New Compendium Entry - Cynthia Scarlet Ruin

This week I gave you all a glimpse into one of the most broken characters in my Black Earth series, Cynthia Scarlet Ruin, and I discussed sexual content in fiction and it's place in Christian fiction particularly. Today I'm happy to say that the first new entry to the website Compendium has been added: Cynthia Ruin's character profile.

For those who are curious what the Compendium is, it is a (ultimately) massive database that I am building from the ground up that will house information on any and all things from both my Black Earth and my Expired Reality series. Starting this month, new entries will be added to the Compendium every week. Each is free to view, and each entry will fall into one of the seven categories the Compendium is comprised of:

People
Worlds
Science/Technology
Artifacts
Businesses
Otherworldly Beings
Locales

If you get time, check out the Compendium and tell me what you think. I'm also open to taking requests of what you might want to see in the Compendium. Have a favorite character you want to know more about? Maybe there is a piece of technology or an artifact that is mentioned in the series that you want to explore. Or maybe you just want to know more about the different worlds in the Black Earth/Expired Reality universe. Whatever the case may be, drop me a line/comment and let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Today though, Cynthia Scarlet Ruin has been added to the Compendium.

On Monday, we'll take a close look at the character of Alpha 1 from my Black Earth series, and on Wednesday we'll take a look at violence and its place in Christian fiction. I'll also be dropping my review of The Hunger Games (novel) in here at some point next week, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Until then, have a great weekend everyone!

Sexual Content in Christian Fiction

On Monday I posted a little bit about the character of Cynthia Ruin, or the Pink Rabbit, a sexual deviant in my Black Earth series. As a character, she was a challenge to create and write about, as much of her storyline contains references to sexual promiscuity, rape, and other forms of lustful actions.

That brings me to this week’s theme – sexual content in Christian fiction.

To begin, I want everyone know that I’m not posting this as an argument that sexual content has to be in Christian fiction in order for Christian fiction to be genuine or entertaining. This post is really just to discuss why and how I use sexual content in my Black Earth series – especially in regards to Cynthia Ruin – and how it’s worked for my story.

Why is sexual content avoided in most Christian fiction? I think many worry that putting sexual content in Christian fiction will endanger readers of Christian fiction and open the door for them to follow their own sexual vices. They believe that sexual themes written in the pages of a novel can illicit sexual thoughts/tendencies in the reader. As much as I understand where many people are coming from with this attitude, I think if sexual content is placed in Christian fiction in a responsible manner, it can add to the story and reveal deeper truths about sin and possibly lead to redemption. Although I will also admit, as I have in earlier posts, that some readers are more sensitive to certain themes – sex, violence, cursing – and have a legitimate reason for not wanting to venture near anything that expands upon these themes.

In reality, how many of us struggle with sex, either in regards to behavior or thoughts? Sex is a natural, God-given gift, and it is one that is constantly abused and misunderstood by both Christians and non-Christians alike. I’m sure that all of us have someone in our circle of influence who is struggling with their own sexual vices. Whether we know of these struggles is a different story, but I guarantee you that sexual sin and the consequences of it reach more people than you probably think.

Including sexual content in Christian fiction has the potential to help readers relate to certain characters, to the temptations these characters face, and help the reader move past these areas by bringing the issues out in the open. That’s from a Christian standpoint as to why I think sexual content can be included in Christian fiction.

From a writer’s standpoint, it gives the characters and storyline more realism – IF USED RESPONSIBLY. Please do not get me started on Fifty Shades of Crap.

Cynthia Ruin made her first appearance in my Black Earth series with a nightclub scene that quickly led into a rape scene. It was the most challenging scene I have ever written, but when all was said and done, her first time on stage gave my novel more weight and added incredible dimension to the storyline of the Black Earth series. The rape scene served to reveal much about Cynthia’s character, including her vices, her attitude toward life, and the way she reacts to crisis. The rape scene served a valuable purpose and lent legitimacy to her character.

I remember when Black Earth: End of the Innocence was first released in paperback and a family member called me up to tell me how disappointed they were with my decision to have a rape scene in the novel. It was tough to listen to this individual’s diatribe, but at the same time I felt proud knowing I had grown as an individual and as a writer. I had broken out of convention and pushed the boundaries of Christian fiction and the realities that Christian fiction could portray. I didn’t write the rape scene to be ‘edgy’, but the rape scene wrote itself when Cynthia came onto the page.

Once Cynthia is raped in the story, she is a different person. She has a new perspective of her life. It even seemed the rape caused her to head down the path of redemption. And while many have given me good reviews and comments in regards to the story itself and to how the rape scene was handled in particular, there are still those who don’t think sexual content – especially in large doses – belongs in Christian fiction at all.

In an interesting review posted for Black Earth: End of the Innocence, Contemporary Christian author Candy Little stated - 

“Although I loved the plot and found the characters well rounded and believable, I do have a few cautions as far as the Christian content. There is quite a bit of sexual content. The story line for Sin revolves around her having sex with many boys, but to include women also, was more than I could take.”

