Introduce yourself! What do you write?

celestialwolf · 08-11-2011, 06:10 PM

I went ahead and merged the threads! Hijacked Celestialwolf's thread, if you will! They went together like bread and butter, tea and milk, ahhh, you get the picture!
##############
FROM FOINAH : Edited to add :
I'm interested in what the folks here are working on.
Take a moment and introduce yourselves : Do you write fiction, nonfiction, articles, essays, poetry, guide books... do you weave pagan elements into your tales?

It will help me to zero in on helpful links or goings on around the pagan community that I can keep updated here for your perusal.

Don't be shy! Dish!

##########

As far as I can tell the Pagan forum has been around since 2007 and all we have to show for it is 2 stickies? Were's all my pagan peeps?

Pagan? Check. Passion for writing? Check. My question for everyone is: Do you write pagan fiction/non-fiction or do you tend to keep your writing and path separate?

For me, my fiction is separate but most of my non-fiction tends to be about my path or pagan life in general.

What about you?

JinxVelox · 08-12-2011, 02:29 PM

For me, my non-fiction is always about Paganism and appears in Pagan magazines, as well as an upcoming book. With regard to fiction, I almost always include an element of Paganism, often in the form of Pagan characters. If the novel is fantasy, sometimes my characters worship a Goddess and I incorporate some real life Pagan rituals here and there.

celestialwolf · 08-12-2011, 10:37 PM

When I write fantasy, I do tend to include pagan-like qualities but I guess I never realized I did. Outside of fantasy though, I typically don't.

DeleyanLee · 08-12-2011, 10:53 PM

I write Fantasy and Historical Fantasy. The straight Fantasy always has a created religion that may or may not be based on an actual religion, depending on what fits into the world. I have a tendency to like playing with gods as actual characters, so that affects the religions involved. I also like playing with the fact that religions have nothing to do with the actual gods, which probably has roots in my own religious experiences.

When I write historical, OTOH, I tend to stick with what the religion of that time and place was, which usually means Christian. It's what fits the story. When I introduce fantasy elements, that doesn't necessarily change the religion for the main characters.

The rare occasion where I write non-fiction, they're usually essays about writing or experiences with autism, so my religious beliefs don't play into the topic.

Rufus Coppertop · 08-12-2011, 11:55 PM

I'm not sure what you mean by pagan fiction but I am rewriting an urban fantasy/steampunk novel set in an alternative Roman empire where the MC keeping a vow made by Hecate, Hades, Nemesis and Apollo gets the plot moving.

While the religious and magical elements are all important, I think of it as being steampunkish urban fantasy in a polytheistic world rather than pagan fiction.

celestialwolf · 08-13-2011, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rufus Coppertop

I'm not sure what you mean by pagan fiction

Pagan fiction is fiction written about pagan themes, pagan life, coming of age, etc. Most fantasy, that deals with religion, often have polytheistic views but that doesn't make it "pagan" per se.

Rufus Coppertop · 08-14-2011, 12:02 AM

Then, I'm not writing pagan fiction.

VeryVerity · 08-14-2011, 12:06 AM

My faith doesn't really come into my writing, at least not at the moment.

But then, my faith doesn't come into much of anything these days. It's there, dormant.

DeleyanLee · 08-14-2011, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celestialwolf

Pagan fiction is fiction written about pagan themes, pagan life, coming of age, etc. Most fantasy, that deals with religion, often have polytheistic views but that doesn't make it "pagan" per say.

If that's the definition, then I'm not either.

2Wheels · 08-15-2011, 04:32 AM

My fiction tends to include polytheism, but not animism. I also eliminate conventional fictional 'magic' in favour of more esoteric forms, but which isn't 'magick' either. I've sometimes thought it might be fun to deliberatly write something that contained distinctly, and strongly pagan elements.

Rhoda Nightingale · 08-15-2011, 08:58 AM

Well I define myself as "mostly Buddhist with a dash of Pagan," and no I don't write Pagan fiction. At least, not by the definition we've decided on. However, I'm sure my beliefs trickle into my storylines somehow, because beliefs tend to do that whether you intend them to or not. I'd hazard a guess that the Buddhist part is much more prominent, but again that's not intentional.

