Hey all. As much as I love blogging and putting stuff out there for you guys I have been experiencing some serious physical side effects of stress lately. I just haven't been able to keep up with everything I have on my plate. Because of that I will be taking a month or two off blogging.
I hope you will stick around. I will be back, I promise.
God bless and I covet your prayers.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Saturday, March 5, 2016
How My Faith Informs My Writing Pt 2
If you have followed my other blog, The Vow you will have already read this post. Do not fear, however. The next post will be an continuation of the "78 Answers" series. I hope you can understand the need for a few weeks of repetition and will enjoy the post either way.
In the last post I wrote a blog to give you some insight into my reasoning behind certain tools in my writing that might seem "unchristian". I used the Old Testament to support my reasoning for including those things. If you haven't read that article yet be sure to scroll down and take a look. This week I'd like to use the same concept to describe the things that I will not include in my writing and why.
On Sex
Sex isn't just a regular part of the "erotica" genre, it's often scattered through anything considered adult enough. While studying writing tips I have run up against multiple people arguing for it's involvement. "If we can include graphic violence" they argue "Why not include graphic sex. Isn't the former worse then the latter."
One writer who advocates strongly for it's involvement is G.R.R. Martin: writer of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. That, I'm sure, doesn't come as a surprise.
His argument is that sex is a very real and powerful motivator for many people in real life and should be in fiction as well. I might agree with that. But as authors we have an a ability to chose not just what is included in our writing, but how it is handled.
When we compare this to the Old Testament in particular we see that God doesn't shy away from certain truths about when sex and sexual violence. He tells us what is important for us to know. But he doesn't include details (Though some might argue for that in Song of Solomon). No matter how thoroughly you read the Bible you will never find a passage comparable to Fifty Shades of Grey. Telling us that Lot's daughters got him drunk to conceive children with him is a vastly different thing than describing what was done in detail.
What is so distinct about sex that makes it a taboo? Why is this one physical activity so different from others?
Reading has a unique ability to pull you into a world that is not your own. You can see the world through anthers eyes. But as much as that experience may feel real or as much as you may want it to be real we are fully aware that it is only fiction. Reading about murder in a book will not make you feel like a killer or crave killing.
However the human brain is uniquely wired so that it responds to artificial sexual stimulation almost if not just as strongly as it does to the actual physical act. Studies on the effects of pornography has shown that the brain reacts to artificial sexual pleasure to point that it can cause addictions, form habits and cause the consumer to conform to the behavior shown in the source.
One author on a panel on writing Romance said that when we as the author write detailed sex scenes in a book we are essentially forcing the reader to participate. She talked about reading these scenes in terms of actually having sex.
Because of all these factors I have decided that I will not include any sex scenes in my writing. It wasn't a very difficult choice: I am not naturally a romance writer so I'm not exactly drawn to writing this subject.
I will allow certain concessions for the sake of reality and character development. I use the Bible as my guide in this as well. I don't want to simply add things for the sake of having a character that walks the line. There are many things about my characters that I don't share with my readers that affects the book but doesn't have any place in it. My characters sexual pasts and sexual activity is one of those things. If need presses I might put in a scene "behind closed doors", by which I mean that I hint at it's happening but I will not be describing any of it. I haven't had the need yet in the nearly novel and a half that I have written. My characters are busy with other things.
On LGBTQ Characters:
A large portion of the modern American Readership is increasingly liberal. The things that they demand from a book are often less focused around the quality of the plot and the depths of the characters and more focused on Social Justice. Is the protagonist a female, and if so is she strong or weak. Is she well developed and does she avoid typically feminine labors and loves?
Are sexual choices such as sex out side of marriage, and varying types of romantic bonds acknowledged?
Are any of the characters lesbian? Asexual? Gender non-conforming?
As a Bible-believing Christian I am not going to hide the fact that I hold to traditional marriage as the healthiest and wisest form of love. I believe in two genders: man and woman. And I also hold to a Biblical Complimentarian view of marriage. I also believe that the world will function best when men are in major leadership positions and when men are the ones going to battle and woman are on the home-front.
All these things will be reflected in my fiction. That doesn't mean that all my characters are saving sex for marriage or that I have no woman going to war or that could be described as "strong female protagonists". What it does mean is that I will show the effects of poor choices on my characters and in the cultures around them.
What I will not be adding is any LGBTQ characters. This is for one reason. I don't agree with the practice and I know that it will show through the texts. Because I do not feel that my fiction is the best place to address this issue I will not, at least for the foreseeable future, be using any of these tools in developing my characters.
What do you think about the things that I have chosen to leave out of my writing? Is it too much? Not enough?
Next week I will be introducing another character from my Fantasy Trilogy. As of next week I will be officially working on the editing of my novel. I am also writing a science fiction novel for my Wattpad account in order to grow my readership.
