writing a love story between two boys

whelp, since apparently not much people post in writer's block daily as of late, i might as well see if my questions get answered. so, i may have plans on doing some sort of short story or screenplay concerning the love between a sheltered christian boy and a boy who was raised by ravens ( they turn out to be fair folk of some kind). now here comes the hard part. although i am a christian, I'm far from being a closeted gay person. so i might not know how to approach this idea. which brings me to a few questions pertaining to this idea.

• is there several ways a 14 year old devout Christian finds out he's gay?
• and so, how might it affect him?
• and how can he come to terms with his homosexuality?
• for the titular raven boy, would a relationship work out between them.
• would the raven boy in question even understand this of love due to his upbringing?

these are the questions that myself and some of you might ask. i might have the answer, i might not, and honestly, i don't have an answer for this one. and that's being sincere about it. (PS. if you ask, why not try researching it? why yes i would if you could kindly point me to the right direction.)

edited 9th Mar '17 11:06:04 AM by ewolf2015

This thread was started six days ago, but I hope that I don't get missed.

Howdy! I'm an LGBT Christian with a knack for knowledge, and I'm here to help! I am not particularly well-versed in love stories, being the kind of guy that I am, but I can try and offer pointers.

1. Go on your search engine and search for "coming out stories christian" or something similar. Gather a whole bunch of testimonies from people who were Christian and then came into their sexuality and either left one for the other, or found a balance or compromise. Personally, I wound up coming to the realization when I was about 15, 16 or so, that over the last few years of naughtily looking at porn, that Unsettling Gender-Reveal was not something I really experienced, and figured I was bisexual. As for this boy, it might depend on the time period, but it's usually a sort of slow realization.

2. A common response is trying to hide it, hoping nobody notices. They hide it from others, and occasionally themselves, keeping in the closet. Other times, they might be more brazen about it, or just not care, but when you're a Christian, it's a bit of a bigger deal.

Again, "Life as a gay Christian," is something to slap into Google. There are communities like the Gay Christian Network who would likely be happy to tell you their life stories if you interviewed them.

3. For me, I came out to my parents (who were taken off-guard, but chose to comfort and support me) and then did some serious research on what the Bible actually said about it before deciding that the Bible doesn't really condemn sexuality, but instead tries to warn against unhealthy behavior, like adultery (nice way to get killed), casual sex (spreading AIDS is likely to incite accusations of witchcraft), laziness (please do your job)... stuff you have control over.

Other people are more strict about it and choose to be celibate. Other people abandon their religion entirely.

What your kid does respond will have a big impact on the story and what kind of theme you'll be setting.

4. "Sheltered Christian boy," and, "Raven-raised boy," aren't enough to go off of alone. Here's a nice site that I like to read called springhole.net, a blog about writing tips. Here's the genre-tips list. Go down to "romance" and read everything, especially the parts about healthy relationships, and make sure the two have plenty of good chemistry. If they don't have any reason to fall in love, the audience won't buy it.

http://www.springhole.net/writing/fiction-genre-definitions-and-links.htm

5. Ravens raised the boy, eh?

Ravens are highly intelligent creatures, right up there with chimps and dolphins, above dogs! They are highly compassionate, comforting their friends after they lose a fight. As young adults, they often form little gangs, and as full adults, they mate for life. They recognize birds they like and will remember them fondly for three years, responding to them warmly.

If the boy is raised by normal ravens, then he would likely catch on to these behaviors really quick, with long-term, faithful relationships being highly treasured, similar to the Christian ideal of faithfulness in marriage, which is a good ideal to have in common.

The character, if you wanted to keep him still a touch weird compared to the other boy, would likely be played opposite from what you expected: not What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?, but a Love Freak!

I think I've done all I could, and I have math work to do, but now it's up to you, as the author to determine how you want the story to go. I could see this work going the route of a Miyazaki film, like Ponyo, or it might go the route of internal struggle with the boy's faith and sexuality coming into conflict. Will there be a dramatic finish, or will it be something cute and sweet, designed to make you feel warm inside?

You decide! Meanwhile, I'm going to go relearn quadratic equations.

Actually it was months but thank you so much.