Category Archives: Craft & Skills

Myth and Magic

Colette Black Craft & Skills World-building No Comments

selene-watching-endymion

It’s much like the question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” We’ve talked about mythology a lot over the course of the month, creating mythologies within fantasy worlds, how they affect our worlds and characters, and how they have evolved over time in our own world. As I pondered on mythology in my own writing, the first word that came to me was magic. I’m going to go into my thought process a bit. Bear with me, there is a point to all of this.

In my Young Adult series, Legends of Power, which I hope to have released within the year, I started with the idea of a young man being chased by shadows. Not horrible beings sent by some nemesis or arch-villain, but beings unwittingly created by the touch of our protagonist’s magic. As I searched to understand my protagonist, and what I’d made happen to him, I found a mythology to explain his powers–the legend of the Greek goddess, Selene. I played with it a bit, made her an angel instead of a goddess, and claimed the Greek legend had evolved from a much earlier event. As my story developed, so did my magic system. I searched for myths and legends from all over the world, propagating my urban fantasy world with people of various lineage, claiming their magical ancestors had instigated the most famous and/or interesting legends of their regions. It’s been a lot of fun finding those legends. There are a million to pull from. I claimed the stories were based in reality then used them to create each groups’ magic system, along with appropriate strengths, abilities, and limitations.

And here is the point: sometimes we can create myths, but sometimes myths can create magic. When you’re looking for a magic system, maybe need ideas for what your characters can and can’t do, a great place to look is the mythologies of the world in which we live. There’s almost always some mystical experience involved that you can shape and change into a magic system or alter to create a magical creature. J.K. Rowling did this masterfully in Harry Potter. For my series, I used some of these mythologies to explain real-life beings with which we’re familiar: shapeshifters, leprecons, merfolk, etc. Others, I made up: Kyro (shadow master), electricians, torches, etc. Take a look around you. Discover for yourself the magic in our myths.

What are some of your favorite books that utilize myths in the magic system, or in the creation of fantastical creatures? We’d love to see your comments.

Mythology Research: A Case Study, Part Two

Craft & Skills Evan Braun No Comments

Yesterday, I wrote about my first foray into the realm of mythology research. I laid out the broad strokes of what I was after and how I approached it. Today, I want to take the time to more specifically discuss the methodology I employed.

I mentioned a couple of the primary texts my novel focused on, and the Big Three religious mythologies I was interested in: Christianity, Judaism, and Paganism. Through reading my various source texts, I discovered elements that all of my target mythologies had in common-points of intersection. First, they all subscribe to the existence of certain very specific supernatural beings that have interacted and continue to interact with humanity to this day. Second, they more or less universally accept a single common historical event: the global flood. From these intersections, the plot of my novel arose.

But these are broad strokes. Starting points. I’m not writing this to promote my own work so much as to tackle the subject of solid research methodology.

When conducting research, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of reading books, both original texts and commentary texts, including commentaries from as many different perspectives as possible. The tension between scholars who disagree is rife with creative possibilities! The temptation, however, is to surf through a handful of Wikipedia pages, watch a Discovery Channel special, and call it done. This usually won’t be enough to generate convincing real-world depth in your writing, though, not if you don’t have a wealth of personal, firsthand experience in the subject you’re dabbling in.

The internet is your friend. We all know that. It’s like saying that the sky is blue or pizza tastes good. More specifically, the internet is that friend you can never fully trust because, although you like them and spend as much time with them as you can, he or she is a compulsive liar-albeit a well-meaning one much of the time. So it’s a good idea to vet and twice confirm information gathered online. Now, I’m not going to say I haven’t embraced a half-baked conspiracy theory or two and thrown them into the plot stew; I have, and such additions often provide that je ne said quoi spice that keeps life interesting. But it’s got to be the seasoning, not the base.

