Writing What You Believe

I love a good plot bunny. Really I do. They're the cutest little things, hopping in and out of the meadow I that my ideas come from and generally exude overall happy-bunny sunshine and rainbows. However, sometimes, one of them gets brave and comes charging up out of the grass like a Halloween nightmare hare (with long, jagged teeth and beady red eyes) and takes a big 'ol bite out of my ankle. Then it proceeds to dart away, cackling (because we all know evil bunnies cackle), forcing me to chase after it.

The little sh*t.

That's what happened to me about five days ago. I was probably 80k into this WIP I've been working on for months and months and all of the sudden, this plot bunny takes a swipe at me and leaves me standing there without the slightest motivation to type a single letter more. Not because I don't absolutely love my WIP, because I do. The two leads, Eden and DC are incredible and their voices in my head have brought to life this amazing paranormal world that I simply can't shut out. They've present me with a series (at least 7 books), so it's a sizable amount of material to play with and flesh out, requiring a good deal of time as well. Again, not a problem. The only problem I have is the question that my new plot bunny friend brought to mind and I can't get it out of my head: how do I write something that doesn't coincide with my beliefs?

If you're going to laugh, go ahead, but let me explain my thinking. I'm a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ and no, that doesn't mean I'm some fanatical lunatic who endorses crazed ideas like those of the Westboro Baptist Church or anyone else who uses the guise of Christianity to press their own agenda. It's unfortunate that our society chooses to latch on to the most extreme example of a religion, be it Christianity or anything else, and use that one example to define the whole. But that is another post. My new plot bunny is more in line with my own personal beliefs, whereas my older WIP features a paranormal world that some might say goes against God's teachings. My dilemma, and the question that I pose to all of you, is this: how do you write something like that? My own answer is this: I believe God gave me a talent and a passion for writing and I will do my best to put that to good use. I'm not writing on behalf of God or Christianity as a whole, but I do think the stories in my head deal with valuable moral challenges and vulnerable characters who, like any one of us, make mistakes and decisions that they must live with and learn from.

I'd love to hear what you guys think about it! Until then, I've got a plot bunny to chase down and lots of writing to do!

Write dirty,

K.C.