#catholic author

[cry-ptidd]

This is how you reciprocate Alucard's weird obsession thing btw. Like to him you just said "I do". You're never getting rid of him even if you survive and he doesn't

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

silm fans are really like "god i love the silm but you can really see how sexist tolkien was. anyway here's reason 3478283493 why this male character's awful actions are this female character's responsibility. why do we never talk about how much death and suffering she caused by pushing him to do what he did :(((("

[fictionadventurer]

For all the talk about bad Christian fiction, I've seen several different ways that Christianity can be well-integrated into the story.

The story is about something unrelated to Christianity, but the characters are Christian and their faith affects their outlook and daily life. I recently stumbled across Wormwood Abbey by Christina Baehr, which is a light, fairly forgettable cozy fantasy that happens to do this really well. The story is about a woman who learns that dragons exist around her family's estate, but as the daughter of a rector, she often mentions prayer, sings religious songs, or thinks of Bible verses that relate to things she experiences. The Christianity feels organic to the character, and thus enhances the story rather than distracting from it.

The world is a Christian world where Christian beliefs are shown to be the correct framework through which to view the world. This happens in good Christian fantasy, like Lewis and Tolkien, but there are plenty of real-world stories where the themes line up with Christian truths, and this can make a story Christian whether or not religion is explicitly practiced by characters within the story.

The characters wrestle with how to apply their faith in their daily lives. Regina Doman's Fairy Tale Novels often feature this, as the characters struggle to deal with plot problems while living out their faith. Amy Lynn Green's work often features this as well--characters hold certain values (like, for instance, a Quaker pacifist) and have to figure out how they apply or don't apply to specific situations, especially when they conflict with other values, or they have to figure out how to live out their values (such as forgiveness) in moments where it seems impossible or even ill-advised. Charlotte Yonge's best works (specifically, what I've read of The Three Brides) do this as well--instead of preaching the one right answer, you have characters trying to figure out what the best answer is as they figure out what's right or wrong in this specific situation.

Characters face the revelation that there's a spiritual world that exists beyond our ordinary world, which can cause terror, but also provide comfort and hope. Elizabeth Goudge's novels often exist in this space, with very internal stories of characters coming to embrace the truths that come with living in a spiritual world. To a lesser extent, I'd say Amanda Dykes' work often fits here, with characters ultimately find comfort and hope from philosophies that line up with Christian truth. In less-cozy works, there's also the possibility of stories where an entirely secular person encounters God and has to figure out what that means for their life.

So our options are Christianity as character, Christianity as setting, Christianity as theme, or Christianity as plot. The ways this is integrated most seamlessly is when Christianity (or the ways they struggle with it) is a vital part of the character, so the plot that arises from it lines up with a Christian worldview. It also works well for the characters to just exist within a world where Christian truths are the way the world works. It doesn't even necessarily require the characters to be explicitly religious. Truth is something that everyone is searching for, and stories that honestly showcase truth or the search for it are going to resonate with a wide audience, even if they aren't Christian themselves.

[spacebubblehomebase]

Helllo i Love your art more than i love donuts and thats ALLOT.but my boy lucifer can have babys,like i dont even know how that works!make it make sense! I just wanna say thank you again for curing are boredom👍🏻

You are SO right that is high praise indeed! I'm honored! =D So here. Have a donut! 🍩🍩🍩 As for Luci, let us turn to the world's favorite 700k+ words old man fanfiction that is The Bible (tm) as according to their lore, it's been canonically stated that angels are genderless for they are beings made of the Pure Holy Spirit and- Holy SHIT! What do you know??? Our dear depressed duck dad was an angel himself and in some depictions Lilith is infertile as was her punishment for her freedom! The more you know! -Bubbly💙

(LMAO. My guy's been traumatized. Once is enough XD)

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

guy who so desperately tries to find god. who wants to have faith in a higher authority to guide him out of the hole he's in. from the weight of guilt from simply existing, as the person he is. but every time he thinks he's answered his higher calling it turns out he's made the Morally Incorrect choice and his path to goodness and holiness was the road to the devil all along

[berrywinkle]

«Can I have interesting and nuanced depictions of religion in fantasy?» I asked fantasy authors.

«Fuck you,» said fantasy authors, who proceeded to write the religious groups in their books as a group of oligarchs who rule the world from the shadows, violent warmongers from the desert, and strict patriarchal inquisitors who torture and kill heretics without hesitation.

