If you read the excerpt (here). You'll see that the POV is the woman's. And from descriptions I'm guessing it's sort of "high fantasy". But what I don't get is the use of fuck. Twice in the same passage. The rest of the excerpt was well written. But using that word ruins the whole atmosphere of it.

In a way the use of this word is becoming all to common in this way, in writing and speaking. I hear it used a lot by not just men, but women too. Back to the the writing. To me, when I read it in such a book, I feel that the writer didn't use her writing abilities to say what this woman actually wanted to do. Why didn't she say something like rip my clothes off and rape me, or visa versa? There's a lot of ways I would have written it and it would have been more fitting. But then, I'm not a young writer. I'm more seasoned and know that if you're going to write something that you want a broad array of people to read, you don't want to use foul language to do it, or in this manner, and in such a fantasy genre. But that's just me.

It's usage, I read at my Dictionary.com is that it's first use was in the 1400's, but it has been used before this. I have read somewhere that it is a German word for "strike", but because it was considered a banned word, it's history has been lost.

Anyway, I had to get this off my chest. As a writer, I hate to see women resort to the word in such passages as the example above. If you're going for gritty novels, fine. However, think about who your audience is, and consider if your female character would really think I want to fuck him.

Have a Happy 4th, everyone!

Holding a lightning rod in my fingers... well sorta

I've held the scene in my head for over a week now. Revised it, considered how it should be written--in first person? No. In third person? I don't want to be in any one's head, really, but maybe the more I work with it the more it will lean in that direction.
But you may wonder why not in first person--as in from Sabrina's POV?

Because she isn't there at the onset of the beginning of this scene. I'm doing a little something different, where I'm switching POV completely--going from first person to third, depending upon whose eyes I'm showing the scene through.

You see, I began writing the fourth novel and realized I couldn't write this one without going into other character's heads. It was the only way to tell it. So, possibly my fifth novel will borrow this sort of POV switch. At least in the beginning. I don't know what will happen once I'm past the first chapter. But I love the control I have when I write. As the writer you can do anything, within reason, and your readers should, hopefully, accept it if you do it well. I remember reading a book by Sunny, called "Lucina, Darkly" and found that she had switched POV completely from third person to first, from one chapter to the next. I'd never seen this done before. It took me a few confusing moments to understand what happened. It was almost like someone had pulled the rug from beneath me. But once I got used to the idea, I was fine with it.

It was brilliant, I thought. I also thought, maybe someday I should try that. So... that's what I've done. I plan on an author's note to readers in the beginning, however so that I'm not throwing something at them that they aren't used to.

At any rate, since I wasn't able to hold that scene in my head any longer, and it wanted out of me (you know the feeling, I'm sure), I went to my temporary file where I tinker, and put it down. Before I knew it--4 pages of the scene emerged. Then, today I've worked into page 5. I've now got it into it's own file for Crescendo. So, it's official. Yes. I've begun the fifth book with a 3rd about to be sent to publisher at some point late winter, early spring.

Is it hard to hold a scene in your head, but you wait until you've nurtured it some? Or do you begin writing something as soon as you've thought of it?