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When you have characters that come from a religious background in a story, how far should you go in describing their background and avoid coming off preachy?
My character in Open Your Heart was raised LDS, he's gone pretty well inactive because he doesn't feel comfortable at meetings anymore, however, he still believes in everything, and his parents are still very active.
At some point there will be a confrontation between him and his parents, and his parents are going to seek advice from their bishop. I'm pretty sure actually showing the scene with the bishop would be too much, but how do I draw the line with the confrontation, and latter reconciliation, between giving enough religion for context, but not too much religion that it begins to feel preachy?
I've also got Drew's own head to deal with. At some point he's going to have to take a good hard look at what he believes in and come to terms with what it means for him. How do I show this, without detailing it so much, that it ends up coming off preachy?
Plenty of time for this to be hashed out, we've got quite a lot more chapters before it's likely to start coming up.
Religion
In my experience, there is no way to over-explain a religious person. Preachy-R-Them.
(My brother is a minister and my other brother is an elder.)
Enough said?
Wholeman
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Thanks for the stereotype
IMHO, too much said.
It's dangerous to judge individuals in large box groups. You know how shallow those boob people are. =D
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
The Importance of Religion in Stories
I find religious beliefs help define characters in my stories. Some of my characters are very religious, some are not; and their beliefs in God or various religious tenets have no bearing on the character's goodness or lack of goodness. Some of my characters are agnostic (perhaps atheist by some's definition); however, some of their children are strong Christians, some are Jewish, some profess no beliefs in any deities. It's their choice. I think the one thing I've tried to convey is that a person's religious beliefs have little to do with their strength of character or goodness.
Portia
Portia
It really depends
When I read a story, I want to be informed about the characters' feelings and behaviors. If I am left in the dark, it gets harder for me to relate to the characters and makes the story harder to understand.
Give us what we need, and if you think it interesting, a bit more.
It doesn't matter if the topic is religion or some sub-cultural elements, the reader needs to understand the things driving the story.
I have heard some interesting things about the LDS and look forward to seeing others' take. One T-girl I knew in Phoenix told me that when she transitioned that she was invited to leave. Once she completed her transition and SRS, she found she was welcomed back. It makes me wonder what the issues were and how they were resolved.
My tuppence,
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Sorry to be vague, but it all depends....
...in looking at the character, it's more about how important religion is to the him or her? As you noted, is your character finding a change in his or her belief? What world view and belief system, if any, drives their decisions and choices of behavior? Establishing the character first will help you decide what if any role religion will have in regard to the story. And of course, how much of your own faith and world view plays a role in the characters you create; as your 'children,' do they reflect your own beliefs as well.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Trial of the faith.
My character has been having a trial of his faith for quite some time now, and has, like so many other things in his life, buried it rather than faced it. The events of the story are conspiring to make him face it, same as so many other things in his life.
This particular character is a very very strong reflection of me, had I been transgender instead of an asexual with no strong attachment to gender, and a little bit smarter than I am - if less secure about himself. This isn't always true, but I wanted to explore this particular "what if?" for whatever reason.
Abigail Drew.
The Balance
Most of the time people already understand religion, so when writing a story about a character, show instead of tell is generally sufficient and preferable. If the plot has a great deal to do with the intricacies of the church, or if the author has an ax to grind with the church, then she would have to put in more detail, of course. Being preachy is basically the same as lecturing.
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
As long as you don't proseletise...
I think we all have religious people in our circle of friends, so if you are going to describe a religious friend, you'd have to include something for background.
In "Hala's Snow Day" I described a whole family that were Muslim. The way I did it seemed to be recieved rather well, and I thought it was in context with the story. "Lt Katia in Afghanistan" is the same way.
Interestingly, I am now investigating Membership in the LDS church. Since I am a post op woman, I don't feel like they will accept me, but I promised a very nice young woman that I would ride this horse until it gave out.
Much peace
Gwendolyn
Sorry to sound thick.
A Nice ride around Manchester to finish off the Sparkle weekend.
What's LDS ?
Sorry if this appears really thick but some of us have huge chunks of our education missing.
Bev
LDS
Latter Day Saints? Mormons, that is?
Progression
In answer to your question, you use enough explanation to progress the plot, nothing more. Any extraneous information is overkill and preachy. So unless your character is overly religious (a minister or something of the sort) then it should be held to a minimum (a few sentences to get the point across, not multiple paragraphs stating your or your characters views on every topic available).
The same goes for politics. If you need to point out that that Homeland Security in the US was formed because of what happened on 911, that's informative, useful, and you progress your plot, but if you harp on what politician did or did not do leading up to that, then that would be overkill.
~Lili
Google +: http://gplus.to/lilithlangtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
In principle, I agree ...
... however, depending on the nature of the scene to be described, the plot may not be well-served by too peripheral a treatment. The LDS church (official name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is structurally rather different from most Christian denominations.
They have no paid ministry, so everything that needs to be done gets done by voluntary service by those called to the many positions necessary to spread out the labor. The Bishop is more-or-less the equivalent of a Catholic parish priest ("father"?), except he still has to earn a living, via a job or a business, in addition to his church service. The LDS church also isn't merely a place of weekend worship; it forms the core of a fairly close social organization, with many activities for the members throughout the week. When slicerv mentions that the protagonist has been "inactive", he means that he's not participating or serving in a calling, not that he's changed his beliefs.
To one unfamiliar with this organizational aspect, it might seem that the Bishop exercises a high level of "control" over his flock. It's actually more along the lines of a highly "trusted adviser", to borrow a business expression. Thus, it may be necessary to describe in more depth, in order to avoid creating a false impression of what's going on.
I'd suspect that it would be good to have a dialog with a non-LDS proofreader to see if the (minimal) explanation written is sufficient for clarity.
Deni
Readability
I'm not speaking of absolute minimalism here in the use of this method. If the need is there to give the reader information in this area then it needs to be included. We're still in the realm of whatever is needed to advance the plot and no more. What needs to be excluded is extraneous information that has no bearing on the characters or the plot. It would all depend on how large a role the specific character spoken of and religion plays in the story. The type of religion, politics, recoil spring tension strength on your Colt 1911 is irrelevant. Information is information. Babbling for no reason kills the readability of a story.
Edit: The coil strength of the recoil spring might be relevant, but comparing the manufacturing methods, in length, isn't.
~Lili
Google +: http://gplus.to/lilithlangtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
Is it important to the character?
I would reccomend you Maeryn's recent story, where the lead character spoke to a preacher. I don't think religion is a bad thing, as long as you keep it relaxed. Recruiting is probably to strong, but don't feel you have to avoid religion. There have been many stories I've enjoyed with a religious bent.
Wren
Oops, (empty set)
Wrong place. Erin, would you please delete this msg?