[sofipitch]

There are now at least two theories in TLT that seem to exclude one another yet both are true. Both Harrow and Palamedes' theories about how lyctorhood is achieved are true. Both Harrow's theory that her weird experiences are due to her psychosis and Abigail's that it's bc she is super haunted by ghosts are also true. There may be others. I know Tazmuir is religious but seems to have a good deal of biology knowledge, which biologists are one of the least religious groups in science. I wonder if this is reflective of her experience as a religious person who is both queer and probably believes in evolution?

[overthinkinglotr]

Inspired by the trash homophobic conservative poll that was going around recently:

[castielsarmpit]

Catholic guilt is one of my favourite fanfic tropes however some of y’all never spent time researching it or growing up in it. In some of these fics I’m like damn OK so this person grew up southern Baptist this person grew up Lutheran. It’s slightly missing the mark. The way that the scripture is interpreted and also the ritualistic aspects of Catholicism are really different than evangelical Protestantism.

I get it not everyone was subjected to eight years of Catholic school but damn guys I might have to just do something about it myself because it’s just not exactly working you know?

You need to channel some Gerard Way level catholic shit which has a specific flavour that I think is missing from a lot of fanfiction in the 911 fandom.

It’s kind of like when everyone was taking Catholic imagery and putting it on Ethel Caine’s music/edits when she grew up in a completely different sect of Christianity and all of her imagery is based in that sect not Catholicism.

Don’t shoot the messenger I’m just a person with Catholic religious trauma, there’s just a lot of nuance related to different types of religious trauma and how you can make it more impactful in writing.

I’m gonna make a master post/Cheat sheet to show important imagery and differences for sake of accuracy.

[specialagentartemis]

Ngl I do not take any arguments of “um this comic book character IS ACTUALLY—“ seriously. Comic book superheroes have been written a lot of different and incompatible ways by a lot of different and ideologically incompatible writers. Thing A is true in some runs, thing B is true in others, thing C is true in some movie versions, debating which one is the Real True Authentic one seems really pointless.

You can argue that you think that Thing A is better, more interesting, a more honest portrayal of what the superhero is all about, and that Thing B is missing the point and making a lazy or regressive choice, or that in the very first comics Thing A was true and here’s how it’s been included or not included ever since, and how Movie X did good things with that theme while Movie Y subsumed it to something else… but you are arguing about the real true truth of superhero comics, a medium that is RATHER FAMOUS for its retcons and inconsistencies and reboots and multiverses. “Which of these is the REAL TRUE essence of this character” is something that is just not capable of being answered.

[squeakadeeks]

i saw this and thought why not

I like women. and bisexual catholic harlots

[ghostpoetics]

Yeah, this is a normal book.

[fictionadventurer]

I have a germ of a theory that good Christian fiction has stories that are less about shaving down your personality to meet some specific mold of what a good Christian looks like, and more about "how gloriously different are all the saints."

Not that the Christian life doesn't involve fighting against our own sinful nature and conforming ourselves to Christ-like behavior, but I think it makes for better, more realistic, and more universal stories when you also recognize that people have different gifts and flaws and they're going to be called to use their unique personalities to serve the kingdom of God in their own unique way, instead of assuming everyone has to conform themselves to a very specific (often secular-culturally based) image of good behavior. It makes for a much more vibrant story.

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

wait i thought i’d seen the full extent of the silm fandom’s misogyny but i guess the silm fandom can always hate female characters more because apparently?? people believe indis the manipulative malicious bitch came onto and cajoled and stalked finwe until he relented and married her all while specifically aiming to make it so that miriel could never come back and she could have finwe's dick for all of eternity and abuse poor helpless feanor to her black shriveled heart’s content??? apparently that is a take that exists and has shooters??? yall are truly smoking that good stuff

[mourningmaybells]

"Fifteen years ago, he jumped or was pushed to his death."

Grief, Resurrection, and Grief again.

The Exorcist (1971) | The Exorcist dir. by William Friedkin | Legion (1983) | The Exorcist 3 dir. by William Peter Blatty | It's a Wonderful Life dir. by Frank Capra

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Sometimes I read the books that the internet is going feral over and I'm just like "take my hand babygirl I can show you the world."

We can do better baby. I can get you a better version of this.