Rebellious Writing discussion

I'm curious y'all's opinion on contextualizing sin and darkness in books.

I am a Christian writer, but I have violence and sexual abuse and language (small amount) in my books. I don't paint them in a good light, but I include them nonetheless.

Curious where y'all stand on that.

Evangeline wrote: "I'm curious y'all's opinion on contextualizing sin and darkness in books..."

Personally, I find it depends on the book. A fluffy, cozy Christian romance? I'm going to balk at even just a little cussing. A book that's taking a deep look at the consequences of someone's sinful behavior? I'll put up with a lot. Violence? Depends on who's doing it, and why.

I myself don't put objectionable language in my books. I might have something like, "Ezra cussed, disgusted with the whole situation." But not include the words he said.

The main character of my YA western "Cloaked" receives unwanted sexual advances from an adult male, and I made them as tame as I could -- the most that happened was he forced a single kiss on her and put his hands on her waist when she didn't want him to. I've had some reviewers say this book was way too dark and got really graphic. I've had others say they felt uncomfortable with his behavior, which is what I was expecting. I've had others say the whole book was sweetness and light. So yeah... you ultimately can't please/reach everyone.

Your position is exactly our own, Evangeline!

There is no question that abuse, violence, language and lust happen in real life. Often, the best stories are those that overcome such difficulties and prevail to be a shining example, as proved by countless saints and contemporary realities.

Rebellious Writing is not a censoring agent that calls for the removal of all portrayal of sin in fiction. We just call for the reduction of the graphic lust, abuse and language; and that clear negative consequences are shown for those particular actions.

A lot of us were really disturbed to see a trend of glorifying sin and darkness - showing them as good examples to follow, and that it's normal to do such things as assault someone or that you are cool if you swear, etc.

Hope this helps!

(And thank you Hamlette!!)

Catherine

Awesome. Yeah, one trend that I am not a fan of in Christian literature is the stuff that tries to address darkness without REALLY addressing it, playing it down, you know?

Do y'all have personal lines that you won't cross?

As far as what you're willing to write, not do. XD lol

I can understand why that would be frustrating (I'm guilty of doing that, to be honest, in my own writing sometimes)

I'm only a novice writer, but I personally tend to shy away from writing copiously about sensitive subjects like sex before marriage or death. Both topics are topics that bother me personally when reading or imagining them, so I'll give bare little hints if the story requires those.

Catherine wrote: "I can understand why that would be frustrating (I'm guilty of doing that, to be honest, in my own writing sometimes)

I'm only a novice writer, but I personally tend to shy away from writing copio..."

I gotcha. :) That seems like a good place to write in, not ignoring it, but not giving it too much page time. I enjoy hinting in books because then me as the reader can imagine it as far (or not far) as I am comfortable with. :)

I'm also a novice writer, not to mention pretty young in most people's opinions. Although I am pretty blunt and would actually like to charge on ahead and address allll of the issues, I do recognize that many people would brush me off as just a fifteen-year-old or think I'm too blunt for my age.

So I wait, and learn. I am, however, still including themes as undertones in my novel that I am working on now.

I think that you can include topics about darkness in books as long as one makes sure they aren't glorifying said darkness.

I have a character who is underage and drinks in my current novel, but I make sure to portray this as a bad thing as well as a sad one.

Gray wrote: "I'm also a novice writer, not to mention pretty young in most people's opinions. Although I am pretty blunt and would actually like to charge on ahead and address allll of the issues, I do recogniz..."

I can relate to being brushed off for age.

Yeah, I completely agree. The world is a real place with real messed up issues, and we can't just ignore that. I look at the Bible and boy oh boy did that have content, yet it never directs the attention away from God's glory. THAT'S my goal. I want to show that God isn't intimidated or lessened by darkness. In fact, the darkness and sin just shows all the more how much we need Him.

The trick is finding the balance. XD

Evangeline wrote: "Awesome. Yeah, one trend that I am not a fan of in Christian literature is the stuff that tries to address darkness without REALLY addressing it, playing it down, you know?

Do y'all have personal ..."

You pose an interesting question. I've not put much thought to what I would stop from putting in my books. I just have certain things I don't agree with and I don't particularly like and I refrain from putting them in my book.

My parents read my books and my little brother likes to read them too so you can never be too careful, eh?

For instance my books are YA, so I wouldn't put sex in them. I'm fine with kissing, but I won't go any further.

I wouldn't put bad language in my books, I either come up with a fantasy swear word, or say "he cursed" in its place

Violence however, I'm a little more lenient with. I grew up watching Lord of the Rings so I'm actually okay with fantasy violence, however there are some things that can be just a little too gruesome even for even me. And I wouldn't put that in my book.

Nicki wrote: "Evangeline wrote: "Awesome. Yeah, one trend that I am not a fan of in Christian literature is the stuff that tries to address darkness without REALLY addressing it, playing it down, you know?

Do y..."

Having a little brother read one's work would probably be a good way to make sure it was all clean. XD I am the youngest in my family, so I've been exposed to a lot more at a younger age.

That's funny that you should mention LotR because that was my first intro to fantasy violence (we watched it as a family when I was 8), and that's mostly what I write (not that many of my contemporaries call for violence anyway lol).

I love asking these kinds of questions because it's so interesting to hear other people's boundaries and thoughts.