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| Tips & Advice Share your tips, tricks and advice. |
02-05-2008, 11:06 AM
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#1
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Writer
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: at the moment Bolton Lancashire England
Gender: Male
Posts: 28
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Creating a Religion??
What are the morals of creating a religion for a character?
I have created a religion for one of my Characters because he needs to have certain limits to his abilities.
There is a quote which says in work you never mention 3 things?
(1) Religion.
(2) Politics.
(3) Sex.
Is there an ethical code in publishing??
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02-05-2008, 12:22 PM
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#2
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Mentor
Join Date: Jun 2003
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,487
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not that i know of. and if work didnt mentioned religion, sex, or politics, we'd be reading cabbage patch doll fan ficiton all the time.
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His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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02-05-2008, 01:26 PM
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#3
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Addict
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Far Away
Gender: Male
Posts: 109
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1. Why not? Create your religion, man!
2. Politics? I suggest you to be careful. Politicians might get pissed.
3. Why not? If it's for adults...
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02-05-2008, 10:17 PM
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#4
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,793
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This is a very fun thing to do. In college, me and one of my friends would do this for fun, usually while intoxicated.
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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
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02-05-2008, 10:52 PM
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#5
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: AmbientArtists
Gender: Private
Posts: 3,596
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Writers make stuff up all the time. I've never seen a good writer afraid of religion, sex, or politics.
__________________
My hopeful book:
Crap! Haven't posted it anywhere yet, darn!
"Only tyranny cloaks itself in shadows. The light of justice can not be hidden."
www.theoddvillepress.com
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02-06-2008, 12:10 AM
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#6
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,478
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Read Whit by Ian Banks.
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02-10-2008, 04:21 AM
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#7
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Scribe
Join Date: Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 70
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Mankind has strived throughout history to create religion and politics. I personally would need to know more about your story/character to voice an opinion on how to go about it.
If it's in a fictional world though, there's a few basics I'd stick to.
1. Keep it within the "believable" realm of your world, but leave much to the imagination outside of that world.
2. Have a history of the religion and why your character, or the ones around him, believe it's the "right" religion.
3. Don't get preachy with it or people will think you're pushing your own beliefs on the reader. (I.e. Don't try to create or push a new religion outside of the book.)
4. Justify it to or through the character throughout the book. Keep asking yourself: Why does the character continue to believe this religion (or fight against it)? The reader will want to know the reasons behind the religion to clarify why it is important to the book. Especially if it's a new concept.
These are just a few ideas I would keep in mind personally if I were the one doing it. As for politics, it's much of the same questions. Especially the question of "why it is important to the reader to understand the concept".
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02-10-2008, 05:00 AM
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#8
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Australia
Gender: Male
Posts: 335
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Hell, the only books I read have religion, sex and politics in them. I view religion and politics as the same thing. A set of ideals.
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02-10-2008, 02:23 PM
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#9
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Scribe
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: York, England
Gender: Male
Posts: 98
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RSD
3. Don't get preachy with it or people will think you're pushing your own beliefs on the reader. (I.e. Don't try to create or push a new religion outside of the book.)
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Oh, if only a certain Mr Hubbard had followed that advice.
The rules you listed, Te4se, were created for polite dinner table conversation. Fiction shouldn't be polite and it shouldn't follow any rules whatsoever.
Not sure if your story's set in a fantasy world or the real one. If the latter, be prepared for a bit of controversy if the book gets published. Whatever the religion, some little group somewhere's bound to think your having a pop at them. (I think Banks suffered that when his brilliant Whit came out.) Also, is your character limited by his religion because he follows all their rules? Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But I always enjoy painstakingly creating religious codes for my characters which they then disobey. Because they're too intelligent sometimes, or too wicked or just too weak. |
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02-11-2008, 04:53 PM
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#10
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Gender: Male
Posts: 17
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It sounds like religion may not be the word you are dealing with. Limiting someone's abilities does not have anything to do with dogma.
There are ethical and moral limitations to what devout people will do, but religion has never stopped anyone from breaking laws, moral or civil. If you create a dogma for your character then you are going to have to spend a lot of time explaining the "rules". If you do this, you should have a reason for it that has everything to do with the story.
So, if morality is something you are trying to give your character, just choose any of the myriad relgions out there. If your character is immoral then you have nothing to worry about.
Focus on your character's actions first and decide later if restricting action is really what you want.
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