creative writing - Swearing - Censor, allude, or include?

I was reading this thread, but it didn't quite the answer a question I had about creative writing and whether profanity should be used or not, in a way that is best for creative storytelling.

Here's what I mean:

James swore under his breath, his hands rummaging through the suitcase - where was the USB drive?

Here, the reader is allowed to imagine what the character might be saying. For the last twenty chapters, you've made your own image of 'James', and you might think he'd say things differently to how someone else might.

Versus:

"Shit!" James cursed, his hands rummaging through the suitcase - where was the USB drive?

Here, I've used the actual curse. Sure, there might be a bit of shock value (and we could scale up the profanity if we need to), but the reader is being told exactly what type of profanity James is using.

I know that books and movies are fundamentally different, but movies having been using the Precision F-Strike for years, to deliver impact just to escape an unfavorable rating. Books don't have ratings, but some might argue about 'target audience'.

For the sake of this argument, let's say that the target audience doesn't mind a bit of swearing (they're not children), but they're not oil-rig workers either.

So, my main questions is: Is it better to use actual swearing, or use 'creative' methods like above?

As a side note, should profanity in conversation be included?

"I've had enough of your bullshit," Andrew snarled, throwing down his badge onto the desk.

Answer

Again not the answer you're looking for, but it depends!

Don't put in swear words for the sake of it, but when they add strength to a piece of dialogue then go ahead.

So when a man kills a man in front of another man is it better for that other man to say "What was that for?" or "What the fuck was that for?" Note the increased impression of anger here? I could have said "What was that for?" John shouted, but the John shouted takes the reader out of the moment. It's a classic Show Don't Tell situation.

As with any media it's easy to fill our writing with swearing, and it's hard to know when to leave it out. In your example; James swore under his breath, you do a great job of expressing the way in which he swore, which is more important in that scene. By this I mean that if you'd said "Shit," James swore under his breath, it would have been unnecessarily clunky and would have damaged the flow of the writing.

The only external force (so not what you think fits the situation best) that you should worry about is your target audience. There are degrees of severity for swear words, and audiences who appreciate different degrees. If you're writing adult fiction (by which I mean Peter F Hamilton, Robin Hobb, China Mieville; not E L James) then any degree that is appropriate to the moment is fine, but if you're writing for kids or even teens you need to consider that degree of swear severity very carefully.