Fantasy Rants - Writing Exercises

If your book has a very important religious aspect, you need to carefully build up the mythology and the deities as characters almost. For my work on the Jihad series, I've been building up Loki for the last few days.

Loki is originally a Norse god of mischief. In Norse mythology he was often presented as evil, almost, with the pranks he would play on the other Gods; but in dire times of need he pulled through and saved the Gods. This happened on more than one occasion.

I have attempted to recreate that with my own turn on it, Loki being much more powerful than anyone suspects; though he is a God of mischief, in the Jihad series he plays a very serious role. His is one of the most important parts in the series, outshone by only two other deities and of course the main 'group' of humans and other species.

The following are some important things to consider while developing Gods.

What role do they play? What are their powers? What do they control and how do they do this? Do they play tricks, or are they serious? When it comes to religion, it's easy to fall into stereotypes; they are everywhere in our own society. The Earth Goddess, the Sun God, the Moon Goddess, the sea God. These are Greek and Roman myths, and they are the most common to get transported into fantasy worlds.

Do something different; if your culture is different, your Gods should be, too. In the Jihad series, there are the following Gods:

Loki, who I've explained above; the Triad, which consists of Bannon, Rasie, and Raychel, honour, truth, and healing; Dracon, the dragon God, Talyn, Loki's 'brother' and a God of mischief in his own right; and The Lady, the mysterious Goddess of death.

There is no God or Goddess of the sun, the moon, or the sea; Talyn has some power over Earth and Loki and the Lady share the night, but those are not their main attributes. Bannon is in part God of the sun, but again, this isn't a main attribute. The Gods should resemble the people; they should be based off of common things in the world, have power over things that matter to the people.

How are they described in myth? Loki is the example for this one. How do your people describe their Gods in myth? Gods and Goddesses in traditional mythologies such as Greek and Roman had complex personalities. Loki was a jerk normally, but he would be there when they really needed him. Zeus was a strong leader but weak in faithfulness to his wife, Hera. Hera was intensely jealous; the last two are Greek.

Study old mythologies and base yours off of them-in the way of giving them the same or similar complexities, not just having them be stereotypical Gods and Goddesses who are mostly a blank canvas. The more active a part religion plays in your novel or series, the more you need to know.

How do they relate to one another? Gods do not exist in a vacuum. If you've created a religion with only one God, then this is an invalid point. But odds are that you're writing a typical fantasy religion with more than one. These Gods need to interact-after all, they run the world, do they not? They can't simply rule in isolation.

Artemis and Apollo were twins in Greek mythology; Persephone ate seven pomegranate seeds and thus was forced to spend seven months each year in the afterlife with Hades. Zeus seemed to love Hera, but at the same time was sleeping around; Hera did love Zeus, and was a very jealous wife.

In my own world for Jihad, Loki and The Lady have a mysterious bond; Bannon, Raychel, and Rasie are like brother and sisters. Talyn has a brotherlike bond with Loki, and a friendship of sorts with The Lady. They all have tense friendships with Dracon, who has made mistakes which led up to the current war and influenced it largely.

Build strong, complex relationships between your Gods and not only will you find yourself with many more potential plots-you'll find yourself with stronger characters and a much more interesting story.

What are their relationships with their followers? Fantasy usually uses the typical distant Gods; and then they become not distant for one reason or another, usually just in time to save the characters' butts. But what if Gods were much closer to their followers?

For example, my version of Loki would occasionally appear to one of his followers who worked in prostitution, and at the end of the night leave them a large sum of money. Zeus would sleep with anyone he could get his hands on. Bannon, Raychel, and Rasie rarely appear to their followers, but when they do, they help them greatly. Dracon only appears to his 'chosen', Nidhras or half dragons, but he is very close to them. The Lady also rarely appears to anyone but her 'chosen', but they no longer trust her.

So much can be done with this. Bloody wars have been fought for Gods and religion before-some of the bloodiest in history. But what about if we really knew the Gods, connected with them intimately? It would make the wars even that much more intense; people would be fighting for beings they actually know. They would be defending beings they had seen with their own eyes.

I think many fantasy authors are afraid to have Gods who are anything but black and white, and many are afraid to fully acknowledge the reality of a Holy War.

Links:

Really Long Link - Limyaael's rant on Gods

Really Long Link - A page with information on Loki per Norse mythology

Really Long Link - A page with information on Zeus.

Thanks for reading. Currently I'm working on laying out a fair bit of planning for the Jihad series, which has grown into quite a long one. My workshop has also officially started.

~Dianna

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