Writing Convincing Religions in a Fantasy World

I'm heading to the Catholic Writers Conference today, so it seems the perfect time to re-run this blog about faith in fiction.

This is the new cover art for Infinite Space, Infinite God I.

Incorporating the spiritual aspects of a character or the religious aspects of a setting or plot can enhance a story. However, done wrong and it can wreck a story.  Here are four pitfalls I see:

One, they are superficially portrayed and thus not really believable.  Rose Dimond gave a good example of this in our workshop at the 2008 MuseOnline Convention. In a critique group, one person told the story of a woman who was abused. She later became a priestess, and was able to "find peace" after murdering her abuser. The story flopped because, as Rose said, "Revenge is not generally recommended as the pathway to peace by the holy." On the other hand, Tarma, a character by Mercedes Lackey, gives herself to her goddess to become a warrior specifically so she can exact revenge on an entire tribe for the murder of her relatives--and it works.  The key lies in developing the religion sufficiently to convince the reader that the way to peace is by smiting one's enemies, permanently. 

Two, they are a blatant copy of an existing Earth religion. Jesus with green skin or tentacles is an obvious one. Less obvious would be a “Mother goddess” on a world of insectoids that hatch, alone and independent, from eggs.  Why would such creatures, who have no concept of "mother" by nature, develop such a religion? Just like a blind race would never develop the concept of visual color, so this species would not develop a religion around a nurturing motherly figure. They would worship God in some other image that they, by their nature, would understand. A great example of this is "Dyads" by Alan Loewen and Ken Pick. Their foxlike creatures, who mate for life, have their own trinity:  husband, wife and eternal dance.  

Three, religions are used, sometimes obviously, as a device for getting the author’s point across.  Unless you're writing for an audience that wants to be preached to creatively, this device turns readers off.  (Incidentally, the same goes for just about any "message" fiction.  Concentrate on the story, not the message.)

Four, religion is tossed in for “color” but otherwise never touches the characters or story. It's a rule in writing that if you don't need an object, a setting, a character, don't devote a lot of words to it, him or her. Do you spend a chapter talking about the chemical content of the Calaronderon Nebula if the ship is leaving that parsec, never to think about it again? Likewise, then why go on about the bizarre tree spore worship of the Elderbeera if it never impacts the story?

Certainly, the most obvious way to avoid these pitfalls is to write solid, engaging stories with complex characters for whom faith is part of their experience. Here, then, are some specifics to consider:

Is the faith logical to how your creatures experience the world? Think about their anatomy, their worldview, their philosophy. I know that sounds like you are creating God in your creature's image, but think of it this way: who your creatures are and how they relate to the world will have been influenced by their faith and their relationship to the Creator as they perceive it. God would not give underwater starfish creatures a revelation of a bipedal air-breathing savior who was nailed to a tree--how could they possible identify with that?
Have you given enough information to make us understand if not identify with the alien faith without overwhelming the story?  Gone are the days when readers will put up with five pages describing a sunset; so too, readers want the information that relates. If all you need is for your elf to say a prayer for strength in battle, you may not need to get into the pantheon of Elvish gods and goddesses, etc.  However, if you are chronicling the life of a monk-turned-king, you need more detail. Further, if you are going to do something outside the reader's experience of faith--like Rose's example last issue of the priestess who "found peace" after brutally murdering her attacker--then you need to provide enough background as far as information and attitude to make the action plausible.

Do you show more than one facet of the faith?  Think of religion as a character: like characters, faiths have attitudes, histories, codes of honor and conduct, things it will and will not tolerate. Quirks. Are you showing some of those facets, or have you fallen into the one- or two-dimensional character portrayal?

Is the religion needed for your story? Not all stories need a faith-based aspect or a portrayal of religion. If you have doubts about how the faith aspect is playing out, remove it and see if the story still flows. Where are the holes and why? If you have none, reconsider why you incorporated the religion and what you might do instead. I had one story submitted to ISIG II. It was a good story covering a serious issue, important to the writer and valuable to readers, but the religious aspect was shoehorned in to qualify for the anthology. The impact of the message was actually lost because the faith simply did not fit.

Do the faith and the character fit?  Let your character talk to you about the faith--outside of the story. Imagine a typical worship day for them. See what parts fit and what he, she, or it can't act out or believe in and why.

Religion can be a valuable and interesting part of worldbuilding.  It can give your story depth or a unique angle.  However, it needs to be integral to the story and believable in the universe you create.  When you achieve that, you give richness to your tale that readers will enjoy.

My Novel's Journey: Neeta Lyffe II: Inspiration Comes from Writing

What comes first, inspiration or writing?