Finally, get out of your head every once in a blue moon and remember that it’s not all about screen research. You have to spend time with people. Talk to them. Befriend them. Learn from them. In my case, I scheduled face time with a number of people I know who run in pagan circles. Frankly, some of my electrifying material came from them. It’s important to stretch ourselves, to dive into areas we know are dark and murky. Real, live, breathing people make for fantastic sources, and often other people’s beliefs and perspectives bring a lot of colour to the party.

In the end, it’s important to remember that the best mythologies, on a narrative level, function best in the background. Compelling human drama is where the real story is. Even when the myth jumpstarts the plot, the characters should hopefully still do the heavy lifting. And yet without myths and legends, where would we be as modern-day storytellers? Nowhere, I say. Absolutely nowhere.

Mythology Research: A Case Study, Part One

Craft & Skills Evan Braun No Comments

As a writer, my genre of choice is hard sci-fi, and this involves a lot of research. Since I don’t have a science background (or, let’s be honest, any kind of aptitude for it at all), I sometimes feel like a fish out of water. I love that feeling. So when a fellow writer and close friend approached me a few years ago with an idea for a series of books that would delve deep into dozens of cultural and religious mythologies, I seized the opportunity.

But I had my work cut out for me, because this was an area I didn’t know much about. In other words, business as usual. Because it’s so important to write what you know, I therefore needed to acquire a lot of new knowledge. Fortunately, I absolutely adore doing research. There’s nothing quite so satisfying and exciting for me as Wiki-surfing late into the early morning hours, clicking from one link to another and amassing all manner of random trivia. Targeting that effort is a bit more work, but worthwhile in the end.

First of all, I hope I won’t offend anyone when I refer to “religious mythologies.” It would be quite impossible to write about the subject of mythology research as it pertains to my writing without broaching the subject. As a religious person myself, I don’t mean to imply that these various “mythologies” don’t also bear resemblance to truth. I use the term only to refer to systems of belief-and in the case of this particular novel I was authoring, all systems of believe. Or at least as many as possible.

My scope was necessarily broad, but I was especially concerned with the intersection of three sets of religious mythologies-Christianity, Judaism (including Kabbalah), and Paganism. I dig into a lot of others also, but for me these are the big three. And admittedly, Paganism is probably too broad to justifiably squeeze into a single term, but for the purposes of brevity, I’ll leave it at that. My goal was to dive into these mythological and look for ways to unify them.

My starting point was an ancient Hebrew text called the Sefer Yetzirah. Could it possibly have a more spine-tingling name? Sefer Yetzirah. To my ear, it sounds deliciously mysterious. Its direct English translation is “Book of Formation (Creation),” from which I derived the title for the first novel in the series. As legend has it, this short text (it’s only about four thousand words, total) was penned by Abraham, the Patriarch. The story goes something like this: Abraham sat down one day for a tête-a-tête with the Almighty, and on that day God explained to him how the world was created. This wasn’t a retread of the creation account in Genesis which so many of us learned in Sunday School; this was the nuts and bolts version, what some people refer to as “creation science.” We’re talking specific methodology, a step-by-step “Creation for Dummies” how-to guide. Except, of course, there’s a catch. There always is. Even translated into English, the whole thing is basically incomprehensible. It’s a fun read, with lots of symbology and numerology on display, but no one can claim to grasp it. Here’s a sample:

In two and thirty most occult and wonderful paths of wisdom
did JAH the Lord of Hosts engrave his name…
He created this universe by the three Sepharim, Number, Writing, and Speech.
Ten are the numbers, as are the Sephiroth, and twenty-two the letters,
these are the Foundation of all things. Of these letters,
three are mothers, seven are double, and twelve are simple.

It goes on in that vein. This is research at its most fun, surely.

