Home Page › Forums › Fiction Writing › Mission, Calling & Ethics › A Questions About Modesty in Writing
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January 6, 2018 at 8:25 pm #59207
Hi, all! One of my book ideas is about a self-centered pop star turned Christian. One problem I’ve been struggling with was modesty. I want to show the transition from non-believer to Christian not only in how she acts and thinks but how she dresses. The Bible has specific instructions for how girls should dress, and I don’t know how (or if it’s even right) to write about the MC’s clothes. Any thoughts on this?
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www.jennaterese.comJanuary 6, 2018 at 9:21 pm #59220@jenwriter17 I imagine the concern is sensuality? That’s the obvious thing to me, but I could conceive other exotic reasons.
I think you could handle it. People have a tipping point. If we didn’t, I’d never step out in public. Β If you’re not being vivid, not providing too many details, you’re not inviting people to go further with it. You set the tone and the boundaries to a large degree.
And you can be indirect about it too. Like if a fan ogles at her, it will send a clear message to your reader without being too descriptive.
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January 6, 2018 at 9:33 pm #59225@daeus This makes sense, thank you!
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www.jennaterese.comJanuary 6, 2018 at 10:45 pm #59233…basically, what Daeus said.
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January 7, 2018 at 12:07 am #59240@that_writer_girl_99 Okay! π
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www.jennaterese.comJanuary 7, 2018 at 9:06 pm #59302@jenwriter17 I suppose that one of the things you might wanna consider when writing about her change of clothes is that her change of heart and the reason she’s wearing those clothes should be more apparent. Because people who dress immodestly may not wear immodest clothes consistently, but they will do so for certain occasions and for certain reasons.
On the other side of the situation, there are Christians who dress modestly for legalistic reasons and who have a tendency to judge others based on their standards, which vary all across the church.
So I guess that what I’m saying is that the focus shouldn’t necessarily be on her clothes, but more on her change of heart. And if the clothes are just a detail on the side to accent her change of heart, then that’s pretty cool, and you should go for it!
Hehe sorry if this is pretty long.
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literatureforthelight.wordpress.comJanuary 8, 2018 at 12:13 am #59307@gh24682468999 Thank you for this! And it’s okay, I like long posts π
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www.jennaterese.comJanuary 9, 2018 at 4:14 pm #59537@jenwriter17 My thoughts on the topic
I personally see it as do-able. Because it is a book, you aren’t literally giving them visuals. Like you could mention a low cut top, and everyone knows what that means. But the nice thing is,in doing that you tell them about the shirt, not their body. And covering the body is what I think is one of the main things in modesty.
Does that make sense? In real life, you canΒ see what a person looks like. In books, you have your imagination, but you can mostly control what your reader imagines by word choice. If I said a description of a pair of glasses, eyes are certainly implied, but not necessarily graphic.
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January 9, 2018 at 6:18 pm #59570@itisastarrynight Yes, this makes sense. Thanks! I’m beginning to see how I can make this workπ
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