To be clear, I really appreciate the fact that Candy took the time to read/review my book. But the comment she made in regards to the sexual content reveals the attitude that many Christians have in regards to the inclusion of sexual content in books containing the Christian fiction label. It seems to be, according the review, that I took things too far with Cynthia having a history of sexual relations with women as well as men.

Cynthia is a broken individual. She doesn’t know what she wants, no clue as to the purpose of her life. And she experiments, manipulates, and uses sex to gain approval, recognition, even power. It is the one thing she knows she is good at, the one thing she is familiar with. To show Cynthia in any other light, to water down her past, to hide away the true feelings she has toward people as sexual objects, would be a travesty. It would require her character to be veiled in generalizations until there is just a two dimensional girl who is mentioned as having sexual tendencies. Sometimes the nitty gritty has to be brought to the page – both to create realism in the story, believability with the character, and recognition with those struggling with the same sin/behavior.

Writing sexual content into a ‘Christian fiction’ novel is never easy. Like any ‘edgy’ content, it can serve as a minefield that needs to be carefully traversed so that the heart of the story is not drowned in needless boundary-pushing content. This is why I always have a second set of eyes (my editor) look over my work, not just for grammar, but for content. There are many times my editor has instructed me that I took a scene too far or had content that just didn’t seem relevant to the story. And those are the times one does need to take heed and pull in the reigns.

I believe many elements that have been left out of a lot of Christian fiction can really help to draw people into the story being told and help the reader sort out their own experiences and struggles.

Next week we’ll take a good look at the theme of violence in Christian fiction. And this Friday, Cynthia Ruin's profile will be added to the Compendium on the website.

Black Earth Character Spotlight - Cynthia Ruin

This week starts my lengthy blog series that will explore the various characters and themes found in my Black Earth novels. My intention is to tie specific characters with the themes they embody, and to discuss how these themes can be used successfully in Christian fiction.

Mondays I will post about a specific character and give a little detail about the inspiration behind their creation and their place in the Black Earth novels. Wednesdays I will post in regards to the theme that week’s character is tied to. For example, today I’ll discuss the character of Cynthia Ruin and this Wednesday I’ll discuss sexual themes and their place in Christian fiction.

So without further ado, here’s a bit about…

Cynthia Scarlet Ruin. Known as Sin on her bad days. Known as the Pink Rabbit on her worst.

She is by far one of the most broken characters I have ever had the bittersweet experience of creating. The act of forming Cynthia’s character was the turning point for me in my writing endeavors, helping me to break out of my conventional boundaries and write outside of the box – especially the box that ‘Christian fiction’ attempted to put me in.

In the series, Cynthia is a teenager who has an uncontrolled sexual compulsion, a father who is never home, and a mother who sexually entertains many strange men under the Ruin roof. With a desire to make a name for herself, Cynthia created the persona of the Pink Rabbit – a female sex goddess who would do anything (sexually) with anyone (girls and guys) in order to gain reputation and status. Those who partook of the Pink Rabbit’s services were stamped with the symbol of Cynthia’s deeds – a pink rabbit. As word spread throughout Cynthia's school – and even into the church Cynthia’s mother volunteered as a youth leader in – Cynthia’s sexual icon grew in popularity with the students. She also grew in disgust with the faculty and parents who soon caught on to this demon woman who was turning the locations she traversed into makeshift brothels.

When I created Cynthia, I had no idea how important of a character she would eventually develop into. Her creation stemmed from a toxic relationship I had in my own past, a manipulative woman who was at the same time both ignorant to her behavior and extremely manipulative with it. At first my intention was to craft Cynthia into a side character who had little impact on the novel except to display a broken presence around the main protagonist of the series, Nathan Pierce. But it quickly became evident to me that Cynthia wasn’t going to be satisfied with a minor roll, and as Black Earth: End of the Innocence opened up, Cynthia pulled me straight into one of the most challenging scenes I have ever had to pen – her rape scene on the night of her high school graduation.

Writing a rape scene changed me as a writer because it allowed me to break the chains of my restricted writing conventions. Up until the Black Earth series, I had only written young adult fiction, and the young adult fiction I wrote was fairly clean cut and age-appropriate, especially in terms of sexual content. Black Earth allowed me to push past this limitation and explore the paths my characters were trying to reveal to me, even if they were paths that I was under the impression weren’t ‘appropriate’ to be written, especially in fiction that had Christian themes in it.

From the rape scene onward, Cynthia quickly became a major player in the series. Throughout the majority of the Black Earth novels, Cynthia struggles immensely with her sexual vices. When it is clear that the world is ending - and especially when she receives life-changing news at the end of Black Earth: End of the Innocence - Cynthia makes a firm decision to turn her life around. But it’s not easy to simply walk away from a life of sexual debauchery, especially since it ensconced her through a good portion of her adolescence. What makes the task harder is doing it without the help of God or friends. Rejecting God throughout the majority of the series, Cynthia attempts to turn a life of Sin into a life worth redemption, but constantly fails and ends up manipulating and hurting those around her.