So basically, I had to do a lot of reading, some of it difficult, and a lot of digging. Another text I spent much time investigating was the Book of Enoch, considered apocryphal by most modern-day Christians but a really gripping read nonetheless. In it, a number of interested mythological concepts collide-angels, demons, giants, monster, and yes, even aliens, if you turn the page and squint at it a little bit. I looked into the rest of the Apocrypha, and looked for connections between my Big Three and some of our world’s most famous myths, most notably from the Greeks and Romans, who gave us so much to work with. Not to mention Egypt! The Native populations in North and South America are also especially myth-rich, though they are often neglected for some peculiar reason; in particular, I’ve become very interested in the early Inca civilization.

There’s more. Much more than I have room here to go into… and even if I did, it would likely stretch your patience to the breaking point.

In tomorrow’s follow-up post, I’m going to spend some time to talk more about my research methodology. Be sure to stop on by!

The Legend of Great Love: A Look at the Great Romances We Remember and Why They Work

Character Clancy Metzger No Comments

heart 1With this title in mind, I began researching the topic looking for trends as well as doing a little soul-searching since I am a romantic at heart and write romance. I freely admit I am in love with love. In book, movie, poem or song, old or new, happy or tragic, requited or not.  I love love.  And this topic could not have been more timely on a personal level.

Over the weekend I had a discussion with my sweetheart about the word “love’ and while I don’t want to bore you with my life, I do want to explain the filter through which I am currently perceiving this word.  We love our pets, our cars, our friends, and the steak we had for lunch. How can one word cover so many things and hold its meaning? And how does that impact Great Love? The higher love of John Donne’s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning? The enduring love of Shakespeare’s Sonnets? Great Love covers more than common feelings and an over-used word.

When I am told that what someone feels for me is so much more meaningful than what the common word “love’ can possibly convey, I feel Greatly Loved in the capital G, capital L, Great Love kind of way.  That one incredible human being refuses to tell me he loves me because it does disservice to the depth of his emotions regarding me, well… I can tell you I have never been told anything so romantic or heartfelt no matter how contradictory it may sound.

Yet with all the grand  ideas of love and the ideal of Great Love, there is a trend I’m seeing in some of the great legends that bothers  me. I am practical, intelligent and have a firm belief that stupidity is its own reward. So, as I looked at lists of the “great’ romances (a couple sites I perused – Best, 10 Greatest, Top 20, Top 100) I became a little frustrated with how much rampant stupidity was involved.  Perhaps a harsh term, but we’re going to run with it for now. Before you get your big girl or boy panties in a twist, let me say I love most of these stories – rampantly stupid or not. It was just a trend I saw. I will explain. Stay with me.

First, why do these stories endure? I think it’s because they  lead us to a belief in something greater than ourselves. Something selfless and more meaningful than our happiness, than physically being together, than even life itself occasionally.  Something transcendental and eternal. So, while I love (there’s that word again) these stories, I would like to add a counter-balance thought to some of them.

heart 1We’ll alternate between the happy endings and the not-so-happy endings.

♥ Odysseus and Penelope – Time and patience pay off.  Yay. Great Love has no limits. Storms and travels and suitors abound, but Great Love stays the course.

Romeo and Juliet – Happy for the willingness to overcome all obstacles including family and friends’ disapproval to be together. Sad about poor communication.  Warning: Lots of bad communicating ahead and usually in the ones ending tragically. Maybe a lesson to be learned? Communication = Good.

♥ Jane Eyre and Rochester – Disparities in social standing, marital status, money and family situations cannot conquer Great Love. Neither can physical impediments. With time and clarity on what’s important, Great Love will triumph and our lovers will live happily ever after. I love that.

Antony and Cleopatra  – Stormy relations involving love, power and politics.  Something’s got to give and can you really separate them? I don’t know.

♥ Marie and Pierre Curie – Smarts and dedication combined with Great Love can lead to scientific break-throughs and a life well-lived in honor of the Great Love you shared.  Death of one does not have to mean an end to that Great Love.

