Jonathan Garner wrote:
I haven't encountered this difficulty yet, but if I do, I would probably examine classic sermons of a time period that is comparable to that in which the story takes place, to help with crafting a believable sermon.
Part of the trouble with my particular example is that in addition to being distinctly fantasy (elves, dwarves, "applied metaphysics," etc.), it's also distinctly (by this point in the story) fairly far-future science fiction ... and with inter-universal communication, and (highly expensive, but available) time travel, they can read books from the first to the thirtieth century A.D. ... so what's a comparable time period?
Jonathan Garner wrote:
As for how to weave the sermon into the story without necessarily having all of it there, I wonder if condensing the sermon might be an effective method, with character reaction carefully placed in the midst of the sermon.
That's basically what I've done in my present draft: condensed the twenty-minute sermon to about six pargraphs, most of which are either how it's being delivered (think Stephen right before he was stoned) or my POV character's reaction to it.
Jonathan Garner wrote:
If that worked, it would be made to "feel" lengthy but not boring to the reader, giving a similar effect as it is meant to have upon the character. While it would be a complete sermon, it would only take around five to ten minutes to read, rather than the thirty to forty five minutes of a normal sermon, even with the character reactions in the midst of it.
In my scene, it's a "chapel" sermon, so only about twenty minutes or so ... but I think part of why I'm not feeling so happy with it is that it's so short, and while I know the general direction it's supposed to go, and a few of the more memorable moments (e.g. his closing paragraph ends by quoting a line from the Epistle in the original Greek), I don't know very many details.
I guess I need to read more sermons.