Jack of Harts

I posted my news that my Veiled Guardians story was accepted across my social media yesterday, and I did so in some of the “celebration” venues some of the writer communities I’m in maintain for that purpose. And I noted that they asked for no real world religion stuff, while my story was very religious in time period. My main character is a straight up paladin of the Almighty God who fights otherworldly creatures in His name.

I ended up meeting up with another author who got selected for the same anthology, who said they had religious aspects to their story as well, and then the person who wrote the open call stepped in. Said that they really needed to rewrite that. What they didn’t want was bashing real world religions, which some people seem to want to do in their writing. And further said that the religion in the stories submitted was tasteful. Which made me feel good, because I was shooting for tasteful use of the Indian religious elements next to the Puritan Christian religious elements I had going on.

What is the moral of this story? Write something good and tasteful, and people will often take it. And the writing community is small. You never known when what you say or post anywhere will show up on the screen of a person you are talking about. And they may respond, which could start a very interesting discussion.

I have long since maintained a policy of never saying anything with my online persona that I would not be willing to say in person as my real name. If I wouldn’t say it to a person standing in front of me, I shouldn’t say it online. I’m not saying I’ve always succeeded in following that policy. I don’t always live up to my standards, but that is the standard I seek to keep.

It is a standard that I think would serve everyone well to seek to follow.