I am currently fleshing out a species I created for my fantasy setting. Basically, they're an elven tribe that formed an alliance with wyverns. It sounds a bit cliché but every newborn child is attributed a draconian mount and they develop a bond, kinda like Eragon. Now I'm trying to figure out their spiritual beliefs and thought it would be interesting to add this: They strongly believe that when both the rider and its mount die, their souls unite and together they fly towards another plane. One witnessing this phenomenon would only see a winged humanoid slowly rising toward the sky. In other words, it'd be some form of explanation of angels. I'm merely writing a guide to this species (D&D-style) and that part might not even be mentioned in the novel. However, I'm afraid it would offend readers of Christian faith if I do, and that is certainly not my goal. Would you be offended? Should I completely avoid that kind of content?
I think that's a brilliant idea. I'm a Christian and I love it. The sorts of Christians who would be offended by it wouldn't read that type of book, or anything else in the fantasy genre, anyway.
I think that's a great idea. I'm sure some people might be offended, but I wouldn't let it bother you. Just write it the way you want to. Also, if you do really offend a lot of Christians, you'll typically get a lot of free publicity.
It's a fantasy world. Your angels aren't the same as angels in our world, nor should they be compared as such. It'd be like comparing santa's elves to Tolkein elves, or people with dwarfism to Tolkein dwarves.
Fantasy (and Science Fiction for that matter) often tap cultural and religious beliefs for source material. You can't allow yourself to be restricted by the idea that someone might be offended by your portrayal. First, I see nothing offensive about it. Second, angels have long been a staple wellspring of material. The fact that their depiction and concept has changed greatly over the course of the ages makes them an especially rich source. A well known example is the cherubim. Give a google search. I can assure that the cherubim did not start out as the cute little babies with wings that we see depicted today. These little baby angels are more correctly (though rarely) referred to as putti. Within just the Christian Hierarchy of Angels there is endless material for many, many books. And this is only one of the traditions. Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and Hinduism describe angels as well, just to name a few.
Personaly I wouldn't get to worked up about it being offensive to someone. While you should never try and be intentionally offensive someone somewhere will take offense to just about anything. Personaly I love the concept and a very beautiful thing.
writers offend people every day!... if you start trying to not offend anyone, you'll never write anything...
Steven King offended people. Dean Koontz has offended people. George Orwell has offended people. Homer has offended people. And these are just to name a few. No matter what you write, you always risk offending someone with some simple matter. In my advance placement english class, the teacher gave us several examples of where the simpliest line had offended someone. Surprisingly, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt was in that list. But as Mammamaia said: "writers offend people every day!... if you start trying to not offend anyone, you'll never write anything..."
I doubt it would offend anyone. I mean its a fantasy world that doesn't even sound like our own. You shouldn't worry about being offensive so much, it works wonders for getting more people to read your stuff. Dan Brown made a career out of it.
J.K. Rowling offended many conservative Christians with her books about children learning and using witchcraft being treated as the heroes, to the extent of trying to get the books banned from school libraries.
I think Dr. Johnson said it best when talking to two female friends after the first version of The Dictionary was released, it went like this: Ladies – “Dr. Johnson, I applaud you for not including any rude words in your dictionary!” Dr. Johnson – “Ladies, I applaud you for being able to look them up!”
How could this possibly be of offense to Christians? It's fantasy... Besides, our angels don't generally have wings, Biblically.
Religious sensitivity is so wide spread, and so bad a problem it's literally killed people. The point of my quoting Dr. Johnson was that sometimes people search through a treasure house of English just to be offended. I'm an Atheist, I don't believe in any form of the supernatural in anyway, and I'd likely never be offended by anything that is written down - and even if I was it takes a lot to make me cry - so I don't understand it myself, but never underestimate just how far some people will go just to kick up a fuss.
Very interesting idea! I can tell you this for sure because i work for a law office, often times the most controversial book are the ones that recieve the most attention (legal, media, etc...). Harry Potter is a good example of this but a more direct example would be Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Nowadays christians and muslims are the most tempermental went it comes to protecting their faith. Dont worry about pressing the envelope as they say, in fact, push it as far as you can. My novel is much much more offensive then yours and I dont change it because the things in the novel have to happen. If you great idea has a reason for being in the story and you're not just adding it to start controversy then you'll be find.
Would anyone remember him if he had not offended others? Nobody ever said writing was safe. Writing puts you out there, and may paint a target on your chest.
February 12, 1989: Six people are killed and 100 injured when 10,000 attack the American Cultural Center in Islamabad, Pakistan protesting against Rushdie and his book. February 13, 1989: One person is killed and over 100 injured in anti-Rushdie riots in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. February 24, 1989: Twelve people die and 40 are wounded when a large anti-Rushdie riot in Bombay They can all be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy#1988