I think most folks believe that you need to be inspired in order to write, but here's the secret writers who produce works quickly know: Sometimes you have to write before you get inspired.

Here's an example from this week's work on Neeta Lyffe II: I Left My Brains in San Francisco: When I started this week's writing, all I knew was that they were at the exterminator's conference in San Francisco, and that they would have to take on some zombies and that Ted and Neeta needed to get their relationship straightened out. Oh, and Marcel Chelemas would be after Neeta's affections (or at least her body.) Neeta and Ted had signed in at the conference, had the embarrassing situation of sharing one very romantic room (where Ted is being so gentlemanly he might as well be celibate.) They met up with Roscoe (from Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator) and met his true love, Cameron (of the indeterminate gender). It was the next day, and Neeta had to go to an interview with SanFranciscoOnline.

I had no idea what she was going to do there. Rather than put it aside, I just delved in writing.

First, I realized while writing the dinner scene with Roscoe and Cam that Neeta never really worked through her feelings about killing Bergie in the first book. I mean, she knew she did the right thing, but how do you get over chopping off a friend's head with a chainsaw? From that realization--which only came about from writing the dinner scene--I decided to start her day with a nightmare she'd only half remember.

And while we're doing a nightmare, let's have Bergie's head deliver an ominous warning? That also came from the dinner conversation and the comedy act they were watching.

So, you know the expression, "Put your character in a tree. Put vicious dogs at the base. Throw rocks."? Neeta's in the tree. I have no idea where the dogs are or what my rocks look like. So I just start with her waking up and let her lead me.

She didn't remember the dream at all, just woke up flustered. Inspiration--Bergie will have to come back, each time, she'll recall just a bit more. Now I have future scenes figured out.

Since she's flustered for no reason, she finds one--Ted. Are they dating or not? Oh, and she doesn't want to do the interview and she's tired of worrying about money... That takes me until she's dressed and waking up Ted so he can get ready for the conference.

By now, the subconscious has taken over. The characters are acting on their own and I just record. As they do, I get new glimpses of how things work:

Ted makes a comment about not being jealous because he's got nothing to be jealous of. He and I know it's because he's confident that Neeta and he are meant to be, but Neeta doesn't know that. He also tells her that they are spending the next morning together on Fisherman's Warf. At this point, I'm at my goal for the day.

The next day, I have to write the interview. I almost decided to skip this scene and wait to see what I need to foreshadow, but I figured I could at least get her to the studio. As I started writing, I realized I didn't want a typical studio for an online show, so I looked up houses for sale in San Francisco and based it on a nice one I found in the $500,000 range. Suddenly, I knew the story behind the studio--the family business of a former TV anchor with a jealous husband who decided to quit TV to stay home with the kids. Her husband suggested they start their own online show and now it's hugely successful.

Jealous husband? What about Ted not being jealous, ever? Inspiration--for Neeta and me. Suddenly, Marcel has weaseled his way onto the show, mostly with the intention of meeting Neeta. Neeta sees the husband's protective reaction to Marcel being around his wife, and thinks maybe she could provoke a reaction from her own man.

End result, she let herself get talked into doing something with Marcel when she's supposed to be at Fisherman's Warf with Ted.

And now I know what I'm writing tomorrow.

The thing is, if I'd let myself wait until all this came to me, it would not have. It took the physical act of writing them through the events to let my characters tell me what comes next.

Writing doesn't need to begin with inspiration, but writing breeds inspiration.

My Novel's Journey: Mind Over Matter edits--lesson time

Last week, I didn't talk much about the lessons I've learned--or knew and applied--in my editing marathon, so I thought I'd talk about a three now.

Less is More: Last week, I met my goal of cutting 32,000 words, and I think I can cut more. Some of it was redundancy and a cutesy parceling out of bits of info when really, just saying it didn't hurt things at all. However, I also cut out a subplot, some favorite scenes, a couple of instances when we saw an event from two character POVs. Rather than losing the richness of the story, it has made the primary conflict harder-hitting and the story moves faster.

Kill the sacred subplot. I loved the subplot of Joshua's failed romance. I used it to show the differences between Kanaan romance and human. Also, his ex shows up near the end. (No spoilers on how, other than it's awesome.) Nonetheless, I spent way too much time in background and flashback for something that ended even before Mind Over Mind. Some of it was gut-wrenching writing, too, but let's face it: Josh is stuck on an alien planet. Is he going to stress over an affair gone bad? It distracted from the main theme. Machete time! Subplots should support the theme.

Be open to change: I started the rewrite process by re-reading the hardcopy and making notes. After about the fourth chapter,however, I didn't even look at the notes because the revision moved far beyond the simple changes I'd planned. The notes helped to jumpstart my brain, but as a character-driven seat-of-the-pants writer, I get a lot of energy by letting my characters take control. Even in revisions, I'm a pantster.

