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- Jun 18, 2008
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I have a question about a scene I wish to write, wherein my MC has to "retrieve" his sister who has Down syndrome from a pastor's family who is caring for her while his grandmother, her caretaker, is ill. He simply needs to pick her up at their house and bring her home, but the question of her guardianship - the Grandmother is in danger of passing away - will come up later in the book, and he is very concerned that she not be overly-influenced by - or eventually go to live with - this family.
I'm an atheist, and my MC is as well, or at least he's definitely questioning his grandmother's religious - or really I guess more like agnostic or humanistic (she represents the best side of religion I can bring myself to muster up!) - upbringing of them.
His sister is the easily-influenced character in the situation, of course, and the MC has helped his girlfriend flee a religiously-abusive situation earlier in the novel, so he is clearly concerned for how his sister will absorb the influence of the pastor's family.
My problem with approaching this scene is this: I don't want the novel to "turn people off" who are Christian: more than anything, I want them to have to think through the issues of religion and control and choice, because I was once Christian and I've rejected it for a better way of living, now, where I believe people are more free to live as they would choose to. I see freedom from imposed religion as our most sincere, personal, Democratic freedom.
I want to make sure I portray the Pastor's family in my scene in an open-hearted way that wouldn't turn off some Christian readers who wouldn't otherwise listen to my message, yet still demonstrates that my MC, and I, and hence, hopefully, the audience - would feel very negatively toward them for trying to sway his easily-influenced sister.
It's a central and rather conclusive scene to some of the themes in my book, as you can hopefully see, and I'm so close to finishing the first draft of this novel I can taste it...
Any insight that anyone can give as atheists and writers would be much appreciated!
Thanks, all!
I'm an atheist, and my MC is as well, or at least he's definitely questioning his grandmother's religious - or really I guess more like agnostic or humanistic (she represents the best side of religion I can bring myself to muster up!) - upbringing of them.
His sister is the easily-influenced character in the situation, of course, and the MC has helped his girlfriend flee a religiously-abusive situation earlier in the novel, so he is clearly concerned for how his sister will absorb the influence of the pastor's family.
My problem with approaching this scene is this: I don't want the novel to "turn people off" who are Christian: more than anything, I want them to have to think through the issues of religion and control and choice, because I was once Christian and I've rejected it for a better way of living, now, where I believe people are more free to live as they would choose to. I see freedom from imposed religion as our most sincere, personal, Democratic freedom.
I want to make sure I portray the Pastor's family in my scene in an open-hearted way that wouldn't turn off some Christian readers who wouldn't otherwise listen to my message, yet still demonstrates that my MC, and I, and hence, hopefully, the audience - would feel very negatively toward them for trying to sway his easily-influenced sister.
It's a central and rather conclusive scene to some of the themes in my book, as you can hopefully see, and I'm so close to finishing the first draft of this novel I can taste it...
Any insight that anyone can give as atheists and writers would be much appreciated!
Thanks, all!