In the story I completeed for this nano I had my main character like myself be of an alternative religion with polytheastic tones. But I never directly state his beliefs and when they encounter the remains of their alternative self from a differant time line there is a talisman of another polytheistic religion among the remains (wasn't killed for another social taboo, not religion).
So in a way the alternative religion is very much not focussed on. There are times when mention of spiritual beleifs are used in his observations of the world (realising that one character is drawing heavily from the war aspect of athena and not from the wisdom at all, and the risk in not holding the balance) and saying things like Gods instead of the usual.
I think it's subtlety goes a long way toward making it not a big deal that the main character is pagan, without dressing him in all black and draping him in hundreds of pentacles and brooding over the 'burning times'. He is a person and the religious/spiritual side is acknowledged but not rammed down our throats.
I would like to see more stories where the main characters are of an alternative religion but it's likewise just a side note.
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Dic 11, 2007 - 11 16
I think it's probably rare because people are afraid of offending their readers by involving "alternative" lifestyles of any sort unless it's a major part of the plot.
But I find that you see a lot more of the "natural" type, people who are pagan (or gay or any other minority group) without it becoming their defining characteristic, in fiction that is intentionally not mainstream - that is, available online, usually in the form of comics. Any profit the creator makes is coming directly to them from the readers, so they don't have to worry about pleasing a publisher who has too much to lose by offending the public. The result is that the writing is better, it reflects reality more naturally, and because the author is writing for the love of writing (or drawing or whatever) instead of for a profit, it's more enjoyable to them and cheaper for us. That's mostly why I've decided not to try to get published.
About your story: I don't think it might be best for you to keep your character's spirituality ambiguous. Even reading your post was a little confusing for me, and by keeping the reader in the dark, you're only sending the message that you have something to hide - and why would you want to hide their religion if it's "not a big deal?" If you keep the reader guessing, they'll be spending more time thinking about the religious aspect, instead of just saying "Oh, they're pagan", and moving on.
----------VaCaNo: 40k words between 12/13 and 1/13
Wordcount so far: 2114
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Dic 12, 2007 - 14 50
The misunderstanding may come in part from the fact that the excerpt is from my first story idea that was changed on thanks giving to a story in which the main character is reality hopping much like in the tv show sliders.
So my excerpt is of a completely differant type where the story is about rediscovering your identity and the wonder of the everyday world. It too has a spiritual bent but not so much a religious one. There is at least one encounter with an organised religion (that's made up) that leads the character to question their beliefs and conceptions.
The new story deals with a person cursed to never have a home world or consistant life. Always adrift. Finding ways to cope and discovering ways to maybe change it so he is not always alone and maybe able to return to some worlds some day. The journey becomes less a curse and more an adventure of self discovery. Naturally on some alternate realities it's a bit darker then in others, and in one an alternate version of himself was killed for being a deviant (not only was he gay but a technology user in an anti tech setting) the fact of his religious following of the greeks pantheon and the goddess athena in particular doesn't have anything to do with the death of that alternative self. The other selfs lover later has a religious talisman from the ashes of the burning and seems to invoke the war side of Athena (by grabbing a gun and exposing their hiding so he can shoot at a group of armed forces in persuit of technology users) without the wisdom aspect to carry the balance. My main character narrates the observation of this as something that was dangerous and worried about it. The main character often talks about a talisman he wears and prayers to fates and or gods.
Aside from that I don't make an effort to nail the pantheon down and I'm not entirely sure what it is myself. It may be some conglomeration or settup that is long lost to us due to the fact that he may not be from our reality and he grew up shifting realities so his panteon may be somewhat jumbled compared to ours. Rome may have chosen to adopt the Norse pantheon rather then the greek one. That he also has a fair amount of American indian blood (like my self) that may also play a factor in his religion. Did Vikings settle the new world and bring the reminants to the new world. Did the later christianised settlers change those influces. Is it part american medicine man with norse influces or is he infact some denomination of christian that sees the trinity as three seperate dieties, and follows christian religion much as the early Irish did, where the little folk and earth spirits still figured into the world.
So to graph it out in the story would be cluttered and unnessecary. The idea of a spiritual person with alternative views is expressed enough in his prayers and his anxieties over religious extremeism.
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Dic 12, 2007 - 19 46
Do you mean that I misunderstood you? Because I didn't read your excerpt. I was just speaking about my first impression from what you described in you post, and I wasn't necessarily accurate in my assumptions. But I'm thoroughly confused about what you're trying to say in your second post here. What misunderstanding?
----------VaCaNo: 40k words between 12/13 and 1/13
Wordcount so far: 2114
50,250 / 50,000
Dic 12, 2007 - 20 18
I just felt that the excerpt differances needed to be explain in case it were to generate any confusion. I did then proceed to explain some of the things that occur in my story.
Take what you like from it.
I am simply stateing what I would like to see more of. And saying that it's more intresting to have a character who is a good character and just happens to be differant then it is to have a crusading in your face I'm differant character type.
The same applies to alternative sexuality in a major character. I don't need to have a 'Just Jack' moment from the series will and grace to have a character that is gay in a story. You don't have to scream queen to have a gay character. A good example would be that we don't know what the sexual preferances of Riddick are in the chronicles of riddick and if at some point there where a hint that he were gay that wouldn't make any differance to the character. He was a powerful character. I'm not a huge fan of slash fiction (I think that's the term for it) but that is a viable example. Another one that is a bit more touchy is the whole Dumbledore in harry potter, some people got a tweaked over it. Why? Some of the upset ones complain that if he was gay he should have been more actively portrayed as such. Why?
Hermione never says anything as far as I know of her religious preferances but that's okay, if we introduce a character of a non-christian nature we have to address this in the plot? You probably know several people with differant religious beliefs, they don't stand up and declare it like an AA meeting attendant. It's part of who they are and if it is important to the interactions you discover it.
Just let them be people and characters. So many authors want to be in your face with the differances. That's all, not hostility just trying to express something that seems to be missing and see if others have the same desire.
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Feb 19, 2008 - 21 47
So in a way the alternative religion is very much not focussed on. There are times when mention of spiritual beleifs are used in his observations of the world (realising that one character is drawing heavily from the war aspect of athena and not from the wisdom at all, and the risk in not holding the balance) and saying things like Gods instead of the usual.
I think it's subtlety goes a long way toward making it not a big deal that the main character is pagan, without dressing him in all black and draping him in hundreds of pentacles and brooding over the 'burning times'. He is a person and the religious/spiritual side is acknowledged but not rammed down our throats.
I would like to see more stories where the main characters are of an alternative religion but it's likewise just a side note.
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EDIT: lol I dunno why my sig was before my post...silly forums, signatures go at the bottom!
OK, Hades's Advocate time! If the religion isn't a big deal, then why bother mentioning it? You can be pagan without being annoying (And This Catholic thanks her God if you try). It's not the traditional pagans that 'hate-ize' their religion, its the NeoPagans that capitalize the P in Pagan because they crave the A in Attention. (<-At least from my experience.)
I definitely don't mind making characters, even main characters, of religions other than my own. In fact I have a Nordic Culture in my Fantasy novel that Worships a main Goddess, and also the Forefathers of their Clans (Odin, Thor, Loki, Tyr, etc.) I have religions that resemble Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Sikhism, Baha'i, and even Native American/African Tribal religions in the same novel series as well as an Enlightenment-era style of Atheism. And I go one step further: I take religion into SPACE. But I don't try to make it annoying by being preachy or exclusive. Because before being a story about God, gods or goddesses, my story is about those who live to worship and those who worship to live, the ways religions can be interpreted, spread, divulged, and misused by people who are just like us, even though their demons come from a quake-inducing tree as well as from their doubts and mistakes.
----------NaNo 2008, what will you bring?
More WKRC? The Triumphant return of Siegfred's Giant? The Misadventures of Hans and Greta? Or the newly discovered From one Architect to Another?
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Feb 20, 2008 - 20 24
because wether we think about it or not we encounter religion on a regular basis. How many crosses hanging around peoples neck have you seen in the last week. How many times has sombody said Jesus, or christ or god. Every school here takes christmas break, not winter or yule or anything else. Religion is encountered with startling regularity and christianity itself is almost ubiquitous.
But some of the posative portrayla of accepting a heroic character who is religious without being christian and making note of the differances in those subtle and ubiquitous ways should be done.
And do me the favor of keeping your bias to yourself. Pagans with a gothic P are no more absurd then Christians who wouldn't know what Arameic is and just think that everybody else is wrong but they don't know what's right, they just go with it because that's the way things are.
every religion has nut, dabblers and those that try to tell everyone else they are wrong. Let it go.
you be you I'll be me, agree to disagree but don't pretend others don't exist and don't throw a tissy when someone suggests that they would like to feel that a hero character could be more like them in the subtle things. There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel represented. and if you'll kindly not we are talking about subtle, not blatant.
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Feb 29, 2008 - 18 44
But some of the posative portrayla of accepting a heroic character who is religious without being christian and making note of the differances in those subtle and ubiquitous ways should be done.
And do me the favor of keeping your bias to yourself. Pagans with a gothic P are no more absurd then Christians who wouldn't know what Arameic is and just think that everybody else is wrong but they don't know what's right, they just go with it because that's the way things are.
every religion has nut, dabblers and those that try to tell everyone else they are wrong. Let it go.
you be you I'll be me, agree to disagree but don't pretend others don't exist and don't throw a tissy when someone suggests that they would like to feel that a hero character could be more like them in the subtle things. There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel represented. and if you'll kindly not we are talking about subtle, not blatant.
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Oh I'm not saying that you -shouldn't- write this story, or that there aren't silly Christians like there are silly pagans or even silly Catholics, but those that feel that they are underrepresented or misrepresented should do whatever they can to attatin proper representation instead of complaining that they aren't without any positive action. I was using NeoPagan "activism" as an example.
Can you have a pagan hero? Of course! Take a look at the tales of Beowulf (although Anglo-Saxons were converted, we really know that much of their pagan heritage survived, even if there was pepperings of "almighty Christ" in their monk-written literature.), Sigfried, Gilgamesh, 10,000 B.C., etc. I, despite being not pagan, would read a story about a pagan hero as long as it was a good story.
But I guess you should define your "religious subtleties" because I'm not sure I have the same idea of subtlety as you do, and that could be a problem if you want your readers to feel like your hero is subtly pagan. But since religion is so much a part of everyday life, how exactly can it be subtle?
----------NaNo 2008, what will you bring?
More WKRC? The Triumphant return of Siegfred's Giant? The Misadventures of Hans and Greta? Or the newly discovered From one Architect to Another?