 Fantasy: August 03, 2011 Issue [#4533] |
  Fantasy
This week: Gods Edited by: Waltz Invictus  
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A civilization is destroyed only when its gods are destroyed.
-Emile M. Cioran
As to gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like.
-Protagoras
Anybody depending on somebody else's gods is depending on a fox not to eat chickens.
-Zora Neale Hurston
Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain.
-Friedrich Schiller |
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Gods
My reading lately has included several fantasy stories - mostly classed as "urban fantasy" or fantasy set in modern times - where some of the characters are gods from various mythologies.
Since I've heard that Neil Gaiman's American Gods was being made into a movie (that's a novel I read when it came out, not recently, but it falls into the appropriate genre), and with the recent release of Marvel's Thor, I thought I might talk about the gods.
Here's the thing about mythology: though I take the risk of offending someone, at some point, somebody made that stuff up.
Very likely, most of what we think of as mythology started out as what we might today call fantasy: tales of gods and heroes, magic and epic battles and the like. It changed and got embellished over the years, until it was written down, same as we write stuff down when we create our own tales of fantasy.
The line between mythology and fantasy blurs when you take characters from some of those old stories and stick them in your own. And hey, it's not like anyone owns the copyright on them - they're part of the cultural tradition of humanity.
So while there's source material to consider, you should feel free to experiment on your own. For example, Venus, goddess of love, is said to be beautiful - but what if that's just Olympian propaganda? It's not like anyone's ever had a confirmed sighting. The contrast between a Venus who is what we might consider ugly, and her demesne of love and attraction, could make for an interesting backdrop to a story, or a story itself.
Gods in mythology are, when it comes down to it, extended metaphors. They're the idealistic manifestation of an idea, or, in the case of the more fully fleshed-out gods, several ideas. Babylon, for example, had a goddess of love and war - speaking of contrasts. Odin, from the Norse stories, was about wisdom and learning - related concepts, but not the same thing.
Then there's the fun involved in making your own mythology - creating your own gods, in your image or otherwise. The thing to remember here is that if you use an "established" pantheon, you've got centuries or more of cultural references to draw on. You say "Zeus," for example, and everyone will know what you're talking about. But after all, that's how all these stories got started, so many years ago.
There are things you have to decide about using gods in your own stories: how do they interact with mortal humans - through agents, directly, or some other means? Are they basically "people with powers," like such modern gods as Superman or Flash, or are they something else entirely, like aliens? Can they be injured or killed, or are they, like many ideas, effectively immortal? Does their power depend on mortal worship, or do they have their own independent existence? Can ordinary humans become gods; if so, how? Do they have free will, or are they confined to their own spheres of influence?
Your answers to these questions will have an impact on your story, and they need to be consistent with other aspects of your storyline.
Including gods in your story can give it depth and intricacy, but on the down side, beware the temptation for the deus ex machina - having a god resolve a plotline is usually cheating. As readers, we want to see how we're better than the gods, not vice versa. |
A few more words about gods:
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Last time, in "Fantasy Newsletter (July 6, 2011)" , I wrote about love and fear.
Dan Bresnahan  : Great stuff. Interesting perspective on fear/love dichotomy. Going to save this newsletter for future reflection.
High praise indeed - thank you. Also remember that any newsletter can be found through the archives, here: http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives
atwhatcost: I love your self-deprecating humor in the parentheses (and I can say "love" because it's something new as opposed to the old. comfortable love you're cool with.)
Thanks - I'm also a Comedy newsletter editor, and sometimes that bleeds over into here 
billwilcox: As an editor of the Horror/Scary Newsletter, I find this editorial on FEAR (as Spock would say) "Fascinating."
Thanks, Bill - a logical response!
Jeff  : Looks like we had the same idea for our NLs this week, Waltz! 
Sometimes this other engineer and I would end up wearing the same color shirt and khakis on the same day. No, we didn't call each other before we came to work.
Light  : Interesting newsletter. I would know more about the book "A Course In Miracles" than most people. I won't go into all of that here, but all fears have some degree of irrational thinking associated with them. There is a related book called "Love is Letting Go of Fear." I serves as an introduction to "A Course In Miracles." You might find that one more interesting.
Thanks for the clarification and recommendation.
LJPC - the tortoise : What an great NL, Robert! You are completely right about fear being one of the devices that can keep tension in a novel. I've just started my first horror novel and am using all the techniques you pointed out.  Excellent advice!
-- Laura
Good luck with the novel!
That's it for me for now - see you in a few weeks! Until then,
DREAM ON!!! |
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