Lancelot and Guinevere – Again, we have power and politics involved (always messy), and although they didn’t live together at the end, they both lived. As romantic as death seems in the abstract, in reality, I don’t think it’s much of a solution.  And really, relationships founded on cheating on current spouses rarely end well. There’s a lot of this too.

♥ Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – Another Great Love that brought forth greatness in both people when together and the survivor when one died. Sure, Victoria grieved all the rest of her very long life for Albert, but she was a great monarch and paid tribute to her Great Love by continuing on in his memory.

Tristan and Isolde – Kings of any type get the short end of the Great Love stick as their wives keep falling for other guys. I’m gonna say that the risk of jeopardizing a solid relationship as Queen is a pretty big sacrifice to make in the name of love, not to mention it usually also runs the chance of being killed or stuck in a nunnery, you know… for cheating on the king. For the guys too – you risk your life when you fall for the King’s woman. Sacrifice + Risk = Great Love. I guess.

♥ The Dashwood Sisters – Sense and Sensability… Let’s start with Marianne and Willoughby  – stupid.  They may have been in love, but it was a wimpy love with no backbone.  All surface and no substance. Col. Brandon on the other hand, his love is substantial. It waits and is understanding of youth and immaturity.  Once Marianne pulls her head out of her ***, this is a Great Love. Elinor and Edward’s relationship certainly tests friendship and honor and generosity in the face of utter heartache. These two have a Great Love and a happy ending  they’ve earned the hard way.

Scarlett and Rhett – They were a hot mess. But they kept trying and maybe that’s the enduring quality here. Or maybe it’s that despite being a calculating, manipulative, shallow, difficult person, there is someone still willing to love you. No matter what. And if he leaves… well, he’s come back before and tomorrow is always another day. I’m not going to go into the whole Ashley/Melanie aspects. Triangles and trapezoids and daisy-chains of unreciprocated non-sense are not Great Love. I do think Ashley and Melanie had a Great Love that is more honest and worth noting than Scarlett and Rhett’s, but conflict is at the heart of story-telling, so…

♥ Rick and Ilsa – Casablanca. No, they didn’t end up together, but their sacrifice of Great Love was for the greater good and I can respect that.  Their acts of selflessness mean they can sleep at night knowing they did what was right and not convenient. Rarely is Great Love easy.

Pyramus and Thisbe – Wow for misperception and jumping to wrong conclusions a smidge too soon. This is one of those “stupidity is its own reward’ stories for me. I don’t see the romance in this one unless you want to say that life is meaningless without your Great Love.  Whatever.

♥ Nickie and Terry – An Affair to Remember. When all hope is gone, you discover you were wrong and love may not be waiting for you atop a building, but it is pretending nothing is wrong when it wants to run to you and can’t. If you don’t get it… watch the movie. I cry every time.

Cathy and Heathcliff – So, Scarlett and Rhett had nothing on Cathy and Heathcliff as hot messes went. They are both completely flawed and selfish. Neither gives two hoots about anyone but themselves and their Great Love. That could be the enduring trait – Great Love at all costs.  Including other partners, siblings, parents, children and let’s throw in some animals and servants for good measure. Why not? They completely destroyed themselves and everyone around them. And not that the other people are blameless, they didn’t have to stick around for it. Everybody involved seemed to think love was a weapon of mass destruction. For the record, I still love this one… just pointing out some alternate thoughts.

♥ Charlie and Rose – The African Queen. Great Love is not always handsome or beautiful. It is not always romantic in the traditional sense. Sometimes, it’s a lonely alcoholic running a crappy boat up and down a river building something with a high-handed sanctimonious spinster. Building something out of strength and respect and courage.  Hell yeah, sometimes Great Love endures because it fought to survive.

There are many reasons these stories endure, many reasons we want to cling to the idea of Great Love. Maybe I touched on some, maybe not. I’m open to discussion. Anyone got some other Great Love couples they want to mention and why? I’d love to hear about them.