Newsletter 08/23/04

Mythology

Welcome to the beginning of a potentially long series. In future editions of the newsletter, I'm planning to provide some details on real world mythologies and how they can fit in to stories. This week, however, research time was cut very short, so I'm going to have to discuss mythology in general this time around and get to the details next time.

Mythologies tend to be ways to explain things that go on. When a thunder storm erupts, it's not just an atmospheric phenomenon, it's the work of an angry god. When people get sick, it's the work of evil spirits. Often times, these explanations don't really get to the truth of the matter, but that's the real world. In a fantasy story, mythology could well be the only rational explanation for things.

Most, if not all, mythologies are collections of stories, and have many types of stories in common. The first, naturally enough, is the story of the creation of the world. Generally some great god made the world and then set it in motion. There are other possibilities, however. In some myths, the world was already there, and the gods just live and work in it. In others, the world is the work of older gods who either have left creation to its own devices, or perhaps have been dethroned. Whatever the case, a good mythology always gets the world in place so that there is a setting for things to happen in.

Another common story is where humans came from. Seeing as how myths are human attempts to explain the world, it is hardly surprising that the existence of humans is one of the things myths try to explain. Again, the source of humanity is varied. In some myths, a god or group of gods create humans. In others, the gods find humans and adopt them. In still others, humans just sort of are there with no real explanation.

When crafting a mythology for you stories, it's generally a good idea to start with these two ideas. Figure out where the world came from, and where the intelligent things on it came from. From there you can get a lot of story ideas, and maybe even some more myths as well. Throwing in myths into a story can be a good way to offer part of an explanation of what is going on, and can serve to foreshadow future events. Even if the story is hard science fiction, introducing a myth (probably an alien one) can give fragments of the truth that the protagonist will eventually discover.

Some authors who use mythology very well include Tolkien (The Simarillion), The Eddingses (The Belgariad, The Elenium, The Redemption of Althalus), Dan Simmons (Hyperion), Terry Brooks (The Word and the Void books) and surprisingly, William Gibson in Mona Lisa Overdrive and Count Zero. One series that makes extensive use of real world myths are the books based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The authors take myths and adapt them for their own purposes while generally retaining the overall tone and theme of the myths.

Tune in next month when we begin our look at real world mythology with the myths of the Inuit.