Fictional truths


I've got a little project I have been toying with. I may not have time to do it justice, but for the moment it gives me the odd moment of diversion. As part of this, I have been taking a harder look at Pagan-themed fiction.

Since I don't have a specific idea that I am absolutely passionate about, I've been looking at what it might take to sell.

For example, the Pagan overthrow of Christianity might sell well among the white lighter crowd, but I don't think it has much of a market beyond that. Not to mention that for Pagans to really overthrow Christianity, we'd have to become something we wouldn't like very much.

The thing is, I am not sure it is possible to make Paganism a major part of the story without taking some liberties. And if you shed the spectacle angle (no calling down lightning, no curses launched from beyond the grave), there aren't that many ways to approach the religious aspects.

Although there is one scene in my mind, "Tea with a Goddess..."

Anyway, it finally dawned on me that one reason why I can't see an easy way to write about Paganism for the mass audience is because most of them aren't used to the idea of an experienced religion and all that entails. Without a huge conflict, a story about someone who just happens to be a Pagan isn't all that interesting.

Unless you make them really socially deviant, in which case that becomes the story and the religion is just part of the weirdness.

I think that one of the reasons why Harry Potter has become so popular is because it offers spectacle without a religious context. That still doesn't stop some from attacking the stories as "anti-Christian." The Harry Potter books are written for the Hollywood Age, morality without all that needless mucking about with matters of faith.

Is there a way out of it? I am not sure, I still have some ideas I am mulling over.

Posted: Wed - October 18, 2006 at 04:37 AM
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