BluePlastic

Thanks :) Like everything I write, it's a cross between funny, emotional and violent -- I never seem to get any inspiration to write a story about fluffy pink bunnies, there's always a disaster or a plague or a psycho killer or something :) Thank you for your offer -- I will be asking questions, look out for my posts :) (And I might PM you, you never know )

Oh, cool :) One of these days, I will live on my own and be able to have the missionaries over. :) I have another book that's completed, I'm just letting it sit while I write this one, then I'll go back and edit it :) Writing is a lot of fun but I like the researching best...I have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about all my characters. :)

She has been LDS all her life -- her grandparents converted. Jim, her husband, was also LDS most of his life -- his parents converted when he was 2. They met at college, and just by chance (or by the grace of God :)) were both LDS members. They're both musicians (she plays the cello, he played the saxophone and the guitar, and they both sing). Jim looks like this guy, except a little older. Cecilia's appearence is based on the Edwardian actress Isabel Jay, and this is a cartoon of her that a friend of mine drew for me. :) She has hair down to her knees and blue eyes, which are not evident in the pictures, heh. :) (I love to talk about them, can you tell? *pets* my little creations :))

Thanks, tubaloth :) I did know about the temple marriage and sealing -- and for the character in my book, as long as she keeps her covenants and endures to the end, etc., she will get the benefit of the Celestial Kingdom, since she was sealed in the temple to her husband before he died at the beginning of the book. (They only got to be married for about four months, though. Sad. )

Well, actually, I searched on his site and didn't find any page that thoroughly explained it -- but, this has been an edition of "BluePlastic needs to go to Wikipedia before she asks dumb questions, part 1.6," so I'm sorry :) Next time I ask a question it will not be so silly. :)

Thanks, guys, I will let you know :) Though, it is a very violent, sad book, to warn you. There is a huge disaster at the beginning of the story that kills Cecilia's husband Jim, and a lot of other people too

I am gathering information and researching, and reading the scriptures and such. I explained a little more in this post from my intro thread :) Also, I am one of those writers who likes to know WAY more than I need to about everything about my characters -- I love to research and I'm way too curious :) So, I might not need this information, but I'll be all bugged if I don't know :)

I just want to clear up my own confusion about this, and also to understand it so I might use it in the book I'm writing that has a Mormon character in it. :) So, I know that the highest level of heaven, the one you really want to get into, is the Celestial Kingdom. Do you have to be married to go there? (I think I heard that somewhere...) And, what are the other levels? I'm not that clear on it, and the one site I read that "explained" it, I don't have much confidence in -- there's a lot of misinformation around.

Well, it's complicated :) Basically, I've been developing this story and its characters for a while, trying to get a grip on exactly where I wanted it to go, etc. Over the course of development, Cecilia emerged as a modest, kind, gentle person, with a natural practicality and sense of perseverence, despite her disablity (she's blind from birth.) For most of that time, the characters didn't have religions at all except in a vague, "yeah I went to church when I was a kid" type of way, because I wasn't religious. Once I became a Christian, I boosted the importance of each character's religion a little more, because I felt it added to the themes of the story. At that time, Cecilia was Episcopalian. Then, about a week ago, I got on one of my kicks where I read a lot about a certain topic, and in this case it was cults. Since there are those who think the LDS church is a cult, it appeared on some of the pages. But some of the things said were completely ridiculous to me, to the point where I started to think they were making stuff up. So, I looked further, and found Jeff Lindsay's LDS FAQ pages. Quickly, I saw the ridiculous things I had read were either really big misinterpretations or things made up to make the Mormons look bad. And as I read more, I realized that a lot of the ideals of the church were things that Cecilia already was, and that the doctrines of eternal family and marriage would be a very interesting theme to add to my story, and that they would also comfort Cecilia through a lot of the sad events in the book. So, I decided that she was LDS. :)

Hi everyone :) I'm Sarah, and I'm a 29 year old non-denominational Christian, whose purpose here is two-fold. First of all, I am working on a book with a major character who is a young LDS woman named Cecilia. So, I have been researching the church and its beliefs and scriptures, and will be asking questions about LDS life to inform her character and experiences. :) The second purpose is, frankly, for myself. Researching for this story has made me think a lot...a lot of the Mormon ideas and doctrine appeal to me, and I want to know more. :) I'll be happy to get to know you guys :)