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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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I don’t think your post went through, but I saw it in my email so it’s all good! I would LOVE if you wrote a tagline for The Anointed!
The more in the conversation the merrier! I completely agree. I believe it’s because inappropriate and vile content sells a lot better than pure content that teaches good morals and values. Sad, but it’s true. I think one of my hugest responsibilities as a Biblical fiction writer (and any Christian writers in general) is to be honest with my young readers, but teach them why certain actions are harmful rather than endorse them. I feel that a lot of writers throw in content for no reason, just to make the book “more exciting.” I make it my goal to never throw a single word into my book for any purpose other than to show teens the danger of sin and the beauty of God.
Rants are completely okay. Look what I just did here… hehe.
@joy-caroline
Okay! AWESOME!!! I’ll get to work on that!!!
Honestly, I don’t know if half of the people who read that stuff are really wanting it only that they just don’t care. If more people would push and publish clean stories, I think they’d do just as well!! I TOTALLY agree with you on that one. I think that’s a good thing to keep in mind in writing!!!
God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
TeenWritersNook.com@issawriter7 @joy-caroline
Actually, I have my own whole rants about the ridiculousness and stupidity of YA books being marked as MG and all the awful things they just throw into stories for no reason. It saturates the world of literature with…
Ok, I should probably stop myself before this turns into one of my full-sized rants about the modern markets, XD. But yes, 1000% percent with you on that.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Rants are COMPLETELY allowed here! I am the queen of rants. XD
I think it’s the worst thing you can do to throw violence, torture, abuse, etc. into your stories for no reason, just because you think it will make your story marketable. The Bible is a book full of violence, torture, abuse, and other things. That’s why I’m honest about it in my books, because Paul’s life was one filled with all those terrible things. But his story is there for us to be comforted in our own problems and know we’re not alone – if a regular man could be that strong, so can we. So I don’t just throw a bunch of stuff into my book for fun or whatever. It has a purpose. But anyways, I better stop before I start ranting! 😂
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
@nova21, @r-m-archer, @imwritehere1920, @issawriter7, @devastate-lasting, @gracie-j, @godlyfantasy12, @daisy-torres, @abigail-m, @kayleigh-idea, @ugroza, @larchness, @kathleenramm, @scoutfinch180, @jenwriter17, @when-i-see-the-kingdom, @anyone-else
So I know I’ve been commenting on this place with lots of questions about my WIP. But as @godlyfantasy12 said when she made this forum, this is the place for all WIP rants and anyone who came here asked for it! 😂 So I guess it’s okay.
Anyways, I’ll try and keep this brief.
Basically I ran into a plot problem. I had originally planned to have Jerusha still living with the biological parents when she meets Seth. But I realized a couple problems with that. It would be weird for their biological parents to have abandoned Seth and kept Jerusha, especially since sons were much more valued in Jewish culture than daughters were. A way to solve that would be to have Jerusha born after Seth was abandoned, but that wouldn’t really work for the novel because that would make Jerusha only four years old when she and Seth meet again. I want her to be old enough to be able to communicate with him in a mature way. Like, no more than one year younger. I’ve been toying with the idea of making them twins, but I like the big brother-little sister thing because that’s Paul and Temira’s relationship, and it would be interesting to have Seth in the same relationship.
Anyways, yes. That’s my problem. I wanted to get y’all’s opinion on it. Any ideas for motivations the parents might have had for keeping Jerusha? Or if you think I should put Jerusha in a different situation, other than still living with the biological parents, please mention those thoughts too! Just keep in mind that I do want the siblings to meet their biological parents at some point in the story.
Thanks for taking the time to read! Not sure if I made it brief like I said I would. *sheepish grin* If you read, I am SO grateful!!
@joy-caroline
Yeah, I just hate it when all that is thrown into a story for nothing or no good reason. I also hate it when you think your reading a good book, but then a bunch of garbage that shouldn’t be in the story in the first place starts popping up… alright if I don’t stop myself for real this time or I’ll be ranting all night XD.
But anyway, about your question on The Anointed… well first off, it’s extremely similar to my plot problems, so your not alone.
I have been trying to think of something that might help, but all I came up with is 1# in those days, it seems as though parents often would marry off their daughter to a wealthy or powerful man or trade the man’s work or such for her. So that’s the only reason I could think of, of why they’d keep just Jerusha. 2# They could have abandoned Seth before they knew Jerusha was going to be a girl. 3#Seth could have been stolen, though that wouldn’t work if he had to specifically been abandoned.
Hmm, if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.
@joy-caroline
So maybe Jerusha is actually a half-sister? Maybe her mother remarried after her husband died or something, so it could tie back to Seth’s biological father being ill or something so they had no money to raise Seth?
I also know in biblical times that sometimes when ppl were in debt they were forced to give their children into slavery, like the woman in the Bible who was told to sell oil (and the oil didn’t run out) so she could save her sons.
So perhaps his mother knew at that time that they were in debt and would have to sell Seth, so they gave him up instead to keep him from that?
if u went that direction, Jerush wouldn’t have to be a half-sister because it could just be that the parents finally got out of debt by the time Jerusha was born.
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebHey, girl, that’s okay!!! I’ve ranted about this stuff HUNDREDS of times to my mom and all. I am SOOO WITH YOU 100%!! And I’ve been seeing a lot of actual teens who have started saying it too!!! And the way I see it, if a publishing company can’t also provide the kind of stories teens like us wanna read than they’re just pretty sorry.
Yes, I’m the gal who just kind of says it as it is.God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
TeenWritersNook.com@joy-caroline @abigail-m
Oh, yeah, I’m with you on that one, girls!!!!! ALL THE WAY!!! And, Abigail, I have had the same thing happen to me sooo many times it’s not funny!!!! Yeah, I should probably stop here too, ’cause I’ll just start going and laying it down as it really is.Anyways, JC, about your question. Man, I can’t think of any good ideas outside of what godlyfantasy12 and Abigail said. If it didn’t have to specifically be that the parents abandoned Seth, then they could’ve lost him in a crowd years ago. Or something like that. Or maybe Seth had a flaw of some kind and the parents believed he was judged by God. Those are just suggestions. I really can’t think of anything good that hasn’t already been said. XD
God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
TeenWritersNook.com- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
I agree 100 percent!!!
Whew, it’s good to know you have a similar kind of problem. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’ve actually been thinking over the prospect of Jerusha’s parents keeping her so they could sell her to a temple later on, which made a lot of money (and is probably what Diblaim, the father of Gomer, did in Hosea 1:2-3). That’s similar to your suggestion of selling her off to a wealthy man. I’ve also been considering the idea of making Jerusha a runaway.
Thanks for all your help!! Much appreciated.
Haha! One thing that came to mind is, (and I can’t remember the verse, sorry!) in the Bible, there was an old Jewish law about the woman staying with her parents until she was married and then she moved away with her husband, but if the husband died and she became a widow, she had to move back into her parents’. I don’t know how old Jerusha is, but I hope this helps somehow!
"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Good point! I had forgotten about the fact that people back then were sometimes forced to give their kids up to save them from starvation or slavery. That’s something to think about. Thanks so much for the reply!!
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Thanks for your help! All these suggestions have really got me thinking. I’m pretty sure I can come up with something from all of them. 🙂
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Thanks for your suggestion! I couldn’t make it work with Jerusha because she’ll only be six or seven when she and Seth first meet again. But you’ve still really helped me! I could use that for Jerusha’s mother if I go with the idea @godlyfantasy12 suggested, about Jerusha being a half-sister.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond!
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