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@northerner I actually missed the subtitle until I finished the book. Seeing it as a nightmare does give the story an interesting spin, especially with the ending.
@kate-flournoy You definitely should!I have not read “The Ball and the Cross” (yet– I just started the audiobook last night), but I have read Chesterton’s “Man Who Was Thursday.” It was a fascinating and fantastic book, and I’d highly recommend it. The ending is just crazy, and I need to read it again. I have heard that it was inspired by the book of Job, and the premise (though by no means what the book is about) is that a police office infiltrates an anarchist organization and becomes one of their seven leaders, Thursday. It is quite a ride, even if you see some of the things that are coming (though you will definitely not see the ending coming.)
@Daeus Got it. Sorry. You probably mentioned that your project is historical fiction in a post I have not read yet. Okay, well since you would obviously not condone it, I think it is fine. I actually don’t think there would even be anything wrong with you writing an occultic scene (so long as you are either writing adult or upper YA literature). The occult does exist, and the problem is more our attitude towards it. So just like we might write a scene with a murder, I personally don’t think that having a scene with the occult is a problem, but if you are writing for a solely Christian audience, it might offend some of your readers.
@emma-flournoy Oh, good! It is a good read and wonderful story, but it can be really hard to understand. If you want to discuss it, I’d love to! Also here is a lecture I listened to that might help you (or should wait till you finish the book first, though): https://www.uu.edu/audio/detail.cfm?ID=874
Well, I think the only two I have watched are the Liam Neeson one and the newer one with– ugh? Wolverine as Jean Valjean. I think I liked the second one better– they missed out on some of my favorite verses, but the picture and actors were better I thought. Also it might have been more accurate to the musical, but I can’t remember.
Jolllly!Hey @Daeus! I know I am new, but I love dealing with ethics in fiction, especially fantasy, so I am going to jump in.
Like Emma said, it partially depends on whether or not this character and his action of predicting the future is portrayed as good. It also depends on where you have him getting his power from. Since you said sorcerer, I assume it is some fantasy equivalent of demons? If so, then I think so long as you address the role of demons in the real world that is fine, but as Christians in America, this may be difficult since you have no real experience with overt demonic activity. On the other hand, God does have prophets. Something that I learned this year, is that predicting the future is not the primary role of biblical/real prophets. Biblical prophets are focused on the present and showing sin as sin and grace as grace. God uses them to bring repentance and warn of the judgement to comes (which is where warning of the future comes in.) But if he is doing that, then he really isn’t a sorcerer.
But I am a little confused by what you mean that he is a sorcerer but not related to the occult. What do you mean by that? Are you saying he is like Gandalf or something else?
Finally, a key aspect to consider is the “magical” nature of fantasy. I have had it explained to me this way: in Faerie stories, the material world directly represents the spiritual world. This is why trees talk and flower faeries mischievously prank humans using what we would call magic. Nature has an otherworldly, undefined, immaterial aspect about it that, if the material reflected that, we may see faeries turning wooden cups into a burst of sunshine or suddenly growing up vines over chairs and people. I do not think there is anything ethically wrong with this.
Did that help at all?
@audrey-caylin Thanks!
@Emma-Flournoy I know…. I am running into the same problem. There are about 10 books on my reading list that are screaming to be read, and maybe a couple hundred others tugging on my brain and begging to be read, too.
You should still watch the two movies; they are still worth it. Combeferre is sweet, and so is Jolly. My favorite Combeferre moment is why Marius goes on a four page rant on how wonderful Napoleon is, ending with “What is better than to be glorious?” And Combeferre looks up from his reading and just shoots Marius down with “To be free.” I love that!@winter-rose Thanks for the tip on the tags. I would not have figured that out on my own. Yeah, I understand. I have a ton of Word documents, too. I’d suggest printing off all of those documents and putting them in a binder if you can. You might find that easier to use than one big document.
@Christi-Eaton Nice to meet you! Les Mis is a really wonderful book. Every time I get to Combeferre’s and Enjolras’ speeches, I get shivers. I just wish that Hugo cut some chapters. Then maybe more people would read it.
@Jess Hi! Yes, I am not surprised that INTJs would be young writers– especially motivated ones. Thank you. This weekend, I’ll probably start popping in other forums. I edit somewhat as I write, too, which I have heard is a bad habit. I would ask what your novel is about, but most writers hate that question, so what genre of YA is it?
