I've lately been thinking about the differences between "secular" fiction and Christian fiction...at least the glaringly obvious differences. Christian themes, right? Let's see....Christian morals exemplified. Usually some dynamic character who gradually changes his/her perception of truth. All good.
But there is one really huge difference that may or may not be so great. A lot of people call this sanitizing the truth. Stopping short of reality. Not going into it, really, if it is something that could offend. Obviously, this is important in some instances: those same instances that make the lit. "safe" for anyone to read. But I just think there are some instances where we shouldn't be quite so guarded.
My question is: by taking away from the reality, are we taking away from the truth? By not revealing the ugly of the ugly, are we veiling the beauty of the beautiful?
I may not be making sense to anyone but me, but that is okay. If I do make sense, let me know what you think.
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-- Henry James
"Then there is Me of course; but I am only the chorus that comes at the end to explain things. So I do not count." --Rudyard Kipling
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Novel Progress
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- inspiration (2)
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- mid-week motivations (2)
- moods (7)
- observations (6)
- process (11)
- questions (5)
- writer...interrupted (2)
Of Interest
"Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time...the wait is simply too long." ~Leonard Bernstein
"Always be the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question."
e.e. cummings
"Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences."
--Sylvia Plath
"'Classic.' A book which people praise and don"t read."
--Mark Twain
"Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals."
--John Steinbeck
"Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent."
--Emily Dickenson
"Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning."
--C. S. Lewis
"The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life."
"Find out what your hero wants, and when he wakes up in the morning, just follow him all day."
"The best time to plan a book is while you"re doing the dishes."
--Agatha Christie
"You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for."
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify them or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. Think Different!"--Steve Jobs
Some reading in 2007
- Animal Farm--George Orwell
- Bad Girls of the Bible--Liz Curtis Higgs
- By the Light of the Moon -- Dean Koontz
- Collected Stories -- Rudyard Kipling
- Dirty Hands--Jean-Paul Sartre
- Friend of My Youth--Alice Munro
- Get Out of that Pit--Beth Moore
- Redeeming Love -- Francine Rivers
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain
- The Creative Call--Janice Elsheimer
- The Flies--Jean-Paul Sartre
- The Heir--Paul Robertson
- The Last Juror -- John Grisham
- The Pelican Brief -- John Grisham
- The Picture of Dorian Gray--Oscar Wilde
- The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage--Dr. Laura Schlessinger
- The Screwtape Letters--C. S. Lewis
- The Silver Chair--C.S. Lewis
- The Sin Eater -- Francine Rivers
- The Street Lawyer -- John Grisham
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"Writing this story -- writing any story, really -- is like exploring a land for the first time while simultaneously serving as a tour guide." ~~Jared Wilson
1 comment:
What you are saying totally makes sense to me. I think some people just don't want to read the ugly, though. Maybe if by reading it, it makes them feel as if they are in a way condoning it. I do think you are right that in a way if someone does that, they are taking away from truth.
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