Many of Cynthia’s scenes are written to detail the inner turmoil she struggles with in regards to the events surrounding her, the past she is trying to both evade and embrace, and the tumultuous relationship with her family. She is a character the reader’s heart breaks for, even if on the surface it doesn’t seem like Cynthia should be receiving any sort of sympathy.

Cynthia proves to show that there is something broken in each of us, and the majority of our lives are spent trying to fix that broken thing – whether it be sexual demons, drug addictions, or the multitude of other enemies - both physical and spiritual - we fight against every day. All we’re really looking for is hope. We search for that one individual or deity or entity that can piece us back together, to make us whole. Cynthia’s broken life stands to reveal to us our own broken nature and the need for a savior.

She is why sexual content can survive and thrive in Christian fiction, even Christian science fiction/fantasy, because she mirrors so much of ourselves and those around us.

To this day, Cynthia continues to be a favorite character among most fans. As the Black Earth novel series comes to a close later this year with Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha, where will we find Cynthia? Will she ever find redemption?

On Friday, Cynthia’s character profile will be added to the Compendium on the official website. And next week we’ll be exploring the character of Alpha 1, a sadistic mercenary who is a demon if one ever walked the earth. We’ll also be exploring the theme of violence in the Black Earth series and how the theme can be used in Christian fiction.

Black Earth Flash Fiction #5 - Fuzzy Cuffs

Back in 2010, when Black Earth: End of the Innocence - Book 1 in my Black Earth series - was released, I also released five separate flash fiction stories that I inconspicuously hid on my website for fans to find. Since close to nobody knew what the Black Earth series was even about, I didn't have much success getting the stories read.

Now that I've dug them out of the vault, here is the fifth and final in the series, a glimpse at Cynthia Ruin and one of her many confrontations with her mother, Theresa.

Fuzzy Cuffs -
Cynthia shoved Robert out of the bed as he hit the ground with a thud. “Get out of here! My mom’s home!”
   
He ran his hand through is long black hair and blinked his eyes a few times to wake up. “What? Who?”
   
Cynthia clambered off the bed and threw his clothes at him, hitting him in the face. “My mom is home, idiot. Get out of here!”
   
He scrambled to get his pants on. Cynthia looked down at her own half-naked form and quickly pulled the sheet off the bed, wrapping it around herself.
   
“I thought you wanted me to spend the night.”
   
“That’s when I thought my mom was going to be out of town all weekend. I don’t know what she’s doing home, but she’s here, and you need to go.”
   
“What about the pink rabbit? Don’t I get the pink rabbit? That’s what I came here for.”
   
Yes, she remembered. That’s all you came here for. She reached into the top drawer of her nightstand, through to a secret compartment at the back, and pulled out the stamp set. She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs now.
   
She rushed over to Robert, who was just barely buttoning his jeans. Dabbing the rubber stamp into the bright pink ink pad, she stamped her trademark on the back of his neck…the pink rabbit. She scrambled to get the items back into the drawer and then shoved him toward the window.
   
“Well, I really appreciate what you did tonight. That was the most exquisite way anyone has ever—”
   
“That’s nice. Dream about me if you want. Just get out of here!” She slid the window open as he grabbed his shoes in hand and started out onto the ladder that rested against the windowsill. “So, maybe we can do this again sometime. I’ll even pa- “
   
She slammed the window shut and pulled her blinds down. The footsteps stopped outside her door. She fell upon the bed and turned toward the wall, pretending to be asleep.
   
The door opened. Cynthia stared at the wall, steadying her breathing, hoping her mother wouldn’t be in a mood to talk.
   
The door shut. She sighed with relief. Turning away from the wall, she realized her mother was sitting there on the edge of her bed. She squealed with surprise.
   
“Shhhhh. You don’t want to wake the whole neighborhood.”
   
“Mom? What are you doing home? I thought you were going to Tucson to see dad this weekend.”
   
Theresa Ruin stared at the lines of moonlight casting their glow through the blinds. “Yes, well, your dad was too busy to really do anything with me, so I figured I’d just come home.”
   
“Well, can I get back to sleep? You scared the crap out of me.”
   
“What about Robert? Was he scared too?”
   
Cynthia suddenly stopped breathing. A moment later she took a big huff of air and let out, “I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”
   
Theresa bent down toward the floor and came back up with a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs dangling from her fingers. “Are you serious? I may be your mother, Sin, but I’m not stupid.”
   
I told that idiot to put those away when we were done with them!
   
“I don’t….know what those are?”
   
Theresa glared at her daughter.

Copyright © 2010 David N. Alderman