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Post by tjcliff on Mar 17, 2012 0:49:31 GMT -5
Hello all,
The road that led me to this site isn't a particularly long or winding one. A basic search for Fantasy World Cartography led me to a product on the main page, and I was directed to the forums.
After reading some of the site and some of the forums, I could tell that there seems to be a strong focus on Christian fiction - and I must admit I'm not sure I belong here.
I belong to another forum devoted to videogame fanfiction that has become stagnant after a 14 year run. That genre (Is fanfiction a genre?) doesn't hold my interest as much as it used to, and I find myself looking for something more. Maybe that's why I registered with this site and am now starting a new thread.
I enjoy reading and writing fantasy. I think that fantasy world creation serves as an amazing outlet for creativity, and often helps me think about lifestyles and beliefs in different ways. My goal for a long time has been to construct a world and use it as a setting for a story. My hope is to write something multidimensional, that has depth, and is relevant to society today.
That being said, I hope that my particular view on religion and Christianity don't put me too much at odds with the regulars around here. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, but consider myself agnostic. While I may have my own misgivings on different aspects of religion and God, I work very hard to maintain an open mind and be very respectful of ALL denominations.
If that doesn't turn you off, I hope that some of you will be interested in discussing story and character ideas with me. I just wanted to take a minute and introduce myself. Thank you.
T. Cliff
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Post by Bainespal on Mar 17, 2012 8:33:39 GMT -5
I enjoy reading and writing fantasy. I think that fantasy world creation serves as an amazing outlet for creativity, and often helps me think about lifestyles and beliefs in different ways. My goal for a long time has been to construct a world and use it as a setting for a story. My hope is to write something multidimensional, that has depth, and is relevant to society today. I agree. I think there must be some concrete and real benefit that fantasy and speculative fiction can offer to the world. It's not just escapism, even though it might be escape. One of my goals to try my best to identify what exactly we can see in the fantastic worlds that we create, which is not readily apparent in our experience. But quite apart from that, high fantasy is a purely awesome genre! That being said, I hope that my particular view on religion and Christianity don't put me too much at odds with the regulars around here. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, but consider myself agnostic. While I may have my own misgivings on different aspects of religion and God, I work very hard to maintain an open mind and be very respectful of ALL denominations. If that doesn't turn you off, I hope that some of you will be interested in discussing story and character ideas with me. I just wanted to take a minute and introduce myself. Thank you. I think that shows responsibility and courage. I myself have felt a responsibility to really listen to the arguments of the "other side" as best I can; that lead me to ask someone in one of my classes whom I knew to be an atheist to tell me what defense of atheism to read. He showed me this anthology of secularist thought through the centuries entitled The Portable Atheist from the college library. I read several of the essays in it, including a couple by David Hume; I may eventually read more when I have time. I can't say I completely understood it, and it did indeed trouble me. Anyways, I've always had misgivings. I think -- maybe I'm deadly wrong, but I think -- that we need to have misgivings. Only when we stare our misgivings in the eye do we have the right to own our beliefs. Just don't expect to understand everything, because to trust our own ability to rationally discover complete truth is to call ourselves God. I think this forum will benefit from your presence. Thanks.
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Post by birdnerd on Mar 17, 2012 8:46:35 GMT -5
Howdy stranger,
Yes, this site leans very much toward Christian speculative fiction because it was started by and is maintained by Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press.
That being as it is, we vary pretty widely on what "Christian speculative fiction" entails. Some of us aren't too keen on magic or sorcery. Others don't mind it. Some of us don't want the Christianity part of the fiction to be up-your-nose obvious. Others don't see a problem with that, and so on. Just like any collection of folks, sometimes we joke around a bunch, and sometimes we're serious. We do talk about God and the Bible -- directly or indirectly -- with frequency.
If that doesn't bug you, then I don't see a problem with you playing with us. There are a goodly number of folks on this site who write fantasy in its various forms and have some good ideas.
(: Birdnerd
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Post by dragonlots on Mar 17, 2012 13:32:36 GMT -5
Hi!
