Create a myth

Location: Where do you want your myth to be set? What culture? Briefly research three cultures and/or three locations and the cultures connected to them. Provide a brief description of each. Choose one and explain why you chose it. 2. What type of myth: Creation myth? The relationships between Gods and Goddesses? Trickster? Death and the Underworld? Choose your overarching topic carefully, even looking ahead in the book if necessary or at other sources. 3. Who are your gods and goddesses? Who are the other characters? Most myths contain Gods and Goddesses, so try to read around other Gods and Goddesses you are interested in. Use traits or parts of their myths to build your own. For example, Thor, the Viking God of War and Lightning, had a hammer he used to create thunder. Your God/ess could have a similar instrument for creating a problem in your story. 4. Understand the rules for creating myths in the culture you choose. This may mean a feature of speech such as repetition ‘Fee, Fi, Fo Fum…’ or the rule of three; ‘three fairies’ or ‘three boxes’. Use this within your own myth to create the structure. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect, or is totally different, there are always exclusions to the rule. Be inventive, while stick to your cultural or historical setting. 5. Invent appropriate names: Naming your characters and settings is vital but you don’t need to work them out immediately. You want the names to fit the culture you are creating. So a goddess name Tiffany in a Scandinavian medieval saga, not so much, unless you can make it work (sorry Tim Gunn). Make them pronounceable, especially if they are meant to be read aloud. Research names that would be used in your culture or words in the language your culture speaks that are attributes that might work as names. Resolve your myth: Create the world. Tell us how something was created (such as and that is how the God/dess created the seasons). Resolve the relationship between the god/desses and mortals. Vanquish a monster that represents some evil in your world. If you kill of your main character, there must be a reason why. All events in a myth are relevant to the story. Include a message or moral, something related to human nature that is a common failing. This is a factor in many myths.