Greetings,

This is a philosophical question as well as a practical one.

See, a lot of people will give culture more weight than it ought: making it trump the commands of Scripture when weighing the morality of a standard.

Some people, however, will do the exact opposite... in a way. They will reject a culture because the beliefs of the people who created the culture are contrary to their own.

Both people are really doing the same thing: they are equating culture with doctrine. The one group says their culture is the same as their doctrine, so throw them both out; the other group says their culture is the foundation for their doctrine.

Both are wrong.

See, doctrine deals in right and wrong. Culture deals in preferences. Like personality preferences versus character skills. Introversion is an example of one, and honesty is an example of the other. Having a 'preference' for dishonesty merely means you have a temptation to lie. Having a preference for extroversion merely means you have a gift that God gave you... and vice versa: having a preference for introversion also means you have a gift that God gave you.

Doctrine can say, for example, that stealing is wrong. Culture, on the other hand, can say that pink shirts are only worn by children (of either sex), and not by adults.

Or...

Doctrine can say that it is wrong for a girl to have short hair. While culture says girls should have short hair.

They can be compatible (like in the first example there), or incompatible (like in the second). When they clash, we go with doctrine, of course. Or we should. (Making sure, of course, that they really do conflict and that you are sure of both.)

Now, in our books, we have cultures. Tons of cultures. Or we should. And we often have the tendency to have the 'badguy' cultures all conflict with our own doctrines (and preferences), and have all the 'goodguy' cultures all coincide with our own doctrines (and preferences). But this isn't accurate... or good storytelling. Or good teaching for that matter.

Because that is the single best way you can possibly have to preach at people, without saying a word. Even if you don't say pink should only be worn by girls, if you make it so that the elves in your world (who happen to be right about everything) only let girls wear pink... then your readers will subliminally get the message that you believe only girls should wear pink. And if they happen to think differently (which a good many people do, and for good reason), they will feel 'preached at.' And that feeling will spill over and taint everything else in the book. They won't be able to enjoy the book as well, and they definitely won't be learning anything.

Does that mean you should reverse it? Make all the badguys have good culture? No!

It means you should make your cultures realistic, instead of flat. Even flat out wrong! Just because someone is wrong about something in your book, doesn't mean he needs to be corrected about it: pick your battles, and be realistic with the rest. You know you don't want to make your character just like yourself... so don't make your cultures just like yourself.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you lapsed into making your cultures flat by matching them to your own preferences? Do you have conflict between doctrine and culture in your stories?

This is an epic post, Jay! One that I certainly needed to hear! Whilst currently building my world I was having problems, because (silly as it may sound) I am always unsure about special powers; are they wrong or right etc, and having the 'good guys' as one may say use them (actually building their culture around it) was making me think, do I even agree with this? When really, I don't have to agree with it to write about it. Is that basically what you're saying?

Thanks for posting this!

A very good point, Sir Emeth!

I would admit to saying that some of my cultures do, in fact, mirror some of my own beliefs, though I would not say that I agree with everything my cultures do as well. I do not like making perfect cultures or societies in my world and that is what I would be doing if I made a culture think exactly how I think.

I like how you explained that culture and doctrine are not the same, which is completely true. In just our culture today a lot of doctrine and culture clashes, I think it would make a book more realistic to incorporate that into the book.

Bethany Faith

Thanks for the prompt replies, ladies! Looks like you caught onto what I was saying really well.



Yes, that is one of the main points I was trying to get across. Especially when it comes to culture, you don't have to agree with it to write about it.

In one of my stories, my MC goes through several mentors (before and after he comes to the Truth) and learns many things from them. Philosophies, history, academic knowledge, combat skills, everything. They almost always contradict each other, and I never agree with everything any one of them is saying. Especially when it comes to fighting methodologies, haha.

Wow, this is a great post. You definitely gave me some food for thought.

I do tend to fall into the trap of having a 'good' culture and a 'bad' culture. In my Shapeshifter story, for example, the cultures of the Shapeshifters and humans are nearly perfect, but the Vandel's culture is absolutely horrible. *needs to work on that*

Thankfully, my other story is a little more balanced in terms of culture.

Good points, Jay!
Sounds like a post I would've written, only you did it more masterfully than I ever could.

Yep, I can imagine you talking about this kind of thing, haha.

Another tip: One of my cultures, I use as a 'splurge zone.' I go all out and create the 'ideal culture' just for fun. Just so I can imagine living there. Then when I actually implement it into the stories, I corrupt it. I take the ideal culture and use it as a blueprint that they wish they could follow, but which they fail tremendously in (or less tremendously, depending on the time in history). That way, I get both worlds: my own special culture that I love and agree with, and a very realistic one for my stories.

Hey, Jay, you wanna submit a post for the blog? *waggles eyebrows *

Great post! I'm working on making my cultures more realistic. But I also thought I should add that a culture is very much defined by its religion. I can't remember who said it right now, he was a Christian apologist... he said,
"Culture is religion externalized."
In other words, what people believe will be displayed in how they behave.

How very, very thought-provoking. Yes. Culture--culture that does not mirror one's own--is instrumental to a work of fantasy.

One question: obviously, medieval-based fantasy culture will be quite different from modern Western culture in many outward ways. So would you say your distinction here is more on cultural values rather than cultural life-style? Could you give a specific example of how our preferred culture would be incorporated into our writing?

Brendan: Ah yes, brilliant point. If we tend to get mixed up on it, how much more should our characters get mixed up on it?

Air: Sure, I wouldn't mind at all. I wrote this as a discussion starter, so I withheld a bunch of stuff that I wanted others to come up with and which I used as seed later on, so I can include that in my blog post. When do you want it by?

Laura Elizabeth: Yes, that is a commonly held view. I don't think it is actually accurate, at least not completely. Yes, religion informs much of our lifestyle choices, but not all of it. Culture encompasses far more than can be dictated or even informed by religion of any kind.

Evenstar: Well I think this principle applies to both cultural values and cultural life-style. Cultural values are more tied to religion, but not entirely. And of course, cultural values change, and they are the average of many different beliefs (even within a small community that has the same religion). So again, we can't merely overlay our own culture onto even the religious expressions of our other world or onto history. Cultural lifestyle of course differs even more from us, or should.

Well I gave a few examples in my original post, but I suppose you are wanting something a bit more real, haha. I'll have to think on that.

I will need it for August scheduling.

Alright, sounds good.