Category Archives: Faith and Religion

Reaching More Than One Audience

Posted on February 26, 2013 by

I sometimes joke that my work is fiction — “I make it all up” — but that isn’t true. All writers draw to some extent on our own experiences and environments, not to mention what we’ve studied, heard about from … Continue reading →


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Posted in Community, Culture, Faith and Religion, science fiction, steampunk, Writers on Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Creative People

Posted on February 24, 2013 by

Most people understand that there is a difference between people who are creative and those who are not. Those who are not often wish they were able to think up wonderful things so they might be lauded as geniuses and … Continue reading →


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Posted in Faith and Religion, Rants | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Changing Face, Clothes, and Mood of Britain

Posted on February 2, 2013 by

Three items of news this week. One concerns an interesting census item, one is a fun weather related story, and the other is a cure for depression. First, the census. Now, I’m sure those clued up people, who frequent the … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, Culture, Faith and Religion, Humor, journalism | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Faith in Fiction Post Script: No Time to S’plain, Let Me Sum Up

Posted on January 16, 2013 by

We’ve covered a lot of territory in this series of blogs. This week, I’d like to sum up by revisiting some ideas that seem, to me, critical to writing a fictional religion or writing fictionally about a real religion that … Continue reading →


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You Can’t Go Home Again

Posted on January 3, 2013 by

Or at least, I can’t. My childhood home is now a Buddhist temple. I wrote about this awhile back, but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My parents’ house is a meditation center and the swimming pool is … Continue reading →


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Posted in Community, Culture, Faith and Religion | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Faith in Fiction 15: Heresy is in the Eye of the Beholder
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Posted on January 2, 2013 by

A deep concern among members of one faith group I do workshops with is depicting another real or imaginary faith sympathetically without feeling as if they’ve committed heresy. One thing I ask these writers to contemplate is that heresy is … Continue reading →


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Posted in Faith and Religion, fantasy, historical novels, Writers on Writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Dostoevsky for Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2012 by

At some point during my teen-aged years, my father decided we needed a new family Christmas tradition, so he began reading us “The Grand Inquisitor” chapter from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov on Christmas Eve. We’d sit in the living room, … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, Faith and Religion, Holidays/Holy Days | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Faith in Fiction 14: Pitfalls in fantasy religions and how to avoid them
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Posted on December 19, 2012 by

One of the most common questions I’m asked when it comes to fictionalizing religion is what pitfalls a writer who’s new to the practice should avoid. Here’s my shortlist—though there certainly are others. First is the the Straw Man portrayal … Continue reading →


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Posted in Faith and Religion, fantasy, historical novels, Holidays/Holy Days, Writers on Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

An Attempt to Think as a Free Thinker

Posted on December 17, 2012 by

With thousands of devout Muslims protesting the enforced Muslimization of their government in Egypt, and since thousands of sincere Christians refused Tea Party pressure to Christianize our government, I need to think about whether I am actually opposed to organised … Continue reading →


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Posted in Culture, Faith and Religion, journalism | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Faith in Fiction 13: At the intersection of religion and culture
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Posted on November 28, 2012 by
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Religion is at the heart of what we call culture. Our world culture is so steeped in religious principle that there’s no way to winnow it out. I often hear people advance the idea that they can be moral without … Continue reading →


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Posted in Culture, Faith and Religion, History, Writers on Writing | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments