Newsletter 06/09

Religious and Spiritual Fantasy

Well, this weeks topic was inspired by not one, but two letters (even if one was stolen from the feedback page). Both letters are printed in the ask and answer section, and both ask about fantasy involving real world religious figures, particularly angels.

To begin with, there are bits of popular media out there of this nature. Piers Anthony wrote a series of seven books called Incarnations of Immortallity. The Sixth and Seventh dealt with the Incarnations of Good and Evil. Guess who those were. The Prophecy movies (three in all) deal extensively with angels, fallen angels, and demons. The movie Fallen also follows this theme. Finally, there was a begining to a series a few years ago called Eternal Warriors by Theodore Beale which explored angelic themes. So, if you are writing fantasy stories using real world spirituality, you are not alone.

So, what rules should one follow when writing a work of this nature? I think the biggest is, don't insult the members of any religious persuision through your work. Be very careful about that, religion is a serious subject and should be handled carefully in any story. So, to avoid a lot of potential problems, research is the key. There are lots of resources out there dealing with spirituality in the real world. Make extensive use of them. Here's a short list to get you started.

Angels

http://www.catholic.org/saints/

http://ibelieveinangels.com/

http://www.mts.net/~warreno/

Demons

http://www.bbie.org/english/resources/demons/

http://www.jhom.com/topics/fantasy/demons.html

http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ16.HTM

So, if you're willing to put some time into the homework, religious and spiritual fantasy can be an interesting genre to write in. Good luck and keep writing.

Colin Back on the Ghost Roads