Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature that shines the light on Indie and Debut authors. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:
DALENE FLANNIGAN
~Author of The Truth About Us~
The Tipping Point of Tolerance
by Dalene Flannigan
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When Tina invited me to write a guest post, I was stymied. What should I write about? The 25 Things You Should Know About Self-Publishing? The Idea Fountain - How I Get My Best Ideas In The Shower?
Well, I don’t think I know 25 things about self-publishing and while I do get my best ideas in the shower, there’s not much else to say on the subject—and the imagined visuals could be frightening.
Then it occurred to me that there has been one element of my publishing adventure I’ve found disturbing. It has to do with some of the reviews and comments I’ve received. Overall, I’ve had many very good reviews and a few not-so-good. Lest you think I’m a whiner who can’t take a negative review, I want to say up front that while I prefer the good ones, I have written thank-you notes to bloggers/reviewers who have given me less-than-glowing reviews; I appreciate the fact that they took the time to read and consider my novel.
The disturbing element is the number of reviews/comments regarding my perceived treatment of and intentions toward Christianity and the Bible.
Here are some examples of this type of comment on Amazon.com
“it was a deliberate way to make the Bible and Christians look foolish”
“the negative portrayal of the Christian faith”
“The portrayal of the church was disturbing and offensive and it ruined the whole book for me.”
Hmmm …
In ‘The Truth About Us’, one character, Jude, is a psychologically and spiritually damaged woman who gets mixed up with an extremist, charismatic church. One other minor character is a minister of this church who exploits her vulnerability (something not unheard of). Jude, through her mental illness, perverts and distorts the meanings of scripture and Christian beliefs. This leads her to make some bad choices and do some bad things. Does this mean that I—the author—believe the Bible and Christianity to be bad? Do I think all Christians are bad, mentally incompetent people?
If I create a gay character with mental illness who ends up committing murder, am I anti-gay? Am I saying all gay people are bad? Am I saying all persons with mental illness are bad and likely to murder?
If I create a Muslim character who perverts and distorts the teachings of the Qu’ran in order to commit crimes, is that saying something about my beliefs about Islam?
If I create a doctor who uses his respected position to hurt people, does this mean I believe we should not visit doctors or take their advice?
Of course not. That’s silly. But there is something very not silly about all of this.
Along with the above questions are disquieting echo questions.
Should I never have a character misuse and abuse scripture quotations?
Should I never create a Christian character who is not politically correct?
Should I always have Christian characters doing good so as not to offend, so as not to seem to be intolerant of someone’s religious beliefs?
Obviously, my answers are no, no and no. I write fiction. In ‘The Truth About Us’, I tried to see all the dusty corners and distorted edges of truth within a suspense novel. I created one damaged Christian character; I was not making a blanket statement about Christianity or the Bible. But, practically, it would have helped my ratings if I had not ‘offended’ Christians.
Hmmm … Where is the tipping point when tolerance becomes intolerance?
I have seen great intolerance shown in support of tolerance.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Well, I don’t think I know 25 things about self-publishing and while I do get my best ideas in the shower, there’s not much else to say on the subject—and the imagined visuals could be frightening.
Then it occurred to me that there has been one element of my publishing adventure I’ve found disturbing. It has to do with some of the reviews and comments I’ve received. Overall, I’ve had many very good reviews and a few not-so-good. Lest you think I’m a whiner who can’t take a negative review, I want to say up front that while I prefer the good ones, I have written thank-you notes to bloggers/reviewers who have given me less-than-glowing reviews; I appreciate the fact that they took the time to read and consider my novel.
The disturbing element is the number of reviews/comments regarding my perceived treatment of and intentions toward Christianity and the Bible.
Here are some examples of this type of comment on Amazon.com
“it was a deliberate way to make the Bible and Christians look foolish”
“the negative portrayal of the Christian faith”
“The portrayal of the church was disturbing and offensive and it ruined the whole book for me.”
Hmmm …
In ‘The Truth About Us’, one character, Jude, is a psychologically and spiritually damaged woman who gets mixed up with an extremist, charismatic church. One other minor character is a minister of this church who exploits her vulnerability (something not unheard of). Jude, through her mental illness, perverts and distorts the meanings of scripture and Christian beliefs. This leads her to make some bad choices and do some bad things. Does this mean that I—the author—believe the Bible and Christianity to be bad? Do I think all Christians are bad, mentally incompetent people?