(Rhoda is annoyed that there is no section for Buddhism here.)

mima · 08-15-2011, 09:13 AM

the fantasy world building is heavy on magic's reality. partly because that's fun in the world of "make shit up" and partly because it's more compelling to me as a pagan. i'm trying to think... yes, i have christian characters, but they are the minority.

Rufus Coppertop · 08-17-2011, 07:15 PM

Christianity doesn't even exist in mine.

sheilas_world · 08-23-2011, 06:45 AM

Here I am! Kitchen witch with a writing passion.

So far, I haven't written (well, finished) anything you could call Pagan, but my SF novel has characters from various non-Christian beliefs, with some atheists and agnostics thrown in. The premise is that colony ships were sponsored by citizens around the world, with the Pagans getting one, and Christian faiths getting one, as do the Muslim/Islamic and Jewish peoples.

The character's beliefs will feature prominently in the story, with rituals performed and rites held. They end up calling their new home world Gaia.

I think it would be great if Earth worshipers wrote books so that we had a genre like Christian Fiction.

JinxVelox · 08-23-2011, 12:03 PM

Now that the project I was working on is in the querying process, I am working on the second draft of another novel, in which the main character actually is Pagan. ^.^

celestialwolf · 08-24-2011, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheilas_world

I think it would be great if Earth worshipers wrote books so that we had a genre like Christian Fiction.

I totally agree but right now, it's more classified as Urban Fantasy than anything else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JinxVelox

Now that the project I was working on is in the querying process, I am working on the second draft of another novel, in which the main character actually is Pagan. ^.^

Good luck on your query JinxVelox!

JinxVelox · 08-24-2011, 10:20 PM

Sheila, I agree that a "Pagan fiction" genre would rock! It would be nice to see characters applying their Pagan spiritual ethics (be they Wiccan, Druid, Witch, Shaman, Asatru, etc.) to their dilemmas. I don't mind the "Charmed" and "The Craft"-type stories. They're pure entertainment, but definitely *not* Pagan. It would be great to see more fiction specifically written by and for Pagans.

Thanks CelestialWolf! Fingers are crossed.

Diana_Rajchel · 08-25-2011, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celestialwolf

As far as I can tell the Pagan forum has been around since 2007 and all we have to show for it is 2 stickies? Were's all my pagan peeps?

Pagan? Check. Passion for writing? Check. My question for everyone is: Do you write pagan fiction/non-fiction or do you tend to keep your writing and path separate?

For me, my fiction is separate but most of my non-fiction tends to be about my path or pagan life in general.

What about you?

I think a bunch of Pagan peeps are a)off writing supernatural fiction or b)just don't know about this place.

I'm here!

I've been writing nonfiction, Pagan for a good ten years now. Grad school left me convinced I can't write fiction, but I am slowly persuading myself otherwise. I've specialized in Pagan/occult, but I can't say I've "made a name." As for the fortune that comes with writing in this field ... well, it's a good thing I have other skills.

celestialwolf · 08-25-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diana_Rajchel

I think a bunch of Pagan peeps are a)off writing supernatural fiction or b)just don't know about this place.

I'm here!

Welcome

As for grad school, don't let it dissuade you from writing fiction. If that's something you want to do, do it. If it's bad, it's bad. That's why we do edits and revisions.

Diana_Rajchel · 08-26-2011, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celestialwolf

Welcome

As for grad school, don't let it dissuade you from writing fiction. If that's something you want to do, do it. If it's bad, it's bad. That's why we do edits and revisions.

Yes, I AM getting over that. But I'm also working on Big Serious (and painful) nonfiction to fill a significant need (rather than market) gap. It's a book in divorce/handparting; I'm just about ready to get the updated website up with the outline, etc. and I've been running an intensive survey for the past year for those willing/able to participate.

Jenan Mac · 08-29-2011, 03:49 AM

My protag's S.O. is Wiccan. The story's just barely magical realism.