Don't worry about what you believe. I myself I have friends who are atheists, agnostic and pagan. I respect their beliefs and am willing to listen when we discuss it.
Fanfiction is still out there - I myself am one of those writers - although I will admit with all the pro writing I'm doing the FF takes a back seat.
Also, most of my stories not to mention my book have all been published with secular houses. Some of what I write would make the reader question what I believe. (You should see my horror stories!)
However, I agree with one publisher who says we need to concentrate on writing good stories and not try to cater to just one audience. This is what lead to the success of C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien. We need to learn from their example and not worry so much about what the CBA thinks is acceptable.
DB
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Post by morganlbusse on Mar 17, 2012 14:30:44 GMT -5
Hi tjcliff, Welcome! Ditto on what birdnerd said. I'm a fantasy author with Marcher Lord Press and am glad to meet another fantasy writer
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Post by Kristen on Mar 17, 2012 14:48:28 GMT -5
I think -- that we need to have misgivings. Only when we stare our misgivings in the eye do we have the right to own our beliefs. Very true, Bainespal. And welcome, TJ. Thanks for joining us.
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Post by Kessie on Mar 17, 2012 16:46:38 GMT -5
Hello! I hope you hang around! I hail from the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom, myself, and I'm here for pretty much the same reason, except I'm a Christian. This is a nice forum with nice folks and great discussions. It'll be nice to have someone around who isn't religious, seeing how we debate all the time how certain things appear to non-religious people.
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eph612
New Member
Fight the good fight of faith... 1 Tim 6:12
Posts: 18
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Post by eph612 on Mar 18, 2012 8:39:52 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, from one new guy to another. I'm still learning the ropes here myself, but the folks here are supportive and understanding. I've never written videogame fanfiction, but I did spend some time writing comic book fanfiction. My favorites were the 'what ifs'.
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Post by j2starshine on Mar 19, 2012 20:08:33 GMT -5
Welcome T. Cliff! Hope you find what you are looking for here. Finding others who share your passion for writing and speculative fiction is exciting and encouraging. Happy writing!
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Post by tjcliff on Mar 19, 2012 23:00:13 GMT -5
I'd just like to thank you all for being so welcoming. I'm rather excited to have an opportunity to speak with new people when it comes to writing. Despite not writing for a couple of months, I already feel myself coming out of a rather lengthy dry spell As a heads up, I intend to push some of my own personal limits in terms of writing content. I've been told my writing is very technical, and I'm working desperately to break myself of that habit. I'm also working on improving dialog - personally I think the conversations I write are fine in general, but sometimes can be a little stuffy or rigid (technical writing, again). If you find yourself groaning as you read something, just remember that I'm out of my comfort zone Also - though I am not wholly convinced by religion, I do enjoy learning about it - especially going over pieces of the Bible. I think it's hard to call oneself a writer without having read the most published book in history! Anyways - I've gone on quite long enough - thanks again everyone - See you around soon! TJCliff
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Post by firestorm78583 on Apr 2, 2012 11:18:25 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by newburydave on Apr 4, 2012 11:10:25 GMT -5
Welcome
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Post by marshwriter on Apr 5, 2012 8:29:23 GMT -5
Welcome! I don't think anyone on the forum will mind someone joining who is not Christian - I always find it interesting to hear different viewpoints on something (whether a story, a theme, etc.). Rather than limiting the conversation, I think it rather broadens it. Many people on this forum are not writing specifically for a Christian-only market anyway. I haven't read any videogame fanfiction (mostly because I don't play video games), but I don't think it is a 'lost' genre. No, wait. I just lied. I have read a videogame fanfic that a friend wrote. But I don't know anything about the game (I think it was Halo?) - but it was still a cool story to read. So, bring it on! ;D Marsh
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Post by pixydust on Apr 21, 2012 0:43:42 GMT -5
Welcome, TJ! So glad you found us!!! And we all began by learning the basics. So, you're in good company!
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Post by yoda47 on Apr 27, 2012 12:14:57 GMT -5
I just realized that I haven't said hi yet...
Yes, welcome! Nice to have you here.
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