Jun 24 2009
Fantasy in the Real World (Vanish 3)
Warning: This discussion of Tom Pawlik’s Vanish will spoil a few of the surprises inherent in the book, so if you’re planning to read it (taking into account that several CSFF blgogers have classified this book as “horror,” but without gore, grossness, and gratuitous violence), you may want to skip this post. For now.
As I mentioned yesterday, I had a few issues with the ending. First, I felt it was undeserved — although many of the early details DID come together to make the ending a tight explanation of all that had gone before. Perhaps what I objected to was the role and depiction of God. For most of the book God is a distant person the characters ignore, belittle, or actively oppose. In the end, He is presented as Savior and Judge and Lord — but for that depiction to be really convincing, I would have liked to see Him as a more present character throughout.
Of course, it’s not easy to write about God as a character. That’s why I haven’t written a “Christian novel” yet. I find it so hard to write about God without being trite or unconvincing — unless I transport Him to a fantasy world. In that case, I’m not writing about God at all, but about someone who represents God — as Aslan does. In my Seventh World books (Worlds Unseen and Burning Light), Christ is represented by the King. A fantasy setting creates distance for the reader, so when the King says or does something, it’s clearly my interpretation of what God would say or do, not meant to be taken as a record of His actions the way scripture or a real-life testimony can be.
Becky Miller’s post from yesterday addresses some of these concerns:
There’s also a theological issue that comes into play. It’s one of those tough things to sort through when writing Christian speculative fiction. How much must we pay attention to theology if we are using our imagination? I’ve said before, when we write about what is real, even if it is real in the spiritual world or in Biblical history, we are obligated to stay within the bounds of that which has been revealed. Within those bounds, I think we can speculate. (For example, a story about angels must be true to what the Bible says about angels, but a lot has been left unsaid, so I think we can speculate as long as we aren’t contradicting what the Bible says).
This question of how much we can use our imagination in regards to God and what He has revealed is a question all writers must struggle with. Personally, I hesitate to set a story in the “real world” and have “God” speak in that story. All fiction is fantasy in a sense, but setting fantasy in the real world makes it more difficult to discern the difference between truth and illusion.
Near the end of Vanish, (SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!) Conner Hayden discovers that nothing he’s experienced has been really real. Chicago is not empty. No one has vanished. Aliens have not invaded. The flashbacks he experiences are brought on not by mind control but by his own memory and guilt as his brain slowly lets go — for Conner, like Mitch and Helen, is dying. They have been existing in a strange world between worlds called Interworld, where demons lurk in the shadows to drag away those who cross from “dying” into “death.”
This is very much fantasy in the real world. Could such a place really exist? If so, do dying Christians also go there — haunted and hunted by demonic creatures and their own pasts — or are they whisked away to some more paradisical version of Interworld? Had Pawlik created Interworld within a fantasy setting, I would have no trouble with it, but in our own world, I find it unconvincing and outside of God’s created order.
As Christians, we spend much of our lives battling Satan’s illusions and trying to distinguish human fantasy from God’s reality. Paradoxically, fiction can help us do this. But where are the limits? How much should we create fantasy in the real world — how helpful is it to do so, and how much might it just confuse people further?
I don’t have answers to this question. I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think?
I share your hesitation of setting fantasy in this world and writing about God in it. For one thing, I don’t feel qualified to write about theology. It’s seems easier to make the opposing arguments sound stronger, and I’m also scared of sounding “cheesy” like some christian fiction I’ve read.
Personally, I think that the only place the supernatural belongs is in this world (unless it’s allegorical or represents God). That way, story characters can compare questionable elements with the Bible and see if it matches with what God has revealed. It’s difficult to do this in a fantasy world.
About fantasy in the real world…I guess its between each writer and God. My stories are usually set in a made up country with biblical principles woven into the plot, and I’m comfortable with that. However, it does disturb me that I can’t find a genre in which I feel comforatable writing about God.
By the way, how’s The Advent coming?
I love your blog!
[...] Chawna Schroeder ? James Somers Speculative Faith Stephanie Not on the original list ? ? ? Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard ? ? ? Steve Trower ? ? Fred Warren ? [...]
The Advent, I’m sorry to say, is still a bunch of loose ideas and familiar characters batting about in my head. I’ll make an announcement here when I finally start it.
I’m willing to give Pawlik some slack on the “dying Christian in Interworld” question, since he never addresses it and as you say, Paradise is a possibility. The problem for me is the near hopelessness: for those stuck in the Interworld, the only hope is to be revived; it apparently isn’t possible to turn to God there. (See my third post for more.)
As for God in fiction, when I have an overt Christ figure, I’m writing fantasy. (See my novella “Galatea” for a case in point.) Otherwise, my characters simply have a sense for what God is telling them to do. So I generally agree with the limit you mention on God in a non-fantasy setting.
