This is a post that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I wasn’t really sure how to say what I wanted to say, but someone recently made a remark to me, or rather asked me a question, that brought this whole thing to a head. The question was this: “How can you be a Christian and write about vampires?”
So…a little background on me. Yes, I’m a Christian, and I consider myself a religious person. I’m not aggressive about it because I don’t feel like that’s the way to be. I don’t force my beliefs on others, but am glad to tell you about them if you want to hear it. That’s how I’m able to get along with my friends who are Jewish, Pagan, agnostic, and atheist. I don’t push my religion on them. Everyone has a choice as to what they want to hear and do. Do I wish everyone believed the same way I do? Sure. But that’s not the way the world works.
Anyway, back to the topic, which is basically how one can be both religious and still write paranormal stories. My question in return would be…why not? The way I answered the person that asked me about how I could be a Christian and write about vampires was “It’s fiction!” I don’t understand why people don’t get that. I don’t believe in vampires, ghosts, wizards, fairies, or anything like that. I’m way too skeptical to believe in them. And that’s what makes this whole thing fun to me. I get to step into this great fantasy world and make up whatever I want to. A reviewer recently mentioned that I didn’t “explain how the vampire could eat real food and walk in the daylight”. (Hey, Spike ate real food!) Why do I have to explain that? Vampires aren’t real; therefore, I don’t have to adhere to any rule (although I don’t want to be totally stupid about it). People give Meyer a hard time because her vampires sparkle. Yeah, that’s kind of weird, but it was her book, her rules. I love the world of fantasy and see no reason why a Christian can’t write about it!
So now you know the biggest reason I write under a pen name. This just kills my mom because she wants to tell everyone that her daughter writes books. And she has told quite a few people. I just hope the ones that she tells don’t spread the word so that it gets around to the people who wouldn’t understand. Because I have friends who believe it’s wrong to write about this stuff. So I have to live two different lives and keep them separate. I don’t understand why people can’t understand that it’s fiction, and that’s all.
So what do you all think? Do you see anything wrong with a Christian writing about the paranormal???
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