Through the Blessed Virgin Mary, Okay all, this is my first thread here and I am what people call (so as to not seem a hypocrite:redface a devout Catholic, and one who loves the Mother of Jesus immensely. I pray everyday to Her and try to say the Rosary everyday and am aspiring to become a Priest. I am writing a novel which has the aim of opening peoples eyes to the problems of the world, that they may love the TRUE Catholic Church(in union with the true Pope, not that bastard* who currently resides in Rome, Benedict. He usurped the Chair of Peter and is in fact, an anti-pope) and, that they may love the Blessed Virgin Mary and that She Herself, by Her grace may inspire them to join it and live devout lives. And, before one snaps out crying that this is boring, please don't. I'm trying to say something about myself so that people may know what I am talking about and that they may understand me. I beleive int he one Catholic faith and in the True Pope. My novel will definitely not be about some Parish Priest who has problems with his people, nor about some crazy cop on a race against time trying to discover some artifact or to protect some dirty female whome he finally kisses in the end. No! Anything but that! *this word is rather rude for one trying to be devout but, I just had to use it becuase it seems to be the most decent of all bad words and is not exactly bad in itself.
Well actually the idea of the Parish Priest rather reminds me of the TV shows Father Ted or Rev sounds like a good idea to me lol What kind of help do you want there was no indication in the post?
Though I'm not Catholic, I do have a little bit of advice. Read other religious thrillers. I'm sure there are books out there that would fit in this category. See what you like about them, what you don't like about them. Your story is going to be your own, but you can learn by reading other works just how to make your story thrilling and exciting. One author that I have read numerous books from is Frank Peretti. Though not catholic, his books often focus on many spiritual elements. I'm not sure what genre most of these books are considered, but I certainly found them "thrilling."
The sypnosis of my novel is this: God loves the world very much but He also loves Blessed Virgin Mary more than anything else in the whole universe. He promised us that He would send a Redeemer, His Son Jesus, to save the world; but he also promised to send us a Redemptrix, or rather a Co-Redemptrix, to save the world with Her Son. As it was said in Genesis 3 :15: I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and your seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel(emphasis added). Jesus is the New Adam and Mary is the New Eve. Since a man and a woman participated in our fall*, so did a man and a woman participate in our salvation; Adam and Eve ruined the world with an apple... Jesus and Mary saved it with one Heart. And this is interesting! as Jesus willed to use the Blessed Virgin Mary so that with Her, He may make but one and the same sacrifice. *Every body knows the story: God tells Adam and Eve to not touch the apple, Eve obeys the snake to touch it, she gives it to Adam and they become enemies of God and all their children with them. It does not mean however, that everyone in the world today is going to heaven. The blood of Christ must be communicated to you so that you may be saved and you must be a member of the Catholic Church to be saved. It happens that the devil who is always waging a war against Mary and wants to seperate as many souls away from Her so that She may be as unloved as possible and that She may not give God the children which He wants. In order to do this [the devils agenda], however, I will NOT make the devil appear in his true form on earth, forcing the people to work as his slaves, like how King Kong commanded the natives of Skull Island; if I did that, I would be recycling not only an unoriginal plot but an incredibly silly one. REALLY. In order o do his perverse ends, the devil influences evil minded persons to establish the Illuminati and Freemasonry, who are(in fact!) counter-state, counter-church and counter-morality. They try to take and dominated the whole world to establish the kingdom of Satan in the world, replacing that of Mary's.
Still not sure what help you need. The story sounds intriguing - I am a Mormon so come from a different perpsective. What is stopping you turning it into a novel?
There is one problem for this New World Order, a living hell on earth... the Catholic Church and Her leader, the Pope. The Catholic Church(not the current one which is holed up in Rome) is the ultumite stumbling block for this New World order and so is the Pope. Saint John Bosco once said that the Pope, the Chair of Peter(a symbol of the Pope's power) and the Church are one and the same thing. Whenever a Pope speaks with His power, ex cathedra, the Catholic Church obeys him and does what He does (this does not mean that when a Pope does a bad thing like how some Popes in the Middle ages did, the Chuch follows him in his evil inclinations. But when a Pope speaks or defines something on faith and morals, or when he commands something that has to do with doctrine and morality, the Church immediately adopts the Popes Judgements, and Her good influence goes around the whole wrold. The Church which is protected by Mary will never yield to perverse immorality of the world (although obviously, the Church does allow cultures to adopt, er, cultural things just as long as these things do not go against morality or the faith. One can read Pope Leo XIII'S encyclical on Americanism, although some of you may find it a bit boring, I admit). So, what do the Masons do? They make an evil plan where they make their own pope who is in fact, not a pope but an anti-pope, who summons a council where the doctrines and morality of the church are changed so that, since the people will think that this is what the Catholic Church wants and become perverse like the 'church'. I say the church in '', becuase since it is an anti-pope that is commanding and doing this council, and since the poor Catholics unknowingly join an anti-pope, they join a false catholic church and therefore are seperated from the true fold and Mary. However, Mary's wills that She should save us poor sinners from the devils temptations and power and from the just punishments of God and from the anti-popes, and it is She who wills to restore the Catholic Church to Her rightful glory and to destroy these anti-papal bastards.
OK one last attempt lol I can read what you have written but I do not understand what you want from me or another poster to the thread>? Do you want help with research, do you want to know what we think of the plot etc?