If I create a gay character with mental illness who ends up committing murder, am I anti-gay? Am I saying all gay people are bad? Am I saying all persons with mental illness are bad and likely to murder?
If I create a Muslim character who perverts and distorts the teachings of the Qu’ran in order to commit crimes, is that saying something about my beliefs about Islam?
If I create a doctor who uses his respected position to hurt people, does this mean I believe we should not visit doctors or take their advice?
Of course not. That’s silly. But there is something very not silly about all of this.
Along with the above questions are disquieting echo questions.
Should I never have a character misuse and abuse scripture quotations?
Should I never create a Christian character who is not politically correct?
Should I always have Christian characters doing good so as not to offend, so as not to seem to be intolerant of someone’s religious beliefs?
Obviously, my answers are no, no and no. I write fiction. In ‘The Truth About Us’, I tried to see all the dusty corners and distorted edges of truth within a suspense novel. I created one damaged Christian character; I was not making a blanket statement about Christianity or the Bible. But, practically, it would have helped my ratings if I had not ‘offended’ Christians.
Hmmm … Where is the tipping point when tolerance becomes intolerance?
I have seen great intolerance shown in support of tolerance.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Dalene Flannigan, a Canadian writer, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her full length plays include 'Rescuing Elephants' and 'A Mournful Rustling' - winner of the Playwrights of Spring New Play Award and finalist in The Samuel French Canadian Playwrights Contest. She has written, Unheard Voices--an award-winning video on Hard-of-Hearing issues, and, Let's Make it Clear...Clear Communication and Hearing Loss--winner of the Barbara Jordan Media Award.
She lives in Toronto and is working on a new novel.
*****
Thanks Dalene for being on the spotlight today. In the midst of recent blogger/author scandals especially about negative reviews, you pose some great questions. Even though this guest post 'almost' didn't appear on my blog because it go's against my guidelines, I do believe a good conversation/debate could result from it.
I think many readers myself included can look past religious (race, political) stereotypes (in fiction) if the material isn't over the top offensive with blanket statements. Its always a gamble when you write about a persons faith, there are some who will always take it to heart and some who will voice that opinion boldly as I know I have and will do again as a reviewer if something offends me.
On a positive note though after looking at your reviews on Amazon you only have the 3 reviews that site the religion remarks you quoted and considering none of them made fun or mocked you, I find them not disturbing or harsh at all. I guess that's the beauty in freedom of speech, we all have it- as authors, as readers and as reviewers. I think that's what makes blogging so great, the vast amount of differences we all see in books, writing and culture and our ideas on how to express those differences.
I think many readers myself included can look past religious (race, political) stereotypes (in fiction) if the material isn't over the top offensive with blanket statements. Its always a gamble when you write about a persons faith, there are some who will always take it to heart and some who will voice that opinion boldly as I know I have and will do again as a reviewer if something offends me.
On a positive note though after looking at your reviews on Amazon you only have the 3 reviews that site the religion remarks you quoted and considering none of them made fun or mocked you, I find them not disturbing or harsh at all. I guess that's the beauty in freedom of speech, we all have it- as authors, as readers and as reviewers. I think that's what makes blogging so great, the vast amount of differences we all see in books, writing and culture and our ideas on how to express those differences.
GIVEAWAY
Today Dalene is giving away one eBook (Kindle/Nook) copy of her book. Everyone is welcome to enter, please leave a comment by August 25, 2012.
What happens when the past catches up to the present and the truth surfaces? Three women, roommates back in college, find their lives forever altered when one of them feels compelled to confess the secret sin of their past.
And whose truth is it?
'The Truth About Us' weaves the past and the present in a page-turner that explores the shifting quality of truth, and the cost of secrets.
Find out More about Dalene on the Web
**Please note- 10/12- Author deleted all her comments.
Interesting post. I think many of today's Christians are very sensitive about their faith and tend to look at any depiction of it as less than perfect as "Christian-bashing". Too bad really, they will miss the point of some terrific books. Oh well, we can only create, we can't tell people how to understand.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great spotlight! I think conversation is the basis of understanding, research is the basis of gathering knowledge, and being open to at least hearing opposing view points can help you understand your POV better. I wish more people were open to these type of things! It is unfortunate that someone would say that a story that contains a character who is let's say "purple" and does a "bad" thing that the author is categorically against purple people. Every walk of life has its good and bad people--being Christian doesn't automatically make someone good nor does it automatically make the judgmental. It really is sad that people have commented like that on the novel. Every walk of life has a few bad apples.
ReplyDelete