And I wander in and out, depending on which life I'm being forced to live at any given time, even if I don't post much anymore.

celestialwolf · 08-29-2011, 05:18 AM

Cool. So it sounds like most everyone is including some sort of Pagan/religious element in their writing, just not overly so. Interesting.

BunnyMaz · 09-22-2011, 03:23 AM

My Paganism definitely trickles into my writing in various ways, although since I tend to write fantasy I don't usually directly write about characters that belong to existing RL Pagan paths. The spiritual paths I create for my characters to follow are absolutely influenced by and at times intentionally based on RL Pagan paths.

There does seem to be a lack of good, Pagan fiction. All I've ever seen is online, free rewritings of existing myths or invented stories, both aimed at children and both either awfully twee and syrupy or horribly butchered to make them child-appropriate.

Foinah · 10-20-2011, 03:32 AM

Merged my thread with Celestialwolf's original Path vs. Writing. So you aren't hallucinating -- this post appears twice!!!! haha

I'm interested in what the folks here are working on.

Take a moment and introduce yourselves : Do you write fiction, nonfiction, articles, essays, poetry, guide books... do you weave pagan elements into your tales?

It will help me to zero in on helpful links or goings on around the pagan community that I can keep updated here for your perusal.

Don't be shy! Dish!

Foinah · 10-20-2011, 03:33 AM

I write supernatural thrillers, urban fantasy, horror, short stories, and essays. My novels contain characters steeped in the occult and are portrayed in a positive light.

Mostly Dead Melvin features a Voudon named Marcella. It was fun researching for her character, and I learned a bunch about the religion. Also some useful phrases in Kreyol. Okay...they were dirty phrases. But they were funny!

08-11-2011, 06:10 PM	#1
celestialwolf Blood? Ha! No, that's red ink. Join Date: May 2008 Location: East Point, GA Posts: 167	Path vs. Writing I went ahead and merged the threads! Hijacked Celestialwolf's thread, if you will! They went together like bread and butter, tea and milk, ahhh, you get the picture! ############## FROM FOINAH : Edited to add : I'm interested in what the folks here are working on. Take a moment and introduce yourselves : Do you write fiction, nonfiction, articles, essays, poetry, guide books... do you weave pagan elements into your tales? It will help me to zero in on helpful links or goings on around the pagan community that I can keep updated here for your perusal. Don't be shy! Dish! ########## As far as I can tell the Pagan forum has been around since 2007 and all we have to show for it is 2 stickies? Were's all my pagan peeps? Pagan? Check. Passion for writing? Check. My question for everyone is: Do you write pagan fiction/non-fiction or do you tend to keep your writing and path separate? For me, my fiction is separate but most of my non-fiction tends to be about my path or pagan life in general. What about you? Last edited by Foinah; 10-21-2011 at 05:11 AM.

08-12-2011, 02:29 PM	#2
JinxVelox A New Englander in Old England. Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: England Posts: 229	For me, my non-fiction is always about Paganism and appears in Pagan magazines, as well as an upcoming book. With regard to fiction, I almost always include an element of Paganism, often in the form of Pagan characters. If the novel is fantasy, sometimes my characters worship a Goddess and I incorporate some real life Pagan rituals here and there. __________________ Website Twitter The Chronos Clock, Book 1 of the Aetheric Artifacts - coming from Musa Publishing

08-12-2011, 10:53 PM	#4
DeleyanLee Writing Anarchist Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: lost among the words Posts: 27,600	I write Fantasy and Historical Fantasy. The straight Fantasy always has a created religion that may or may not be based on an actual religion, depending on what fits into the world. I have a tendency to like playing with gods as actual characters, so that affects the religions involved. I also like playing with the fact that religions have nothing to do with the actual gods, which probably has roots in my own religious experiences. When I write historical, OTOH, I tend to stick with what the religion of that time and place was, which usually means Christian. It's what fits the story. When I introduce fantasy elements, that doesn't necessarily change the religion for the main characters. The rare occasion where I write non-fiction, they're usually essays about writing or experiences with autism, so my religious beliefs don't play into the topic. __________________ "For unheard of means that it's undreamed of yet; Impossible means not yet done." --Julia Ecklar "You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." --Friederich Nietzsche

08-12-2011, 11:55 PM	#5
Rufus Coppertop Now what? Join Date: May 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,408	I'm not sure what you mean by pagan fiction but I am rewriting an urban fantasy/steampunk novel set in an alternative Roman empire where the MC keeping a vow made by Hecate, Hades, Nemesis and Apollo gets the plot moving. While the religious and magical elements are all important, I think of it as being steampunkish urban fantasy in a polytheistic world rather than pagan fiction. __________________

08-14-2011, 12:02 AM	#7
Rufus Coppertop Now what? Join Date: May 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,408	Then, I'm not writing pagan fiction. __________________

08-12-2011, 10:37 PM	#3
celestialwolf Blood? Ha! No, that's red ink. Join Date: May 2008 Location: East Point, GA Posts: 167	When I write fantasy, I do tend to include pagan-like qualities but I guess I never realized I did. Outside of fantasy though, I typically don't.

08-14-2011, 12:06 AM	#8
VeryVerity I like bewbs. Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: England. Posts: 338	My faith doesn't really come into my writing, at least not at the moment. But then, my faith doesn't come into much of anything these days. It's there, dormant. __________________ So, I now have a blog and a twitter. "Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so." — Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) "I miss you, cupcake" — Gir (Invader Zim)

08-15-2011, 04:32 AM	#10
2Wheels Anachronista Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Shores of the Solar sea Posts: 549	My fiction tends to include polytheism, but not animism. I also eliminate conventional fictional 'magic' in favour of more esoteric forms, but which isn't 'magick' either. I've sometimes thought it might be fun to deliberatly write something that contained distinctly, and strongly pagan elements. __________________ "If you thought that we we would do nothing, you've misunderstood. For we are the sons and daughters of Robin Hood." Damh the Bard.

08-15-2011, 08:58 AM	#11
Rhoda Nightingale Full-Time Vampire Junkie Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 3,216	Well I define myself as "mostly Buddhist with a dash of Pagan," and no I don't write Pagan fiction. At least, not by the definition we've decided on. However, I'm sure my beliefs trickle into my storylines somehow, because beliefs tend to do that whether you intend them to or not. I'd hazard a guess that the Buddhist part is much more prominent, but again that's not intentional. (Rhoda is annoyed that there is no section for Buddhism here.) __________________ ~~WIP: 1001 Souls (YA horror)~~ On Hold WIP: Dream Warriors (YA horror), revising, 50k Shorts: The Yellow Season (R's--4); The Raggedy Girl (R's--3) Blog: http://glitter-n-gore.livejournal.com/

08-15-2011, 09:13 AM	#12
mima New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 20	the fantasy world building is heavy on magic's reality. partly because that's fun in the world of "make shit up" and partly because it's more compelling to me as a pagan. i'm trying to think... yes, i have christian characters, but they are the minority. __________________ ~~~~~~ mimawithin.com

08-17-2011, 07:15 PM	#13
Rufus Coppertop Now what? Join Date: May 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,408	Christianity doesn't even exist in mine. __________________

08-23-2011, 06:45 AM	#14
sheilas_world digging in my word garden Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 138	Here I am! Kitchen witch with a writing passion. So far, I haven't written (well, finished) anything you could call Pagan, but my SF novel has characters from various non-Christian beliefs, with some atheists and agnostics thrown in. The premise is that colony ships were sponsored by citizens around the world, with the Pagans getting one, and Christian faiths getting one, as do the Muslim/Islamic and Jewish peoples. The character's beliefs will feature prominently in the story, with rituals performed and rites held. They end up calling their new home world Gaia. I think it would be great if Earth worshipers wrote books so that we had a genre like Christian Fiction. __________________ *Sheila*

08-23-2011, 12:03 PM	#15
JinxVelox A New Englander in Old England. Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: England Posts: 229	Now that the project I was working on is in the querying process, I am working on the second draft of another novel, in which the main character actually is Pagan. ^.^ __________________ Website Twitter The Chronos Clock, Book 1 of the Aetheric Artifacts - coming from Musa Publishing