I wasn't finished! But now, that I have the sypnosis, I shall state what kind of help I need. My novel is a thriller, and I want it to be filled with suspense so that readers may not be sure what is going to happen next. I want them to care for my characters, especially the Blessed Virgin. I want my book to be a tear jerker too, and want to fill it with some horror.
What I want to know is whether people will like my novel and whether it will make a good impression upon all who read it. I do not wish to make a novel where the reader just reads it, enjoys it, then puts it on the book shelf as if nothing's happened. This is what one normally does when he reads one of Dan Brown's novels: he reads it, he has fun reading it and, when he's finished, he puts it on the book shelf, saying "That was fun. Now off to work". I wanted to make a novel that will leave a very profound impression upon the reader, where he will be inspired to embrace the Catholic faith and to live a devout life. What I'm asking is whether you will think my plot is ok or not. I shall basically write it here, in my next post:
My advice is always write the first draft expecting it to be rubbish, just get your story out don't worry about building characters as you build them you will love and care about them which will then allow you to get that out on the page. It won't happen so well in a first draft, that is a bit like your first date with your story bit awkward and you are trying to show your best side but it isn't the real you. I view my first draft as the rough stone from which to carve the story out. My first draft of my first story is nothing like the one I am currently sending off to publishers and agents. On a more practical note I find keeping scrapbooks of how I think my characters and surroundings will look helps me. I personally love writing first person because I become the person, can 'hide' anything my character doesn't know from the reader, and I can communicate that characters love for the others around him.
The books themes include the role of Mary in our salvation and what it means to love Her with our whole hearts; true Catholic theology will play a great role, so as to show the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of sin. The book begins with a prologue, which is set in 1958. The whole world is awaiting the election of a a new Pope(the last Pope, Pius XII had died recently), when at the fourth ballot, white smoke comes out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, anouncing that a Pope had been elected and had accepted the Papacy. Vatican Radio confirms that it is white and the the crowds of Saint Peter's cheer and give thanksgiving. Unbeknowest to them however, inside the Conclave, a great struggle is ensuing'; Cardinals are threathening the New Pope with all sorts of things if he does not resign his office. Er guys, I'll be back. I have to do something before I can continue. May Mary bless you!
Philipmarie, ok... so you've got a story that browbeats religion into your readers. What exactly do you expect us to do?
Philip--just as long as you remember that not many of your readers will have in depth knowledge about the Virgin Mary etc. Neither will they necessarily take the subject as deadly seriously as you obviously do. You will have to rein back your religious intensity a bit and try and appeal to the general mass of readers more...and some humour might help it along... And please don't try for the priesthood if those are your opinions of the established Catholic Church--you will be headed for trouble and unhappiness.
Oh, I know that. I'm not writing it in that spirit, where I 'preach' to the people about the Church in this novel and all that. I know also that the vast majority will not even have heard about the Blessed Virgin. So I resolved to do what J.R.R Tolkien did: he created a new mythology (according to J K Rowling), so I also will create( sort of) a new mythology. Hey! I studied writing techniques, I know what I'm talking about! As for my aspiring to the Priesthood, that reminds me of something. I AM NOT ANTI-CATHOLIC! Sincerely, I am a Catholic, a traditional Catholic in fact. Benedict XVI is not a true Pope and neither were John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I or John Paul II. The true Pope reigning during these times was Cardinal Gieseppe Siri of Genoa, Pope Gregory XVII. Anyway, on with the plot: We now move to the present day where we meet with the Stonewall family, which consists in a Mother, Cornelia, a father, Pierce, and several children. The family is a very, very wealthy, being the owners of a large banking corporation. Unbeknowest to the reader as of yet, the families patriarch [Pierce] is a very, very high ranking Freemason and many other shocking things concerning the family will be revealed later on. The family is Episcopolian. This shall be edited. I'll be back.
A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has all been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it. There's no benefit in asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..." If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it. Please read What is Plot Creation and Development? Write the story. You can either expand on your story structure before you begin writing it out, or let the story develop as you write it. That decision has much to do with the writer's personality. But don't look for validation before you write it, and don't let anyone talk you out of writing it because they weren't sold on the summary. As Nike says, Just Do It.
Most people are aware of Mary and her position in life. There are variations as to how she is venerated but you don't exactly need to explain she is the mother of Jesus. When you assume your readers are idiots, that is the type of reader you will attract. Phillip I understand you want to get your story out, but for once I agree with Cogito on this what you have here is too long for a decent synopsis at least in the UK. I have sent off to five agents, two publishers and have another ready to go when I have a contact name, one page is the longest any have asked for. Until you begin to write your first draft proper you will not understand or know your characters well enough to give them depth. All you run the risk of here is posting so much you may not get it published.
read what cog says above, phillip... no one can tell you if your book will be any good until you write it and they read it! the best plot ever can fail completely in the hands of a poor writer and the worst plot ever can be a bestseller if written by an extremely good one... so don't keep asking us if it's any good... till it's written, we can't give you an answer... which means you should stop posting and start writing! love and hugs, maia
Ol guys, thanks. In all sincerity I appreciate the advice and I shall listen. I'm off to write. As for the time being, I'm going to stop posting. May Mary bless you and keep you under the mantle of Her Maternal protection!
If I were Catholic or religious it sounds like it might be interesting, depending on how it's pulled off ofcourse, which goes back to actually writing it. Just keep in mind who you're most likely to attract with such a story (sincere & semi-sincere Catholics) & cater to them. I wouldn't exactly expect many Protestants or Muslims to pick your book up, but you never know. Sounds like you know what you're doing. Good luck on your writing
