So, I'm a writer at heart.
I've been writing stories since I was 7 or 8. I used my mum's old typewriter until my family could afford a computer in the late 90s.
However, one thing I worry about is whether or not, as a Catholic, I should only be writing stories that convey "good" or "orthodox" messages.
The stories I wrote don't have Catholic morals and they don't usually have anything to do with faith at all. I'm not writing romance or erotica/word-inappropriate content, but sometimes the stories involve characters who are completely secular or characters who lose belief in a higher power.
Do writers have to worry about causing scandal to people by what they write, even if they are telling stories about characters who are nothing like themselves? On the one hand, I just think, "It's only a story." And they are only stories. But there is another part of me that, of course, fears I could be condemned to hell for writing stuff that is less than moral, or might cause others to formulate a certain worldview that isn't in line with faith.
Think of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - that's the kind of story I'm thinking of. Religion is presented as extreme and soul-crushing, people are used as objects and pawns, people disappear at the drop of a hat if the regime finds them somehow in contempt. Feminist undertones (or overtones, depending on how you read it).
Personally I'd love to just go with, "It's only a story", but there is a part of me that will always wonder anyway.
What do you think?
I've been writing stories since I was 7 or 8. I used my mum's old typewriter until my family could afford a computer in the late 90s.
However, one thing I worry about is whether or not, as a Catholic, I should only be writing stories that convey "good" or "orthodox" messages.
The stories I wrote don't have Catholic morals and they don't usually have anything to do with faith at all. I'm not writing romance or erotica/word-inappropriate content, but sometimes the stories involve characters who are completely secular or characters who lose belief in a higher power.
Do writers have to worry about causing scandal to people by what they write, even if they are telling stories about characters who are nothing like themselves? On the one hand, I just think, "It's only a story." And they are only stories. But there is another part of me that, of course, fears I could be condemned to hell for writing stuff that is less than moral, or might cause others to formulate a certain worldview that isn't in line with faith.
Think of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - that's the kind of story I'm thinking of. Religion is presented as extreme and soul-crushing, people are used as objects and pawns, people disappear at the drop of a hat if the regime finds them somehow in contempt. Feminist undertones (or overtones, depending on how you read it).
Personally I'd love to just go with, "It's only a story", but there is a part of me that will always wonder anyway.
What do you think?