- Mar 9, 2024
- 1
- 3
- 21
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Agnostic
- Marital Status
- Single
Hello, and I hope you're having a wonderful day.
To preface, I am not a religious individual. I am a writer that is looking to learn, after searching around for some way to do research for this specific subject. Additionally, I am aware that Christians as a whole aren't a monolithic group. Therefore, even if you aren't a writer, I'd definitely appreciate your input as to how I can approach this.
I'll also give a short summary up top, for anyone who wants a quick run-down.
In summary, my goal is to accurately (and respectfully) write a story involving an American Christian protagonist from the 1850s. The story will be a portal fantasy/isekai genre; for those reading who do not know what that is, a few classical examples would be Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It's a particularly popular genre so there are countless examples that are more modern, but if you are aware of them it's likely you are already familiar with the genre.
What I don't want to do is to lay out what happens to the character in the story, and ask a Christian how the character might make his decisions. I would prefer to create a distinct character, and then be able to insert myself into his worldview to logically craft his decision-making and interactions within the story. In essence, I want to learn how to think like a person who grew up a Christian, whereas I have not.
As a foreward to the main body of the more specific questions, I'm not necessarily doing this research solely for this one story I am writing. Some of my future premises, two of them, will very likely involve some religious characters: A Civil War historical fiction, and a story set in Southern California, 1990s. While I will need to do my own research for those stories once I get to them, I figured it would be best to be somewhat proactive. It never hurts to gather information that I could use multiple times, for future books I plan to write.
Since I don't know what I don't know, I'm going into this research with the assumption that my current knowledge may be inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise incorrect. My mind is completely open, feel free to correct or criticize any of my methodologies. I'll also give a broad overview of my character's background, for the history-inclined folk who might be interested.
The protagonist was born to a rural family in the New England region in the 1850s. Based primarily on the demographics of the region, I'll likely have this character be a Congregationalist Protestant. He had not been old enough to enlist by the Civil War, but had older brothers who fought and died. By the time he does enlist, the war is over. However, he is involved in the 1871 Korean Expedition. After leaving the military, he proceeds to start his own firearms manufacturing company, with aspirations to become a big name in industry, like Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller. In this aspect, this character is a slight hypocrite; while he holds strong feelings about the Civil War and chattel slavery in general, he is also the type of individual to refer to the Pinkertons for help if his own employees act up over pay or working conditions.
The above information will basically not ever be directly stated in the story itself; readers could probably parse this through his internal monologue and musings as they read.
Now, I did say that this story will be a portal fantasy. Given the above, my ultimate question would be the following:
How might an individual with a Christian background navigate a situation that is, to them, seemingly nonsensical, unexpected, or fantastical? My story, being a portal fantasy, is not only focusing on the protagonist but also going the setting that he will find himself in. While his time period is a little too late for him to have read any of Tolkien's works (The Hobbit was published in 1937), I'd imagine the idea of fantastical worlds and magic as fictional settings wasn't too alien of an idea. But reading about a weird setting in a novel, versus actually finding oneself in it, are two entirely different situations.
I've got a multitude of other related questions, such as:
How might a Christian continue practicing if they find themselves in a situation with no scripture or records, only their memory?
How would one try to preach in a setting that's never heard of the Bible?
But I recognize those questions are heavily a case-to-case basis, and the latter won't necessarily apply to this character I plan to write. While Christianity was a major aspect of his upbringing, he is not so incredibly devout as to be a missionary, nor does he really have the skills for it. But there definitely will be instances where his personal beliefs and the world he is now in are at odds. One example is that he'll find himself involuntarily subjected to worship from the local inhabitants due to their own religions; he is obviously going to shut that down immediately, because of idolatry.
Now, there is one specific theme/subject that will be a major part of the story's premise. The main character being a Christian is a major factor in this theme, and how he conducts himself. However, I am hesitant to bring it up. My friends have, understandably, warned me that there's potential for it to become messy if I don't go at it with the right approach. The reason I want to use it is that it is such an inherently interesting starter for a story, it certainly attracts attention from readers, and I've never been satisfied with the way it's been done in so many other stories. I don't plan to steer the story into any contentious or controversial waters, but the mere fact that it brushes up against certain modern-day identity politics means I'll have to be cautious with it.
I can bring it up, if any of you are interested in hearing it. But, knowing where I am, I do not want to offend, so I'll stay on the safe side.
As a final note, one that I almost forgot to add, I'm also definitely open to any novel recommendations that involve a Christian protagonist in the first person, ones that you think would help me figure out how to 'get into that mindset'.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your answers.