My Novel's Journey: Rediscovering Discovery

One difference, I think, between a professional writer and a hobbiest is that the professional writer writes whether she's "in the mood"or not. I try to keep this in mind when I have bad days or feel uninspired, like I felt last week.

It's been a tough week for me and my family. My husband didn't make the commander's list--he's in the Air Force, and after some discussion, we've decided the best thing for our family is to get back to Colorado Springs where he can finish his career doing what he loves in Space Command. That may mean a move in the middle of the school year; it might mean another summer move; it might not happen if they can't find a replacement for him here. (If they don't, we're staying three years so the older kids can finish high school then probably retiring.)

Getting a crown on my cracked tooth was not stopping the pain, so after two weeks on pain killers, I finally got a root canal. It went well, and as I write this (Friday the 10th), I'm a little achy but not so bad I need ibuprophin.

So, between that, the 3-day weekend (during which I was sick) and some discipline issues with my youngest, I've been pretty tapped emotionally and physically. Probably not the best time to try to rewrite a novel that's been evading me for three years.

Funny thing is, there never seems to be a good time for this novel. The more suspicious part of me wonders if someone has it in for this book. ("Could it be…Satan?")

The more logical part of me says, "Give me a break! This is not that important a book." However, it is important to my heart and stuck in my mind, and I swore to myself that this year, it gets done for better or for worse.

Plus, this is my job. Do carpenters take a week off working someone's house just because they're "not in the mood"?

So, even aching and distracted, I write.

I'm up to chapter six now. I've killed off some subplots because they weren't working and frankly, had nothing to do with the second half of the book which really works. I'm a little afraid of it turning back into "Love Boat in Space," but I'm going to trust my characters to be more diverse than that. Sister Ann is starting to show some spunk, and even better, I've found a lovely site that not only posts the daily Gospels, but also snippets from books and sermons by saints. I'm gathering materials for her encyclopedic mind. It also looks like some of Sister Thomas' past will show up, too, which I like because she was such a side character before.

I got only a few thousand words done, maybe an average of 500 a day, and I also hacked a lot of stuff that's no longer relevant. It's not my best work, quantity-wise, but reading it over again, I'm actually pretty satisfied with the prose.

An author I'd read (Dean Wesley Smith, perhaps) said you can't judge the quality of a book by the mood of the author when she was writing it. I think he's right.

PROGRESS REPORT:

I'm into Chapter Six. I had to rethink several threads in the book based on the new occupations of the characters. The videographer threw in a whole new wrinkle to a subplot, which helps me tie the two halves of the book together. Ann and Capt Addiman's relationship is going to be stronger, too, and I have an idea for a new wrinkle there, plus the chief engineer turned out the be the son of some friends from Tommie's past. So more interweaving of characters, which always strengthens a book. Here's a snippet from right after they have a service to bring the Host to the chapel in the Edwina Thomas:

"Doesn't Captain Addiman have the most beautiful chapel?" Ann exclaimed as people exited behind her.

The ship's captain stopped and laughed a deep, booming melody. "Not mine, dear sister."

"You're right. God's house is for everyone. Catholic, small c, from the Greek words kata and holos--according to the whole . Universal. Still, the Catholic--big C--chapel is so pretty!"

Addiman laughed again as he took her arm and led them out. "I thank you. This particular program was designed after the chapel set in Lola Quintain VI: Quest for the Papal Crown--"

He stopped mid-sentence and tapped at the communicator on his ear. "Addiman. Yes? I see. Yes, that is fine. We will be there shortly."

"Is it time to talk about the alien ship?" Ann asked eagerly.

Addiman smiled at her, bemused. With his height, he looked like a father beaming at a precocious child. "Past time, I think Dr. Thoren would say. They await us in the small auditorium."

"Then we should go!" She started down the hallway toward the auditorium as if she'd traipsed the halls hundreds of times already. The rest trailed behind, Tommie deliberately slow, with a hand on Andi to slow her as well. Rita stayed with them.

"The ship is of the universe," Ann pondered aloud to the captain. "But it's not of the whole, so it isn't really catholic."

"In either sense of the word," Addiman suggested. "I think Dr. Thoren will find that comforting."

"Caesar, too. Control is comforting. When we control, we find comfort; when God controls, grace…"**

Their voices became a murmur as the two rounded the corner.

**This is a quote from St. Gillian of L5, a saint in my universe. Ann often communicates in quotes.

My Novel's Journey: Fueling the Full Speed Ahead

Oops! It’s Thrusday, and I haven’t blogged!