@Northerner I agree. Every writer, especially the fantasy writer, should read that poem. Hopefully, I can manage being in a writing community, writing, and college. If you have any tips for that, I would love to hear them. And I have not been asked that question yet. My story-world does involve a few dragons; however, they are rarely mentions, only transportation/pets, so they are not really even true dragons. Someday, I would like to write a story with a true dragon (in the style of Smaug, Fafnir, and Beowulf’s dragon), but I have not done so yet.
@Emma-flournoy Yes! I did know that, and I love it. Have you ever read Lewis’ Till We Have Faces? It is the direct retelling of a myth, and the history behind it is fantastic. Lewis actually wanted to retell the myth of Cupid and Psyche since he was 18 (when he was an atheist) and finally rewrote the myth near the end of his life in a totally different manner than he had planned. You should definitely read it.
Yeah, Valjean is a wonderful character. Book Enjolras is definitely an INTJ, though in the musical and movies, I would say he is an ENTJ. Yes, the Friends of the ABC are an inspiring set of characters. I do love that moment, but I think one of my favorite moments is when Combeferre tries to stop Enjolras from shooting a young man on the other side. Courfeyrac is fantastic, too!@Ethryndal Interesting. Maybe we can get five someday. Ah, I see that now. It still is very pretty, and it looks elvish.
@dragon-snapper Nice to meet you, too! I like your username, by the way. I’ve had writer’s block about a ton of projects but never my main one. I only get procrastinator’s block on that one, and I sure get that a lot.
@Daeus Brainstorming is always fun. I hope you get to do it soon.
Cool!@Gabrielle Hi, Gabrielle! Typically, we run into “Gabriella”s, huh? No, I don’t go by Gabby, though I do have a nick-name. Many people call me Gigi. How about you?
It is hard to keep everything straight. Ugh. Is the dragon purple or orange? What was that character’s mother again? Yeah, I run into that all the time. What has helped me is to have detailed character outlines, plot my novel on a calendar (to keep track of dates and time), and to keep all this information and other in a binder. That way I can just keep the binder next to me during edits. I hope that helps!@Ethryndal Hello! Yes, INTJs are rather rare, though I have meet several online. I am not surprised to find another as a fellow Tolkien nerd. I hope you enjoy the poem. It really is beautiful. What does your username mean? I assume it is elvish. Sometimes I go by “Agarisil” (blood moon– think Agarwaen and Isil) when I am feeling particularly Fae.
@Audrey-Caylin Thanks for welcoming me. Hopefully, I can figure this online community out 🙂 I have been astounded by the responses so far– I didn’t think so many people would notice me, and you all seem great. Thanks for suggesting that I join. Do you have any suggestions about what to do now?
@Kate-Flournoy Isn’t that poem amazing? Ever time I read it, I am overwhelmed with a strange sense of humbleness, duty, honor, and glory. It makes me fall in love with writing fantasy all over again.
So who is your favorite Tolkien character? I just finished listening to the Silmarillion on audiobook, and I had forgotten how wonderful his stories really are.
@Emma-Flournoy I am so glad you like that poem, too! I have not been able to get it out of my head, and it has been almost a year since I read it. It really has a wondrous message.
Ooh! What is your favorite Les Mis character? Not many people have read the book (and frankly I understand), but I absolutely love how the book develops the friends of the ABC. Enjolras has to be one of my favorite characters ever, but Jean Valjean and Combeferre are great characters as well. I would like to listen to it on audiobook sometime, but I think I will have to skip several annoying and unimportant chapters if I do so.
@Daeus Thank you for welcoming me. Out of curiosity, what is the story behind the “bestistest” comments?
One of my favorite elements of fantasy is the sense of wonder and newness that it brings. To steal the idea from Tolkien and Chesterton, fantasy is all about taking something we think we know (possess an idea through our sense of understanding and familiarity) and making it strange, new, and completely outside of ourselves. My story first started that way. I was camping when I was about nine years old, and I remember watching the camp fire, staring at the trees in the breeze, and looking out over the lake, and I could imagine people, very different from me, in the fire and the tree and the lake. Then later, I began to rewrite the story for God. I wanted to explore how we, as Christians, should view freedom in relation to our purpose in Christ. So I took one of my “bad guy’s” foot soldiers, made her my main character, and saw what happened from there.
I hope your fantasy goes well. The best advice I can offer is pretty simple and very common; write what you love. Take what you love, make the physical resemble the spiritual, and strip away the familiarity, and you have a fantasy story 🙂
