Trouble writing non frum because I grew up religious

amother

Sun, Apr 28 2024, 9:48 am

I want to write a fantastic book that can appeal to a mass audience but since I grew up orthodox I have trouble writing from the perspective of someone who is secular or non religious. It’s hard for me to tell a story from a foreign perspective. Does anyone relate to this?

amother

Honeysuckle

Sun, Apr 28 2024, 9:52 am

I’m the opposite. Didn’t grow up frum (or Jewish), so it’s hard for me to tailor my writing to a frum audience. I once tried writing a story based on me and my conversion journey, but I knew no one would read it except frum Jews, so I just stopped. Maybe one day I’ll keep writing it and send it to a magazine or something.

amother

Nemesia

Sun, Apr 28 2024, 10:43 am

The best books are written from the place in yourself that intimately knows something. For everybody it’s something else because we all have different experiences.

Write what you know. Forget what you don't know.

Wolfsbane

Sun, Apr 28 2024, 12:05 pm

You'll need some very good beta readers if you want to publish.

Is there something about the content that wouldn't work with Orthodox characters?
What population are you planning to write about? Think about resources that could give you an insider's perspective (books, vlogs, social media etc).

singleagain

Sun, Apr 28 2024, 12:07 pm

I mean yes but no

Part of writing I think is trying to get into someone else's head. You know kind of like method actors do

I mean a lot of times when I write characters vastly different for myself. I will immerse in Reddit or other such places where they tend to congregate to read their views and try to understand what they're thinking

If I was writing for publishing I would for sure hire someone from the community I'm writing about to consult.

amother

Whitewash

Thu, May 02 2024, 12:04 am

OP, I'm so curious. If you don't know not frum, how did you decide to write it? Do you have an incredible plot that you think transcends community borders?

If you're just writing for the frum crowd (which is much more realistic honestly, the secular market is very saturated and hard to get into) then your not perfectly accurate portrayals won't be as annoying.

If you feel that it's very important to be authentic, read a bunch of non-frum fiction and get a feel for the mentality. Read some blogs and check out social media. Get some non-frum or non-frum-informed readers who will tell you honestly when things sound off.

amother

NeonYellow

Mon, May 06 2024, 12:16 pm

One huge piece of advice :
Make sure the name is culturally and chronologically logical

I can’t stand all the frum writing with BTs growing up in 2020 named Debbie or Becky. There was an advertisement over YT where names were changed and a not frum boy was named Jermaine. Come on now. I think the girl was named Jessica which is also super out of date.

Look up popular names for the year your character would have been born. You don’t have to pick the top name obviously but to have someone born in 1998 named Linda or Brian isn’t realistic

Comptroller

Mon, May 06 2024, 12:30 pm

amother OP wrote:

set it in the 19th century (or earlier), when the general mentality was more similar, in many points, with the frum mentality?

amother

NeonYellow

Mon, May 06 2024, 12:47 pm

tigerwife wrote:

Do you read secular books? What exactly is so different, other than omission of G-d?

They way they speak, the things they do for fun, the way the relate to family and the opposite gender, the food they eat , the cultural references …. Literally everything

Source: am a geyoris

DrMom

Mon, May 06 2024, 1:17 pm

amother Nemesia wrote:

This is one approach.

But sometimes novelists spend months researching communities and lifestyles different from their own in order to write novels from other perspectives.

Comptroller

Tue, May 07 2024, 7:02 am

Actually, writing fom the perspective of a frum jewish woman could have an immense resonance with the general public.

The general public (or a subset of it) is curious to get a peek into a different culture or sub-culture. That's one of the reasons why books or films like "unorthodox" have so much success: not because they are "anti-frum". But because nobody writes about the frum from a frum perspective, so all the general public has nothing else to provide a peek into to the frum world.

So if you are a good writer, I would encourage you to think of an interesting story set at least partially in the frum world.

What is easy and authentic to you is impossible to all those who are curious about the frum world, but not part of it.

amother

Jasmine

Tue, May 07 2024, 7:08 am

amother NeonYellow wrote:

They way they speak, the things they do for fun, the way the relate to family and the opposite gender, the food they eat , the cultural references …. Literally everything

Source: am a geyoris

Other then how they relate to the opposite gender or spouses, I don't see the differences coming across that strong in books. True that the perspective and focus of Jewish books will be different then non Jewish ones but that's what it is when reading a book about any different culture. A good writer knows how to engage a reader and keep their interest regardless.

fmt4

Tue, May 07 2024, 7:24 am

amother NeonYellow wrote:

Huh? There are still plenty of Jessicas and Brians. There are also Lindas, Beckys, and Debbie’s. They may not be the most popular names but they’re not that bizarre.

Debbie

Tue, May 07 2024, 7:48 am

fmt4 wrote:

Huh? There are still plenty of Jessicas and Brians. There are also Lindas, Beckys, and Debbie’s. They may not be the most popular names but they’re not that bizarre.

Thank you, my name's Debbie and I am glad it's not bizarre!

chanatron1000

Tue, May 07 2024, 8:07 am

fmt4 wrote:

Huh? There are still plenty of Jessicas and Brians. There are also Lindas, Beckys, and Debbie’s. They may not be the most popular names but they’re not that bizarre.

Yes, but a late 90's baby would be much more likely to be named Emily than Linda. It's okay for a character to have a less common name, but it's jarring when they all do.