All I can say is that I’ve been on a wonderful, awe-inspiring writing spree the past few days. I wrote 8300 words yesterday—good words, not stuff I’m going to cut or totally rewrite—and an hour after waking up this morning, I had another 600 to added.

This despite the fact that my laptop is down—yes, AGAIN!

So, yeah, I’m bragging a bit, but before you go hide in a corner (like one writer friend suggested she would do last night), let me share what got me here:

I’ve been working on Neeta Lyffe off and on since January. For the past 6 weeks, it’s been mostly off because of the move. In June, I gave myself permission to forget about writing obligations and just concentrate on the house. As a result of that and some major help from Rob, the kids and especially my parents who drove up to help, it is done. That took a major stress off my mind—and stress does stall creativity. (when we let it, but that’s another blog) I wrote when I had a chance and felt the need, but didn’t start my schedule. By the time I was done with the house, I was hungry for my routine. So, kill off stresses when you can.

However, just because I wasn’t putting a lot of words on paper, didn’t mean I wasn’t writing the book. The characters and scenes were still going on in my mind. Some people call this pre-writing. So daydream your stories when you can’t write.

My laptop dying probably helped. I didn't have as much incentive to be trolling the internet (which is hard on the netbook's tiny screen) or reading all my e-mailed newsletters (even harder on webmail and a tiny screen.) So cut distrations!

One thing I do have on the netbook is Yahoo IM. When I got stuck, I'd IM a writer friend (usually Rebecca Butcher, but also Ann Lewis and Susan Kirkland) and bounce ideas off them. Sometimes explaining helped gel a concept. So, talk through ideas with a friend or writer friend.

Two days before my writing spree, I had a day that was mostly spent staring at the same image on Google Earth for hours. (a concrete slab near West Burbank between I-5 and South Front Street in Burbank, CA. Twisting it, figuring out angles. Getting directions to the nearest hospitals and studios. Trying to figure out what it’d originally been used for. Drawing out the logistics of a zombie invasion spilling out of the imaginary factory I placed there. I am not a visualizer in the literal sense, so this was painful work for me, and wow—did it pay off in the end! So, do the research. Don’t be afraid to take time to think.

However, there came a point where I had to stop staring at the picture, get over my insecurities and self-doubt and just write. I chanted my mantra (“Sh**y First Draft”) until I had the nerve to start typing. Once I got into it, things flew! So, get over the self-doubt and just write!

Finally, I let the characters dictate the story. I had intended on a pretty grand battle, lots of strategy and good tactics, but these are a bunch of TV show contestants learning to be exterminators. Like reality TV contestants, they each wanted their moment. So that’s what I wrote—everybody got a scene, everybody did something cool. Then they surprised me: Katie finds courage, LaCenta meets a hot guy, Spud decides to propose. Neeta steals a HumVee and saves the very lawyer who sued her. As I wove these together, following their leads, I remembered a line Motzart said in the movie Amadeus about seven voices singing individually is music. They made music. So, don’t be afraid to let the characters take control.

Okay, enough for today. I want to get back. Everyone’s going to a big victory reception some political candidate is throwing for them Then I have to announce the winner of Zombie Death Extreme. Who will get the million?

Think you’ll have to buy the book to find out.

(BTW, yes, the house is a bit messy, but I did make a good breakfast for the kids, did 2 loads of laundry and cleaned the kids' bathroom. I also discussed some conference issues with Ann. You can do it and more!)

Thoughts on Writer's Voice

Recently, a friend on one of my writer's groups asked about how to find one's voice in writing. I thought I'd share my opinions with you as well.

What is voice? Intuitively speaking, it's what makes your writing recognizable as yours. It's a combination of word choice, tone (friendly or educational), sentence length and structure, approach... It's not easily defined or pinned down, which can make it intimidating to the new writer.

Best advice is: don't worry about it. You don't "make" your voice. You and your voice find each other.

The most effective way of finding your voice is simply writing. I think Jane Lebak said it can take upwards of 100,000 words, though I may have heard that from another author elsewhere.

As for mimicking another author's voice, I know some writers who did that early in their career as an exercise or as play or to move past a weakness in their worn writing. (For instance, if you are bad at description, you copy out a few pages of an author who does wonderful description, get a feel for how they do it, then apply elements to your own work.) However, that doesn't mean you copy someone else's voice for work you submit. It's practice.

Voice can differ by what you write, IMHO. My voice for DragonEye, PI is very different from my voice for my latest book on Catholic living, Why God Matters. One is fiction told by a snarky dragon; the other stories of God's hand in the life of a middle-aged mom. Yet, if you look closely, I'm sure you'll see some similarities in voice.