 Spiritual: May 17, 2017 Issue [#8293] |
  Spiritual
This week: Spiritual Fiction Edited by: Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline  
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From Jedi Order to the followers of R'hllor, unique, fictional faiths have captured the imaginations of millions of readers from around the world. But designing your own fictional faith can be daunting. And how does it affect your characters?
This week's Spiritual Newsletter, then, is mostly about spiritual fiction, with a touch of existing faiths.
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When you are building a fictional world, you can allow your imagination to run wild... to a certain extent. The reader may love the unusual, but can struggle to find their way around and settle in if there is not also a comforting touch of the familiar. We use our own experiences in life as a reference point when entering a new environment. When you write about a character watching the sun set, we picture the sunsets we have witnessed. If your character witnesses something very different, our imaginations have to do some work to paint a new picture. If nothing is we know it, it becomes hard work.
Faith and religion are a big part of our world. Pretty much everyone has a stance on it. People believe to different extents, or they don’t believe, or they aren’t sure about whether or not any higher powers exist. Many fictional worlds, then, have religions and belief systems of their own, and these will have their effects on the characters. In Game of Thrones, for example, different faiths play a crucial part in the quest for the throne. The powers of faith raise and topple players. Some characters are highly religious, whilst others are uncertain about what they believe. This is relatable.
If there are higher powers at work in your story or novel, there are many interesting ways in which your characters can respond to them. Do they believe? How deeply? Why? Were they raised in the faith or choose it later in life? What happened to them for this to happen? Perhaps they lose or have lost of their faith. Why did this happen? How does their belief affect their relationships with others? How does it affect the choices that they make?
Maybe there are no higher powers, but the people in your story believe that there are. Maybe there were higher powers, but something has happened to them. Maybe there is one higher power. Maybe there are more than one. They can be in the background or play a prominent role. One novel I love is Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, which is about a God who has many followers... but they don’t truly believe. Their faith is in the religion, and the religious organisation rather than in him. Because of this, his powers have greatly dwindled... until he finds the one person in the entire world who does actually have a true faith. Their journey together is a good read.
Of course, your story might be set in our world, either in the now, the past, or the future. If religion is to be a part of the story, you have an interesting choice to make: will your characters have the same faith, or lack thereof, as you? The same questions as above apply here.
It can be very interesting to step out of your comfort zone. If you are religious, and have an atheist character, it can be tempting to nudge him or her towards your faith... but what if there are many reasons for them to remain an atheist? If they are agnostic, what if they don’t manage to find any real answers? If you are an atheist, what do you do when your character’s religiously inclined? And what if your character suits a different religion to your own?
It can be tricky. Creating a new religion, or religions, for a fictional world is a daunting enough task. Accurately depicting existing religions that you are not familiar with can be all the more daunting because you don’t want to get it wrong. You can bet your readers will let you know if you do. And you don’t want to offend.
The good thing is, you can always ask. You may know people of different religions and faith, and the likelihood is that they’ll be fine answering some sincere questions. And here on Writing.Com there are members of a wide variety of religions and faiths and if anyone will understand the need to research different subjects for your writing, it’s other writers. So long as you are polite in your approach, many will be willing to offer some helpful insights.
That is one of the beauties of being a part of a writing community, isn’t it? We’re there for the other. Together, we can create some wonderful new pieces to explore.
Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline
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The Spiritual Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Spiritual Newsletter Team
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