No matter how colorful he gets with his wordplay, the Nicholas Sparks Man does not curse. Ever. Nobody around him does, either. Even liquor-sopped, murderously vengeful ex-husbands talk clean. Sparks's reasons for this speak to a literary universe whose arc bends toward optimism, earnestness, being nice, more than, well, reality. 'It goes to the honesty and sincerity of my characters,' he says. '[Profanity] can be an easy fix, a crutch used to express anger or frustration. Creating those emotions without bad language is much more effective. And challenging.'