Author seeks non-denominational Christians to interview for new novel

umbrabates said:

Hello! I am doing research for a novel about the afterlife. I would like to include characters who are Christian. In order to create an accurate and respectful portrayal of Christianity, I would like to interview people who consider themselves non-denominational Christians, particularly those who consider themselves Evangelical Christians.

Interviews take 1 to 2 hours and would be conducted over the phone. If you live in the Central Valley or SF Bay Area of California, an in-person interview may be possible. I'll buy lunch! Interviewees would be expected to sign a release form.

If you are interested, please PM me or respond to this post. If you come across this post months or even a year from now, please feel free to message me. I will likely still need your help.

Thank you all for your time and consideration. I hope to speak with many of you soon!

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Hello and welcome to CF.

Good luck with your project. I'm afraid I don't qualify, but I admit to being really curious why you consider non-denom/evangelical as a criteria for wanting to create an accurate and respectful portrayal. I'm seriously not argumentative on that count - maybe it depends on where you live. But you piqued my curiosity lol.

Anyway, I hope you find the info you need. And good luck with your project.

umbrabates said:

Hello and thank you for your interest!

This particular post is aimed at getting more information to help create specific characters. I am also reaching out to Baptists and Pentecostals on this site. Soon, I may reach out to Catholics, and maybe other Christians like Lutherans or Methodists. I am even thinking about making a character a member of the Ethiopian Catholic Church. On other forums and in other media, I am seeking Muslims, Jews, atheists, Zoroastrians, and even some indigenous people. I am also seeking people of occupations that relate to specific characters like airline pilots, veterans, and ranchers.

So this post may seem a little funny because you are getting a very small piece of the picture.

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Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining.

I'm tempted to invite you to create Orthodox characters, since we are the second largest group worldwide after Catholics, but I will say the mindset is very difficult to capture authentically.

At any rate, it all sounds interesting. Good luck with it.

Sounds like an interesting novel. I'm actually working on one myself. I'm trying to tie all the loose ends together before going back and re-working the first part. With some novels (such as Tom Wolfe's Back to Blood), story lines are started without ever ending anywhere. I'm trying to avoid that.

umbrabates said:

Believe me, I'm sorely tempted. I considered it as I was planning the book, but the need came to refine my list of characters. Currently, there are more than 30 characters who represent eight different religious or philosophical systems. It's very difficult for me to justify adding a new character at this point. Adding a new religion would mean more time spent on research, which means hours of reading books, visiting churches, and conducting interviews. Not to mention, there is also the need to keep the book down to a marketable length.

Thanks for your kind thoughts and well wishes!

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Well .... as I said I was tempted. The fact is, you could put tremendous research in and still not get an authentic voice, depending on the conversations. There is just a kind of disconnect between western and eastern thought. We see it ALL the time when Christians of any other kind try to discuss certain issues with us, and all of us who came from Western Christianity had to go through the process of realigning our thinking in order to understand. It greatly benefits our reading of the Scriptures, since they are of eastern origin. But you're not writing a Bible commentary, you're writing a novel. It's honestly probably too much research. I'll offer you a suggestion - if ever you change your mind, I'd suggest recruiting someone to consult on it rather than trying to figure it all out yourself, though as an author, you'd have to do a certain amount of research anyway.

I'm curious about your efforts though. If you're able, someday drop an update in the threads you start. Maybe I'll get a chance to look at your work.

umbrabates said:

That's a good idea. I should go back to all the forums I've posted in once I have a major update to announce. Perhaps when I'm ready to recruit beta readers?

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Sounds like a good idea.

umbrabates said:

Hello! I am doing research for a novel about the afterlife. I would like to include characters who are Christian. In order to create an accurate and respectful portrayal of Christianity, I would like to interview people who consider themselves non-denominational Christians, particularly those who consider themselves Evangelical Christians.

Interviews take 1 to 2 hours and would be conducted over the phone. If you live in the Central Valley or SF Bay Area of California, an in-person interview may be possible. I'll buy lunch! Interviewees would be expected to sign a release form.

If you are interested, please PM me or respond to this post. If you come across this post months or even a year from now, please feel free to message me. I will likely still need your help.

Thank you all for your time and consideration. I hope to speak with many of you soon!

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