I hope you will come back for the introduction of Akharis next week. His complicated character is the most mature of any of my characters, and brings a good deal to the story.
You can also follow me on twitter here and find daily content on my FB page here. You can also get a taste of my writing and meet some of my favorite characters in my sci-fi novel "Malfuntion" here
In the last post I wrote a blog to give you some insight into my reasoning behind certain tools in my writing that might seem "unchristian". I used the Old Testament to support my reasoning for including those things. If you haven't read that article yet be sure to scroll down and take a look. This week I'd like to use the same concept to describe the things that I will not include in my writing and why.
On Sex
Sex isn't just a regular part of the "erotica" genre, it's often scattered through anything considered adult enough. While studying writing tips I have run up against multiple people arguing for it's involvement. "If we can include graphic violence" they argue "Why not include graphic sex. Isn't the former worse then the latter."
One writer who advocates strongly for it's involvement is G.R.R. Martin: writer of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. That, I'm sure, doesn't come as a surprise.
His argument is that sex is a very real and powerful motivator for many people in real life and should be in fiction as well. I might agree with that. But as authors we have an a ability to chose not just what is included in our writing, but how it is handled.
When we compare this to the Old Testament in particular we see that God doesn't shy away from certain truths about when sex and sexual violence. He tells us what is important for us to know. But he doesn't include details (Though some might argue for that in Song of Solomon). No matter how thoroughly you read the Bible you will never find a passage comparable to Fifty Shades of Grey. Telling us that Lot's daughters got him drunk to conceive children with him is a vastly different thing than describing what was done in detail.
What is so distinct about sex that makes it a taboo? Why is this one physical activity so different from others?
Reading has a unique ability to pull you into a world that is not your own. You can see the world through anthers eyes. But as much as that experience may feel real or as much as you may want it to be real we are fully aware that it is only fiction. Reading about murder in a book will not make you feel like a killer or crave killing.
However the human brain is uniquely wired so that it responds to artificial sexual stimulation almost if not just as strongly as it does to the actual physical act. Studies on the effects of pornography has shown that the brain reacts to artificial sexual pleasure to point that it can cause addictions, form habits and cause the consumer to conform to the behavior shown in the source.
One author on a panel on writing Romance said that when we as the author write detailed sex scenes in a book we are essentially forcing the reader to participate. She talked about reading these scenes in terms of actually having sex.
Because of all these factors I have decided that I will not include any sex scenes in my writing. It wasn't a very difficult choice: I am not naturally a romance writer so I'm not exactly drawn to writing this subject.
I will allow certain concessions for the sake of reality and character development. I use the Bible as my guide in this as well. I don't want to simply add things for the sake of having a character that walks the line. There are many things about my characters that I don't share with my readers that affects the book but doesn't have any place in it. My characters sexual pasts and sexual activity is one of those things. If need presses I might put in a scene "behind closed doors", by which I mean that I hint at it's happening but I will not be describing any of it. I haven't had the need yet in the nearly novel and a half that I have written. My characters are busy with other things.
On LGBTQ Characters:
A large portion of the modern American Readership is increasingly liberal. The things that they demand from a book are often less focused around the quality of the plot and the depths of the characters and more focused on Social Justice. Is the protagonist a female, and if so is she strong or weak. Is she well developed and does she avoid typically feminine labors and loves?
Are sexual choices such as sex out side of marriage, and varying types of romantic bonds acknowledged?
Are any of the characters lesbian? Asexual? Gender non-conforming?
As a Bible-believing Christian I am not going to hide the fact that I hold to traditional marriage as the healthiest and wisest form of love. I believe in two genders: man and woman. And I also hold to a Biblical Complimentarian view of marriage. I also believe that the world will function best when men are in major leadership positions and when men are the ones going to battle and woman are on the home-front.
All these things will be reflected in my fiction. That doesn't mean that all my characters are saving sex for marriage or that I have no woman going to war or that could be described as "strong female protagonists". What it does mean is that I will show the effects of poor choices on my characters and in the cultures around them.
What I will not be adding is any LGBTQ characters. This is for one reason. I don't agree with the practice and I know that it will show through the texts. Because I do not feel that my fiction is the best place to address this issue I will not, at least for the foreseeable future, be using any of these tools in developing my characters.
What do you think about the things that I have chosen to leave out of my writing? Is it too much? Not enough?
Next week I will be introducing another character from my Fantasy Trilogy. As of next week I will be officially working on the editing of my novel. I am also writing a science fiction novel for my Wattpad account in order to grow my readership.
I hope you will come back for the introduction of Akharis next week. His complicated character is the most mature of any of my characters, and brings a good deal to the story.
You can also follow me on twitter here and find daily content on my FB page here. You can also get a taste of my writing and meet some of my favorite characters in my sci-fi novel "Malfuntion" here
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