Symbolic Writing

[bigbadpsychoturtle]

Hello! I'm bigbadpsychoturtle, though I'm neither big nor bad - or a turtle...

...anyway, I'm new here, and the whole time I was signing on to the site, I was hoping that there would be a writer's thread or two up here - AND THANK THE LORD, THERE IS! Now, I'd like to ask all my fellow writers a question or two...

I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with LORD OF THE RINGS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, written by two of the world's greatest Christian writers: not only are they great fantasy epics, but they are also SYMBOLIC masterpieces, presenting Christian truths and themes in greatly dynamic symbolism...while sometimes symbolism can give me a headache trying to figure out, it is still my favorite genre in literature.

Big surprise, then, that that is exactly the kind of stories that I am writing. They're not all exclusively fantasy (though one of my major projects IS), but they ARE straight-up symbolism (that sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?). I feel that in our time that symbolism could really be taken advantage of, and that God has called me to write such stories. The question that I've wondered for a while now is, IS ANYONE ELSE WRITING SYMBOLIC STORIES?
If you do, tell me your ideas. Synopsis, story snippet, what's being symbolized, whatever you feel like putting up.

Thanks, and God bless you guys!

 

[Casstranquility]

Hi, bigbadpsychoturtle! Welcome! I'm new here, too.
I love the Chronicles of Narnia! The symbolism is really interesting in there-especially The Last Battle.

I think the story I just wrote is symbolic-at least it feels that way to me. Maybe you'd be able to tell better than I...It's called the Peanut-Butter Sandwich Worshippers, and I posted it on this forum a week ago or so.

-Cassie

 

[RippledDreams]

Heya and Welcome! I'm also new, and was so excited to see that there are other writers here. I'm currently working on a novel that was a short story that I decided to expand on. Stories that are symbolic are also a fav. of mine, as is this story I'm writing now. Its still a work in progress but I have already formed the outline to how its going to go. ITs amazing what you can use to create symbolism in your story... another good movie that portrays that is the Matrix trilogy. Names based off of well known characters/people can give the reader an idea of the kind of personality that particular character has. Color can express mood or even bad/good intentions. In THe Matrix all of the people who had been freed wore gray except Sypher who wore Red, and he was the Judus of that movie... by betraying his crew. A clear sky can represent happy times, while a rainy one can do the oppisite... like in the movie Vanilla Sky. In my story although my character is married she wakes up to the other side of the bed being empty and cold... I made sure to point that out so that I could convey the cold emptiness between them... it was symbolic to their failing marriage. Anyway, I hope that gives ya some ideas

 

[avatarblade2000]

Great, first I see there are writers - and now I find SYMBOLIC writers as well! PRAISE GOD!

Cass, the title alone makes me want to read it, so I'll find it immediately. Rippled, AWESOME PREMISE for that story of yours. Is it up on the forums somewhere, 'cause I want to read it too. Oh, and thanks for those factoids: I didn't notice that about THE MATRIX, though I did notice most of the other more obvious Biblical metaphors. Good eye, and thanks!

I love hearing the ideas that people have. Really makes me feel like I'm not the only one fighting this fight in symbolic writing. Makes me feel good. My own stories - I've got a lot of them at the moment - are based on a LOT of things. My biggest one is an epic series that focuses on how governments can be weak in the aspects they feel they are strongest, basically retelling a lot of the wars/conflicts that America has had with other countries/causes in a fantasy setting, a la NARNIA (and yeah, as risky as it is, that includes 9/11). It's a big undertaking, but it's the one I feel God wants me to do most. And my other one, it's more down-to-earth, focusing on the trials and troubles of Christians and the lost alike, showing how God uses terrible circumstances to ultimately do good in our lives: it will probably be more blunt in what it has to say, but hey, I want to witness in every aspect that I can, you know?

Anyway, anyone else who shares my - whoa, OUR - passion, feel free to comment, share, whatever. Again, God bless you for it, and happy writing!

Edit: WHOOPS. FYI, it's avatarblade2000 now, not bigbadpyschoturtle. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[GodFlute2]

I don't like to write symbolism stories. They tend to be confusing if you don't know what you're reading. However I do imply my morals and truths into my stories and such.

 

[HumbleBee]

Read the links in my sig...much spiritual whittling to muse about...

 

[avatarblade2000]

Well, my belief on symbolism is, it shouldn't purposefully go over everyone's heads; symbolism is, in my mind, meant to portray something old in a new way that is still easy to relate to, NOT a writer's attempt to completely confound his or her audience with what he or she thinks is his or her superior intellectual reasoning. I try not to write symbolsim that is too hard to understand (because I know the headaches that that sort of symbolism induces), but I don't sugarcoat stuff either because either way the point/impact is lost - and that's not what I need if I intend to make my writings a good witness.

Oh, and Cass...good story ya got there! Anyone else got one I can read? Sometime I'll put one of mine up, so, if anyone cares to read it...

 

[Casstranquility]

Oh, and Cass...good story ya got there! Anyone else got one I can read? Sometime I'll put one of mine up, so, if anyone cares to read it...

Thanks! I'd like to read one of yours. Just let me know when you post it.

Have a great day!

-Cassie

 

[avatarblade2000]

I'm almost finished with a little one that I can post, but I would like to ask this question despite, being I'm always looking for other potential ideas; see, one of my bigger projects is focused on racism, another chronicles a period of time that lead to a conflict much like WWII, and another is on the events and issues that could've/did lead up to 9/11 (well, one that closely resembles it, being it's symbolism here). Just a question to throw out there for anyone: does anyone have a particular issue, world event or good subject that hasn't been done often or dynamically enough or is simply just worth doing that I could possible write something over, something that would also be a good witnessing tool? Maybe something akin to xenophobia, paranoia, close-mindedness, gay marriages, abortions, justifying murder and war, something...SOMETHING...

...you guys know what it's like, having a dry spell. God bless you for any ideas.