A Question for Writers

Hey folks.

I was reading an article by Jo Walton on Tor.com the other day, and it really interested me, and I wanted to get all of your opinions on this. the article was about Religious science fiction, and here's the line that got me thinking:

"There’s the kind of SF where the writer is themselves a member of some religion and this imbues their writing—I think Connie Willis would be a good example of this. Look at the stories in Miracle, or her novel Passage. I don’t have a problem with this unless it spoils the story, but I don’t find it all that interesting either."

Now, my question is this: to what extent should an author's personal life (personal history, religion, culture, personal beliefs, etc.) be evident in his/her writing?


For example, lots of people have a problem with Orson Scott Card's work because they feel his Mormon heritage is too evident in the plot and characters.


Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about this question. I don't have a problem with Card's work, but that's probably cause I'm a Mormon too so the Mormon-esque parts of his stories don't jump out at me unless I'm looking for them. C.S. Lewis was an Anglican and the Chronicles of Narnia are overtly Christian, but that never really bugged me . . . of course, I'm Christian, so maybe thats why. Is Lord of the Rings too preachy for anybody? What about Wheel of Time, or Brandon Sanderson's stuff?

I do think that in our society we try very hard not to be religously pushy . . . but if the author tries to drain his/her writing of everything that is him/her . . . well, we might as well pull a 1984 and just have machines mix and match formulaic plot devices into something new every few weeks. What's the difference?


Please, give me your opinions and what-not.


Later . . .

The Green Hills of Earth

Sorry its been a while guys . . . I'll get something up this week. In the mean time, you've probably all read this, but its pretty cool:

The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

We rot in the moulds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.

[ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---
--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---
--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]

We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.

Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet ---

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

Robert A. Heinlein

A fun little tool

Which famous writer does your style seem to match?

http://iwl.me/

I got Douglas Adams. Apparently it looks more at word usage and sentence length as well as some punctuation. Just something funny I saw.