Mainstream Pagan Characters?

Bernard Cornwell has a series where Druid / pagans are very prominent characters, The Arthurian Series,.

While Arthur may have been a borderline Christian, Merlin, Nimue and many of the others of the Arthurian legends were not...

Okay not a book and not I would say YA.

But the kids' show Dinosaur Train that is on PBS has if you stretch it a bit pagan aspects. They celebrate Winter Solstice (Christmas special) and Autumnal Equinox (Thanksgiving). Also I'm pretty sure they made up Gourd day (Halloween). Really just these episodes in particular. I think it's so they can have holiday specials and focus on hey Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year let's go to the north pole and meet some warm blooded dinosaurs.

As a Christian this does not bother me in the slightest and they are dinosaurs so people aren't in existence yet. And they are focused on nature and dinosaurs. It's aimed at pre-schoolers to I would say 1st grade. I only mention my faith because I know other Christians on seeing the above episodes would never allow their children to watch the series ever again which would be sad. Because dude, it's dinosaurs!

On another note they had a scavenger hunt once and one of the things they had to find was Freddy the Fossil. It was weird because it's as if humans were having a scavenger hunt and had to find a human skeleton.

Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer were arguably Wiccan. TV, I know, but certainly mainstream and there are comics and books I believe with the characters. (Willow still kind of identified as a Jew, but I always got the impression it was a more cultural identity.)

And of course, if you go squarely into fantasy books, characters are arguably Pagan, but I don't think that carries the implication you're asking about.

I wonder if publishers would shy away from this knowing it might cause large freak-outs from certain segments of the population.

ECathers said:

I started thinking about this post Paganism and Witches in Mainstream YA? Probably Not Soon

I'm curious if you folks agree or disagree and why or why not.

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As writers, I think most of us would be ok including paganism in our work. But that is because we are writers and use whatever is needed for a story.

The issue is really, do readers that are not writers agree or disagree...

The Diana Tregarde series by Mercedes Lackey featured a Wiccan main character. But that wasn't incidental. In the sitcom Dharma and Greg Dharma's mother had a lot of goddess worship events going on in the background.

My friend Sarah Avery has a new book out -- it's stories based on Wiccan characters. It's called Tales from Rugosa Coven. It's available on Amazon or from the publisher, Dark Quest. Sarah is one of the finest writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley is about the clash between pagan/Christian religion in a very pagan-friendly manner.

Drive Interest

zenjenn said:

large freak-outs from certain segments of the population.

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I think it depends on the publisher. If they are an X-tian publisher yes they would avoid them for fear of a boycott.

I think several publishers could pull it off and could use the freak out as a way to drive publicity.

I am beginning to form the opinion that publishers may tend to lean towards avoiding risk taking. I have been doing some reading about several authors that turned to self publishing because to many of the publishers were not very open to a lot of diversity.

science fiction/fantasy angle but S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire series has pagan main characters.

I'm not extremely well-versed on the topic, but I'd say that the characters in the House of Night series are (at least) somewhat Pagan.

That said, I would be interested in writing a Pagan MC. I'd have very little idea of how to go about writing that. Usually, I'd say that I'd feel uncomfortable about writing someone so far about my knowledge zone, but given that I'm currently writing a lesbian MC . . . yeah.

So, research time! (any pointers would be welcome).

I'm sorry I don't have all that much to add to this conversation, but I Have been following along, and am very interested!

Pagan

ZachJPayne said:

That said, I would be interested in writing a Pagan MC.

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Pagan covers a lot..
For example - It is like saying someone is Christian. The doctrine a Southern Baptist follows would vary greatly from the one a Catholic would follow. Even though both are Christian.
The same holds true for Pagans. There is a lot of diversity with the Belief system. A common saying in the Pagan community is. "Not all Witches are Wiccan." Anyone whom pratices and earth based belief system quite frequently gets thrown into the "Wiccan" category by those whom are not aware of the amount of diversity that exist within the traditions.
When you decide on which 'pathway'(Culture Specific) or 'trad' (Tradition) you want your MC to follow contact me. I will happily provide numerous links that are relevant to the tradition you have chosen

In Buffy the word "Wicca" was used for Tara and Willow...with incorrect grammar ("a Wicca.") but the closest I have come to reading/ seeing a Pagan character in a 21st century non fantasy/ non historical setting is on ABC Family shows, in two cases a Wiccan character is mentioned but never appears.

If I recall correctly, Cybill Shepherd hinted wildly at her character's (and by extension, her own) goddess-worship in the eponymous sitcom.

ECathers said:

I started thinking about that and that inspired this post Paganism and Witches in Mainstream YA? Probably Not Soon

I'm curious if you folks agree or disagree and why or why not.
http://www.lionrhod.com/blog/paganism-and-witches-in-mainstream-ya-probably-not-soon/

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ECathers, I did my best to read your post, but I find green on black difficult to read, so I hope my answer will be of help.

I agree with Nimyth that the term pagan covers plenty of territory. The book Shadow and Bone is a YA fantasy set on an alternate Earth and uses plenty of pagan symbolism, with spell casting and people who, while they aren't called witches, certainly could fit in that category. I think the book is in the process of being optioned for a movie as well. Hope this helps with your question.

Pretty much anything written by Yasmine Galenorn features Pagan (of different varieties) characters. They're not YA, but there are YA characters in at least one of her series (the Chintz 'N China mystery series) from back in the 90s.

Also, almost anything by Joanne Harris, Chocolat and Blackberry Wine are both worth a read. Characters aren't necessarily identified as pagan, but their behavior clearly is.

In my own book - working title, 'The Dark Beneath the Moon' - the witches my protagonist gets involved with owe more to Jules Michelet than Gerald Gardner. For example, they have no problem with the idea of 'devil-worship'. So they could hardly be called "mainstream" pagan characters.

That said, my story explores the Christian narrative of Spiritual Warfare and juxtaposes it with a pagan narrative that isn't about simple binarisms - my protagonist undergoes a Catholic exorcism near the climax, and must decide whether to accept that world-view (that she is possessed), or accept her role as a witch and priestess. The reader won't know the moral stance of the story until the end.

Edited to add: I suspect that while there is a niche in YA for teen witches, (I tried mine initially as YA, but it didn't work, so I figured go for broke and put some horror and explicit sex in there), the reason why there aren't any books where paganism is in the background is that no publisher wants to risk offending a mainstream readership. For a certain mindset, witches are tolerable within a supernatural context, but disturbing when normalized. Go figure.

I've already mentioned Joanne Harris's books, which I think are exactly what you mean, ECathers.

Gavin Aendless said:

For a certain mindset, witches are tolerable within a supernatural context, but disturbing when normalized. Go figure.

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I wonder how they'd be received in a magic realism context...

Hmm...

*notes to self the possibility of making Lily a witch*

I already have a self-proclaimed alien and a time traveler. Now all I need is a self-proclaimed esper and I'll have the whole cast of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I guess when I put it that way, it's hard to see why I wouldn't classify it as supernatural.....

Self-proclaimed.

You know, I'm not 100% sure if this is what you're looking for but Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood has the main character's mother a practicing Wiccan (I think) and his friend's... uncle (can't remember the relation but he's got an important part) practices Voodoo and Hoodoo. The main character himself doesn't really care much for it either way other than noting that it works. I thought the way it was presented was amazing and made me love the book.

Unfortunately it was only a duology so my dreams of having a fun, mainstream, YA series with a heavy New-Age/Paganism influence were shot.