08-24-2011, 10:20 PM	#17
JinxVelox A New Englander in Old England. Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: England Posts: 229	Sheila, I agree that a "Pagan fiction" genre would rock! It would be nice to see characters applying their Pagan spiritual ethics (be they Wiccan, Druid, Witch, Shaman, Asatru, etc.) to their dilemmas. I don't mind the "Charmed" and "The Craft"-type stories. They're pure entertainment, but definitely not Pagan. It would be great to see more fiction specifically written by and for Pagans. Thanks CelestialWolf! Fingers are crossed. __________________ Website Twitter The Chronos Clock, Book 1 of the Aetheric Artifacts - coming from Musa Publishing

08-29-2011, 03:49 AM	#21
Jenan Mac The Deadliest Bunny Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: under the radar Posts: 1,666	My protag's S.O. is Wiccan. The story's just barely magical realism. And I wander in and out, depending on which life I'm being forced to live at any given time, even if I don't post much anymore. __________________ The bones tell me...nothing. (Willow)

08-29-2011, 05:18 AM	#22
celestialwolf Blood? Ha! No, that's red ink. Join Date: May 2008 Location: East Point, GA Posts: 167	Cool. So it sounds like most everyone is including some sort of Pagan/religious element in their writing, just not overly so. Interesting.

09-22-2011, 03:23 AM	#23
BunnyMaz Ruining your porn since 1984 Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,262	My Paganism definitely trickles into my writing in various ways, although since I tend to write fantasy I don't usually directly write about characters that belong to existing RL Pagan paths. The spiritual paths I create for my characters to follow are absolutely influenced by and at times intentionally based on RL Pagan paths. There does seem to be a lack of good, Pagan fiction. All I've ever seen is online, free rewritings of existing myths or invented stories, both aimed at children and both either awfully twee and syrupy or horribly butchered to make them child-appropriate. __________________ RIP Taihg. I can't believe it's been a year already. More Taihg. Because he was awesome.

10-20-2011, 03:32 AM	#24
Foinah Smoking Monkey Smart Arse AW Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Where it rains. Eternally. Posts: 1,643	Introduce yourself! What do you write? Merged my thread with Celestialwolf's original Path vs. Writing. So you aren't hallucinating -- this post appears twice!!!! haha I'm interested in what the folks here are working on. Take a moment and introduce yourselves : Do you write fiction, nonfiction, articles, essays, poetry, guide books... do you weave pagan elements into your tales? It will help me to zero in on helpful links or goings on around the pagan community that I can keep updated here for your perusal. Don't be shy! Dish! __________________ Stop in, have a cup of tea and a smile, and say Hello in the Pagan Forum SHOP SMART, SHOP "S" MART I'm Pro Hobo and no on Nee-Nees! Yes...I have an author site! It's keen! Short stories available for amazon kindle : Support my coffee habit Smoking Monkeys have all the fun. Yes, yes we do. Smoking Simian Scribbles (pssst, it's a blog) Neighbors from Hell: do you have a story to share? Last edited by Foinah; 10-21-2011 at 05:15 AM. Reason: silly typos

10-20-2011, 03:33 AM	#25
Foinah Smoking Monkey Smart Arse AW Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Where it rains. Eternally. Posts: 1,643	I write supernatural thrillers, urban fantasy, horror, short stories, and essays. My novels contain characters steeped in the occult and are portrayed in a positive light. Mostly Dead Melvin features a Voudon named Marcella. It was fun researching for her character, and I learned a bunch about the religion. Also some useful phrases in Kreyol. Okay...they were dirty phrases. But they were funny! __________________ Stop in, have a cup of tea and a smile, and say Hello in the Pagan Forum SHOP SMART, SHOP "S" MART I'm Pro Hobo and no on Nee-Nees! Yes...I have an author site! It's keen! Short stories available for amazon kindle : Support my coffee habit Smoking Monkeys have all the fun. Yes, yes we do. Smoking Simian Scribbles (pssst, it's a blog) Neighbors from Hell: do you have a story to share?

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