What is appropriate for a Christian to write about?

If you worry about what's appropriate, everything you write will be derivative and stale.

@theniceiceman
I see that no one has been able to give an answer for this. Let me have a try!

I've been writing/reading all my life, even using my imagination while drawing, making them come to life or have a story about them. Music helps be a great deal for concentration.

About these graphic sex scenes, personally I would abstain from writing any of that since it is linked to watching inappropriate content. Think about it, when you read something like that your mind paints a motion picture. Now, if you're writing about "unbelievers" doing such an act, I would fade to black. Just don't write it.
As for villains, there is nothing wrong with creating them. Lucifer is the greatest villain of them all, after all. I know you feel conflicted, I have been there several times and I have done wrong, but the important thing is I learned from it.

Write about whatever you choose; it doesn't matter whats appropriate.

I think when you are first writing you need to write with creativity. Write the character and their emotions, experiences etc without judgement. Once you have written it all, you go back and see if the scenes/language are necessary for the reader to understand the character. After doing this, when you come to editing, you can take into consideration the audience of the book. If you are writing a book that seeks out a Christian audience, then I would look at what each person would walk away with. Will they see value in reading sex scenes and foul language? As a Christian, I don't mind reading foul language if it helps me build an image of the character. Sex-scenes I am not so comfortable with (and I prefer to read books without them) but if it gives me a better insight into the character (and aren't too graphic) I could see some purpose for the inclusion.

The writing process and the editing process are too very different aspects of writing. It is important when initially writing you allow for the creativity of the story in your own mind. Once you get past that stage, you must start to think about your audience.

theniceiceman said:

I'm curious, do you write about things that go against your faith? Do you have your characters use foul language? Do you write graphic sex scenes? I was speaking with a pastor who said he feels that such things are okay for Christians to do, as long as they're used in the story, aren't done gratuitously, and don't lead to you doing those same things in your real life. What are your thoughts on this? I have a character who's a complete--he's just a terrible man, frankly. He's disgusting, he's amoral, he's an antagonist and protagonist at the same time. You hate to love him, love to hate him. Since trying to get back into my faith, I struggle with knowing whether it's appropriate to write him or not. I can't 'clean him up'--doing so would change him as a character. So I'm just conflicted.

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I'm not sure ice man. Normally sex scenes aren't good. But implied sex scenes aren't bad. Watch the film Cape Fear (1962) for a good example. It is not good to write something that will get someone aroused, but I'd have to read what you have written. Is there somewhere I can go to read this?

NWOWolfpac said:

I'm not sure ice man. Normally sex scenes aren't good. But implied sex scenes aren't bad. Watch the film Cape Fear (1962) for a good example. It is not good to write something that will get someone aroused, but I'd have to read what you have written. Is there somewhere I can go to read this?

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What I mean by implied is that it says he did it, but it doesn't go into detail.

I write stuff with some swearing in it, usually the f word. Depends on the story. In my current story, the girl is from a secular household in Australia and well...we swear. (I don't swear personally, but I'm surrounded by it)

I don't write graphic sex scenes, but I've hinted at it.

I think I agree with your pastor. If books didn't have bad stuff in it, there would be no such thing as story. We rely on evil to write good fiction; is not violence wrong? Gossip? Stealing? Yet we include all this in our stories without really questioning it (within reason of course...we don't idolize violence, but we depict it). You gotta include a villain, and villains do bad things.

Of course it's good to consider why you're writing and what effect it will have on people. Generally I strive to always write as G-rated as possible without ruining my creative goals, because why not? Why not have clean dialogue when it doesn't harm your story?

But why force yourself to write no f-bombs when f-bombs happen to really work with your creative goals? Yeah I usually write G-rated things, but for class I recently wrote an R-rated dystopian screenplay because I had a point and I couldn't make it without showing bad things. Yeah, it was a lot more graphic than I usually like, but it also made my classmates really think about our culture and meaning and sexuality in a way that I think was good. And it wouldn't have been possible in a G-rated screenplay, or else I would've written a G-rated screenplay.

Of course, people will always misinterpret what you write, so don't cater to everyone. That's just frustrating. But strive to have it interpreted in a way that is good.

Also, be wary of how your writing effects you. I wouldn't have written a screenplay riddled with sexual language if I had issues with lust. The risk is, when you get in the heads of really bad characters, that you can get too far in their head and start messing with your own mind.

Besides, it's not like sexuality is bad. God created it because it's good. I think we might fear it too much in Christian culture, rather than depicting healthy sexuality (which doesn't have to be graphic).

This is a great thread you've started. I have a few opinions about the matter. Hopefully, even if you don't agree, they make some sense.

I've done quite a bit of writing in the last few years, mostly for NaNoWriMo. I've managed to steer clear of profanity. It's really very easy to do. You can leave it out without having the characters sound cartoony. I really don't like reading books where the characters are swearing constantly. I especially don't like it when I see them taking the Lord's Name in vain, because just reading it feels like I'm actually doing it in my own mind.

As for sex, I've left that out of the work I've done, also. When you have a story that takes place over a short period of time, it's really very easy to do. It's unfortunate that the media constantly bombards us with characters that sleep together on the first date... quite often. I did write a story where one of the characters was a married man who was attempting to cheat on his wife early on in the book, but nothing happened as he was foiled in his attempts (even then, I tried to keep the dialogue clean without being sexually suggestive). Additionally, the character was killed halfway through the book.

