![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thinking through a story
Mar. 15th, 2009 11:03 amSo I have something like two weeks in which to write this story that I've been pondering since sometime last semester -- the one about the Satan. I know who he is (sort of), I understand the hierarchy of the world that he's working in, and I know that somewhere there's a person that even the devil would feel guilty for tempting or for submitting to the travails and hardships of life.
The problem is that I don't know who this person is. The only thing I know about him is that he's male and that I don't think he's a kid, though I might not be right about that, either. I know that the identity of this person depends as much upon who this new Satan is as it does upon general notions of goodness and innocence, but I still feel like I don't know where I'm going with this. I need this person, this catalyst for the story.
The problem is (and I just realized that this is exactly how the previous paragraph started) that when I think about who this person could be, he always turns into some other character already existing in a world someone else has created -- somehow undeniably flavored with something not mine. I don't really know him, and I don't know how to know him, but he's significant to the story. I feel like it's cheap to make him like Job, with kids and a wife, not just because that makes it too biblical, but also because I am NOT going to kill off people. Or rather, I don't know if I can make the Satan do it. Which I think is because I can't do it?
I'm also worried that the major critique I'm going to get on this story is, "What's God's motive? Why does he want the Satan to do such bad things to people? Why does he allow it?" And in the end, my only real response to that can be, I don't know, I asked Him but he still hasn't been too forthcoming about any answer.
The problem is that I don't know who this person is. The only thing I know about him is that he's male and that I don't think he's a kid, though I might not be right about that, either. I know that the identity of this person depends as much upon who this new Satan is as it does upon general notions of goodness and innocence, but I still feel like I don't know where I'm going with this. I need this person, this catalyst for the story.
The problem is (and I just realized that this is exactly how the previous paragraph started) that when I think about who this person could be, he always turns into some other character already existing in a world someone else has created -- somehow undeniably flavored with something not mine. I don't really know him, and I don't know how to know him, but he's significant to the story. I feel like it's cheap to make him like Job, with kids and a wife, not just because that makes it too biblical, but also because I am NOT going to kill off people. Or rather, I don't know if I can make the Satan do it. Which I think is because I can't do it?
I'm also worried that the major critique I'm going to get on this story is, "What's God's motive? Why does he want the Satan to do such bad things to people? Why does he allow it?" And in the end, my only real response to that can be, I don't know, I asked Him but he still hasn't been too forthcoming about any answer.