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Hi all,
like many here, excessive profanity damages the reading experience for me. The emphasis is on the "excessive".
That said, there are people in this world who cannot express themselves without such words. The police I used to work with are priceless examples of this, and there was one instance of comments on a (log-forgotten) topic going around the lunch table and each respondent became increasingly profane as emotions on the topic became stronger. Eventually there were no other intelligible words in the "sentences", with grunts of support for the speaker.
If a writer is using the vernacular, then some profanity - especially nowadays - is near-unavoidable, at least in the dialog.
That said, I agree with others who have suggested too much is indicative of poor writing skills and I tend to avoid such words in my own writing. But in a novel I have started I have every intention of incorporating that language in dialog from the police.
I don't recall ever reading a book though, and afterwards wishing there were more foul words in it, so as far as enhancing the experience goes, I can live without it, and by and large, I write without it.
Cheers,
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