How To Create Mythologies Within Your Stories
Easy tactics to add texture and dimension to your stories
When you hear the word myth, what do you think? An epic Homer text or a Euripides play? Do you think of a 10-hour Lord of The Rings trilogy? Something enormous and impenetrable. I find it daunting to think in terms of creating something that huge.
And fear aside, the Middle-Earth Blog by Michael Martinez reports that it took Tolkien 17 years to write Lord of The Rings. Who’s got that kind of time?
But fear not, mythology doesn’t reside only in epic fantasy or sci-fi books, and it’s not hidden in the formidable stories of the Greeks and Romans.
From phrases like an urban myth to unicorn investment, the idea of mythology surrounds us, and we love it.
What is a myth?
Formal definitions for a myth have a wide range; they talk about early humans and traditional stories, supernatural elements down to a fable that is without truth.
But none of these dictionary definitions help with the technical crafting of a myth. So I looked to the guru, Joseph Campbell, and his ubiquitous book on mythology, The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