Good post, Rachel. If you read mine on themes in Vanish, you’ll see that I changed my mind over night about the theological issues. I do agree with you about God and the real world, but I don’t thing the Interworld is part of the real world. It’s as much fantasy as my Efrathah.
That being said, I think God in a real-world setting would have to be as He is in our real world. I experience Him through His word, as I read it, as it is preached, as I talk of it with others. And I experience Him through prayer and the “still small voice” of His Holy Spirit nudging me toward truth, convicting me of sin, prompting me to pray. I also experience Him through the lives of believers as they show God’s love and grace and mercy. As they choose righteousness and flee temptation and give God praise and live with integrity.
It’s a harder kind of story, I think, to show God in these circumspect ways. I choose fantasy where I can have Him show up in all kinds of surprising ways.
Becky
Rachel,
As this is my first blog-tour, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying reading the many posts. I especially enjoy the depth and thought you put into your review.
You make an interesting point regarding Christians going through the Interworld. In fact their experience is quite different. One of the reasons I wanted to write the sequel was to give a more detailed description of the place. “Vanish” shows it strictly from the non-Christian perspective, where the only hope a lost soul has is to be revived.
Many thanks,
Tom
I guess I feel that it doesn’t matter whether a book is “real-world” or “fantasy,” because you’re right, it *is* all fantasy. For me, the “rules” of God don’t change when writing fantasy, because they’re rooted in God’s character.
Part of my reason for feeling that way is that there are a lot of wild fantasies out there in the real world, even within the mainstream envelope, about the nature of God. It seems to be the way the battle with fad-culture goes–Christianity faces it too. So when I write, I’m always questioning, “Is this the way God treats people? Is this how God feels about people? About good and evil?”
I want the expression of God to be the anchor for the fantastical metaphor, rather than just using the human experience as the connecting point. I haven’t read Vanish, and spoilers don’t bother me, :~) but from what you’re saying I think I would have some trouble engaging with the Interworld plot line for the reasons you describe. Not to say I wouldn’t enjoy the book anyway.
@Elisabeth, don’t worry, you’ll find your “theological” ground, cheese not included, as you go. :~) My mom-in-law told me a vital piece of common sense as a new Christian: “When people make things complicated, just take it back to the cross. And if something doesn’t go back to the cross, it probably isn’t Christian.” That’s all the qualification you need to let your faith sing. Enjoy the journey!
Regards,
Cat
Cat,
If you like thrillers, likely you WOULD enjoy it anyway. It’s well done. You make an excellent point about the “wild fantasies” out there about the nature of God.
I’ve often found it ironic that some Christians object to fantasy as a genre when in my opinion, it’s the “fantasies” set in the real world that pose the greater danger of deceiving — like those fantasies found in so much modern literature that teach us things like hope is an illusion, adultery is fulfilling, everything is meaningless, etc. Fantasy tends to do a better job of telling the truth about the world, and the obviously imaginary nature of it makes it easier (I think) for readers to sift it.
Rachel, I wasn’t going to comment on this post because I haven’t read the book and I don’t read fantasy – I guess you could say that I’m one of those Christians who “object to fantasy as a genre”! *Smile!* But I just read the comments and I think I’ll comment after all, on your last comment, if that’s okay! You say:
“… it’s the “fantasies” set in the real world that pose the greater danger of deceiving — like those fantasies found in so much modern literature that teach us things like hope is an illusion, adultery is fulfilling, everything is meaningless, etc.”
That sentence really reached out and grabbed my attention. You’re so right – there’s a LOT of “fantasies” out there (in modern AND not-so-modern literature) that tell us all sorts of lies which masquerade as “the truth.” I can understand that in a fantasy novel, those lies are easier to sift and ignore, because everything in the book is “make believe.” In a contemporary novel, on the other hand, everything in the book is “real,” so the lies are harder to detect – many readers, I guess, absorb them with the rest of the “reality.” I think this is one reason why Christian writers have to be SO careful – because everything they write about God and people and life, SOMEONE mayb absorb as “the truth.” We’re supposed to be bearers of the truth, not deceivers. How wonderful it would be if authors of comtemporary novels poured as much hope into their “realities” as fantasy writers!
Thanks Rachel and Cat!
[...] ? Nissa ? ? ? John W. Otte ? ? ? Steve Rice ? ? ? Chawna Schroeder ? ? ? Rachel Starr Thomson ? ? ? Steve Trower ? ? ? Fred [...]
[...] it brings all kinds of speculative supernatural elements to bear on the real world. (Read “Fantasy in the Real World” for how I felt about this when Tom Pawlik did it in [...]