Our Little Parts

Inclusion versus exclusion. Society seems to be battling with this a little more than it should these days. (Really? What heart ever gained by subtracting?)

Anyhow, writers of our relatively “little” standing can still do our part. Make it a point to include all races, all religions, all nationalities, all hearts in your “little” stories.

Welcome the world to your fiction and the world just may welcome your words to their hearts.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe  

"Do or Do Not. There is No Try."

I do try to be good.

A monkish life despite my smut-writing tendencies is testament to both a.) my mental nuttiness (panic disorder, anxiety exasperation, OCD tendencies, PTSD flirtations, and the like) and b.) my general goody-two-shoe-ness.

Yes, I’m an inherently boring person who when given the choice between being good or bad abashedly chooses the good.

So, it is in this “angelic” fervor that I try not to work on Sundays. God says a day of rest is needed and I say okay.

Or at least I try.

Very hard.

But my mind goes a little spasmodic without writing of some sort to occupy it. The old brain needs to latch onto some creative project to save it from spiraling down into “Crap, I’m crazy” mode.

So, yesterday, in my ultimately futile efforts of being restful, I did the following…

1.) Wrote a chunk of a children’s story. No, not young adult. I’m talking young kid… I know, I know. Don’t ask me why. I just know there was an ostrich involved and a toothbrush. Other than that, I haven’t got a clue.

2.) Flirted with the idea of starting a travel blog… Laughable. First, I don’t have the time. Second, what would I call it, “Where the Monks Go To Party”?

3.) Skimmed through calls for submissions again. No particular genre in mind. Just trolling the Want Ads and thinking “Hey, how hard could it be to write a steampunk variation of The Grapes of Wrath?”

So, as you can see, I do try to be good.

Please, oh please, let that mean something.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

A Means, Not an End

Too often one mistakes a compass for a destination… Stick with me on this, folks. This could be good.

Case in point #1: Wikipedia. A fine, fine tool that has aided and will continue aid writers the world over. I, myself, would be loath to do without it. But research does not end, should never, ever end at Wikipedia. It is a resource that points you in the direction your researching, curious self should go. Jot down the coordinates (info) it gives you and then pack your bags and head for the coordinates yourself. Wikipedia is not an end. It is a means.

Case in point #2: Churches. A tremendous place to find like-minded people and life-sharpening guide. Politics and cliques aside, a brick and mortar church has led to the salvation of a gazillion or more brilliant but scarred souls. But a church no matter how grand or sincere can not actually save a soul. That’s God’s job. He’s the savior, not the church council. A church points the way, sometimes it will even take you to God’s doorstep, but in the end you yourself have to walk into His arms.

There.

Self-righteous preaching from the Wikipedia-loving sinner over.

Fit of sanctimonious pique done.

Thank you for your patience.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

Netting the Big "R"

Religion is a tricky scoundrel to net in a romance novel.

Oh there are ways to do it, of course, but short of making it another full-fledged player in the story, it is rather hard to do.

Sure, if you choose to make one of your lead characters a priest/former-priest/priest-wanna-be then his struggle with his religious vows is key in the plotline. No problem there. Just tell the story and the readers will get it.

Or if you are writing in a series particularly targeted to a Christian crowd, per se, then the limitations and extremes are fairly well-defined for you. More than likely you will not turn off a reader by leaning hard on the aspects of the character’s beliefs.

But, if the chosen faiths of the cast are important to the characterization of each person but not necessarily to the whole Romance (Big “R” #1) of the tale, a quandary is often had as to how much religion to include?

An up-and-coming author can rarely afford to alienate a large chunk of their audience. And that is a risk when you linger a little too long or a little too heavily on the whole Religion (Big “R” #2) of the thing.

Writing a novel set in the late Colonial era, a time in which religion was a driving factor in most everybody’s life in some manner or another, I’m finding myself a little unsure about how to address these issues of faith. How much do I include? How much do I turn a blind eye to?

I have no answers here.

Bummer, I know.

But sometimes just asking the question, admitting there is an issue to be discussed is a start, right?

After all, (to circle cleverly back around to the opening analogy), you must admit there is a fish before you can net it.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe