Writing a character trapped by his faith

[hineyboy]

Hi all. Feels a bit weird this being my first post on a newer account, but I've been lurking on this site for decades and only recently considered being more than a casual reader.

I'm working on a story where the main character was raised in a super religious family, and I'm trying to suss out just how much backstory I can reasonably include without violating the content guidelines since I see religion called out as a theme.

• The main character may read as conflicted, pitiful, frustrating or frustrated, all while being relatable.
• It's intended to be a subversive and kinky takedown of purity culture that ideally readers find both uncomfortable and arousing.
• It's inspired by stories I've enjoyed reading here.
• I'd be okay with a few readers being put off by the story, since I think some of the best stories do.
• It's intended to be erotic without excusing or promoting the character's suffering, erring on the side of exaggerated.
• This story will not feature political themes (though I've seen some really good world-building that involved fictional politics).
• I want the reader to understand the character's motivation.
  • The story starts at the onset of adulthood, and there will be no mention or hinting of anything actually illegal, but to establish context and motivation, it would help if the character could reflect on things learned earlier in life. Please tell me whether this would be acceptable and what to avoid beyond the obvious.

I already have an outline of how the story will progress, I just have to sit down and write it. Only a thousand or so words so far, but it could end up being either a multi-part thing or just a short story depending on how much it gets elaborated. I feel at least somewhat confident in my writing ability after writing a full book of over 70,000 words (unpublished but not unread), and it should go without saying that I'm not relying on an LLM. I also have drafts here that I haven't bothered publishing yet because of the old "all my old work sucks" excuse.

Anyway that's a lot of words, hopefully more to come. I'd appreciate questions/comments/feedback regarding this idea.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I don't see an issue. As long as you aren't actively bashing a particular religion, you should be fine.

 

[Husky_Embrace]

I'm going on a limb and say it's all fine. Most of the rules are to protect against some bad thing. It's the way they're represented in a story that matters.

For example, under age children can feature in a story, as long as they're not involved in any of the sexy business. In a story about a mother she can take care of a baby or kid, to then get gang banged in a room where the baby or kid is very much absent. They're not involved.

You can write a political thriller, but we can't feature PotUS, or have any semblance of real world politics, like paying off a prostitute.

Religion is a bit more nebulous, but I'm sure if you don't demonise it you'll be right as rain.