To preface, I am not a religious individual. I am a writer that is looking to learn, after searching around for some way to do research for this specific subject. Additionally, I am aware that Christians as a whole aren't a monolithic group. Therefore, even if you aren't a writer, I'd definitely appreciate your input as to how I can approach this.
I'll also give a short summary up top, for anyone who wants a quick run-down.
In summary, my goal is to accurately (and respectfully) write a story involving an American Christian protagonist from the 1850s. The story will be a portal fantasy/isekai genre; for those reading who do not know what that is, a few classical examples would be Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It's a particularly popular genre so there are countless examples that are more modern, but if you are aware of them it's likely you are already familiar with the genre.
What I don't want to do is to lay out what happens to the character in the story, and ask a Christian how the character might make his decisions. I would prefer to create a distinct character, and then be able to insert myself into his worldview to logically craft his decision-making and interactions within the story. In essence, I want to learn how to think like a person who grew up a Christian, whereas I have not.
As a foreward to the main body of the more specific questions, I'm not necessarily doing this research solely for this one story I am writing. Some of my future premises, two of them, will very likely involve some religious characters: A Civil War historical fiction, and a story set in Southern California, 1990s. While I will need to do my own research for those stories once I get to them, I figured it would be best to be somewhat proactive. It never hurts to gather information that I could use multiple times, for future books I plan to write.
Since I don't know what I don't know, I'm going into this research with the assumption that my current knowledge may be inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise incorrect. My mind is completely open, feel free to correct or criticize any of my methodologies. I'll also give a broad overview of my character's background, for the history-inclined folk who might be interested.
The protagonist was born to a rural family in the New England region in the 1850s. Based primarily on the demographics of the region, I'll likely have this character be a Congregationalist Protestant. He had not been old enough to enlist by the Civil War, but had older brothers who fought and died. By the time he does enlist, the war is over. However, he is involved in the 1871 Korean Expedition. After leaving the military, he proceeds to start his own firearms manufacturing company, with aspirations to become a big name in industry, like Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller. In this aspect, this character is a slight hypocrite; while he holds strong feelings about the Civil War and chattel slavery in general, he is also the type of individual to refer to the Pinkertons for help if his own employees act up over pay or working conditions.
The above information will basically not ever be directly stated in the story itself; readers could probably parse this through his internal monologue and musings as they read.
Now, I did say that this story will be a portal fantasy. Given the above, my ultimate question would be the following:
How might an individual with a Christian background navigate a situation that is, to them, seemingly nonsensical, unexpected, or fantastical? My story, being a portal fantasy, is not only focusing on the protagonist but also going the setting that he will find himself in. While his time period is a little too late for him to have read any of Tolkien's works (The Hobbit was published in 1937), I'd imagine the idea of fantastical worlds and magic as fictional settings wasn't too alien of an idea. But reading about a weird setting in a novel, versus actually finding oneself in it, are two entirely different situations.
I've got a multitude of other related questions, such as:
How might a Christian continue practicing if they find themselves in a situation with no scripture or records, only their memory?
How would one try to preach in a setting that's never heard of the Bible?
But I recognize those questions are heavily a case-to-case basis, and the latter won't necessarily apply to this character I plan to write. While Christianity was a major aspect of his upbringing, he is not so incredibly devout as to be a missionary, nor does he really have the skills for it. But there definitely will be instances where his personal beliefs and the world he is now in are at odds. One example is that he'll find himself involuntarily subjected to worship from the local inhabitants due to their own religions; he is obviously going to shut that down immediately, because of idolatry.
Now, there is one specific theme/subject that will be a major part of the story's premise. The main character being a Christian is a major factor in this theme, and how he conducts himself. However, I am hesitant to bring it up. My friends have, understandably, warned me that there's potential for it to become messy if I don't go at it with the right approach. The reason I want to use it is that it is such an inherently interesting starter for a story, it certainly attracts attention from readers, and I've never been satisfied with the way it's been done in so many other stories. I don't plan to steer the story into any contentious or controversial waters, but the mere fact that it brushes up against certain modern-day identity politics means I'll have to be cautious with it.
I can bring it up, if any of you are interested in hearing it. But, knowing where I am, I do not want to offend, so I'll stay on the safe side.
As a final note, one that I almost forgot to add, I'm also definitely open to any novel recommendations that involve a Christian protagonist in the first person, ones that you think would help me figure out how to 'get into that mindset'.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your answers.