Which brings me to violence. Yes, in the writing I've done, there have been plenty of fights and action scenes, including the use of weapons. There were also a few grizzly deaths in the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year, which was a sci-fi horror story. It wasn't anything worse than you'd see in a PG-13 movie, but to me, it got the point across that the characters were in a life-or-death struggle (it was sort of a B-Movie type thing where they were fighting snakes. Not the most original concept in the world, but fun nonetheless).

So I see it like this. Swearing is completely unnecessary, and fornication shouldn't be glorified. I believe those are the things that cause life to imitate art. Sure, there are unbalanced people out there who have been influenced by movies/TV shows/video games to commit acts of violence, but I see that as a rare aberration and also an excuse. In my opinion, swearing and illicit sex in the media have a far worse impact on the everyday lives of consumers. I do believe that people who watch TV shows where the characters are sleeping around end up with a very casual attitude about sexual activity that plays out in their life. And the swearing... if you watch enough R-Rated movies, it becomes a part of your daily speech. I could be wrong, but I just think violence only rubs off in very rare and disturbed cases.

theniceiceman said:

I'm curious, do you write about things that go against your faith? Do you have your characters use foul language? Do you write graphic sex scenes? I was speaking with a pastor who said he feels that such things are okay for Christians to do, as long as they're used in the story, aren't done gratuitously, and don't lead to you doing those same things in your real life. What are your thoughts on this? I have a character who's a complete--he's just a terrible man, frankly. He's disgusting, he's amoral, he's an antagonist and protagonist at the same time. You hate to love him, love to hate him. Since trying to get back into my faith, I struggle with knowing whether it's appropriate to write him or not. I can't 'clean him up'--doing so would change him as a character. So I'm just conflicted.

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I don't think you should clean it up. What's the moral of the story at the end I think is what really important personally. The Bible is full of such characters. You see heads been shopped off in it in the Old Testament. Really violent sometimes. It just shows up the uggly side of human nature. And you have stuff more erotic like in the Song of Songs...

You could write a story about:
~ Something that happened to you.
~ You might see someone in town who likes to be different e.g. has an unusual appearance (Goth/Emo/has tattoos/has an unusual hairstyle) and you could write about what made them decide to be like that.
~ Or it could be something random like your digging in the garden and you soon come across a dinosaur bone or buried treasure.

For films and books, I personally stay away from anything that's gory, has too much violence, contains swearing, anything that's horrible. It's just not my cup of tea.

Winter_Rose said:

You could write a story about:
~ Something that happened to you.
~ You might see someone in town who likes to be different e.g. has an unusual appearance (Goth/Emo/has tattoos/has an unusual hairstyle) and you could write about what made them decide to be like that.
~ Or it could be something random like your digging in the garden and you soon come across a dinosaur bone or buried treasure.

For films and books, I personally stay away from anything that's gory, has too much violence, contains swearing, anything that's horrible. It's just not my cup of tea.

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Although maybe the highlighted bit might kind of describe you just a teeny bit, maybe? yet I guess you prefer not to do stuff that's really over the top.

Writing in content and writing in style are two very different aspects, of course.

If your heart is leading you on, listen to it and put it on paper. If you examine many of the folks in the Bible, they were definitely not perfect, upstanding people. A character like the one you're describing is an excellent way to lead into a "Darth Vader" kinda resolution: wherein the antagonist/protagonist is woken up from their constant battle with inner and outer darkness to a decision/event that sprouts the seed of redemption, oftentimes through an ultimate sacrifice. As stated above, there are a good many violent battles and descriptions in the Bible; Elijah facing off against the prophets of Baal ( who so fervently mutilated themselves in their worship of their demon master, that their blood sprayed over the crowd as the sorcerers capered and writhed) leading up to a mass slaughter of the Baalites, to the demon possessed man bound in chains in the New Testament (who roared and screeched with inhuman rage, tearing at his own flesh and savaging any who came near). It's all a matter of context and what type of story you're trying to tell, and in that you gotta just listen to what your spirit says. cheers.

I like stories that have an easy to follow plot and characters that you can relate to.

Winter_Rose said:

I like stories that have an easy to follow plot and characters that you can relate to.

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You know, this is also why the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are so wonderful to read: they often have simple language and concepts and speak of clear, straightforward events around the life and sin reconciling death of the Lord Jesus.

You can often tell if a book or article writer has a background in Scripture knowledge.

theniceiceman said:

I'm curious, do you write about things that go against your faith? Do you have your characters use foul language? Do you write graphic sex scenes? I was speaking with a pastor who said he feels that such things are okay for Christians to do, as long as they're used in the story, aren't done gratuitously, and don't lead to you doing those same things in your real life. What are your thoughts on this? I have a character who's a complete--he's just a terrible man, frankly. He's disgusting, he's amoral, he's an antagonist and protagonist at the same time. You hate to love him, love to hate him. Since trying to get back into my faith, I struggle with knowing whether it's appropriate to write him or not. I can't 'clean him up'--doing so would change him as a character. So I'm just conflicted.

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I have to go with what your heart and soul tells you. Are you writing what will become your legacy, a legacy built on what God wants for our society or for mainstream society and for the money? It is a personal choice, but to me, I write what I can be proud of and what I would not be ashamed to have my kids read or for God to critique. That's just me though and I don't speak for anyone else on the matter.

I do have characters that swear when they're angry. I'm used to swearing, I've grown up with it and I'd say it's embedded within Australian culture. I don't write gory scenes and I only write clean-romance stories.

Is "What the hell?!" a swear word? The main character in my story gets a pixie cut and her Mum overreacts and says "I can't believe you've done that, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

I personally don't think it is? Especially if you're only using it once.