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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36840
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36840
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## This depends on the character.

You're quite right to realize that the set of images a character will use, should depend a lot on that character's "inner lexicon"; on the particular imagery that character would plausibly reach for and use. It makes _sense_ that, when feeling unsteady on their feet, a sailor might think "like during a storm," a city-dweller might think "like during an earthquake," and a cowboy might think "like on a horse that's gone berserk." Each character has their own frame of reference.

And you're equally right to wonder whether an atheist might have religious imagery in their frame of reference -- because that's not a trivial thing. On the one hand they don't believe in it; on the other hand they're likely _familiar_ with it. And on the third and most important hand, **different characters are going to be _different_** , and each will have their own associations.

An atheist who used to be devout, and gradually lost faith, will think of heaven one way. An atheist who used to be devout, but was eventually hounded out, and left out of spite, will think of it another way. An atheist who approaches all religions as facets of human imagination and beauty will have one view; a stark rationalist will have another.

So the answer is: you'll need to decide this based on what you know of your character -- _or_, maybe you'll be deciding something new about the character, in order to know how they'll describe these things.

_Is_ your atheist character someone who would talk fancifully about "voices of kindly gods"? What kind of person would he need to be to use that phrasing? What might he mean by it? It's your choice -- and making interesting choices can be absolutely fascinating.

Original score: 28