Then we’ll take a peek at fantasy. Or maybe your gods are vulnerable to nature or technology. That species can worship all the gods but have more allegiance for their creators. Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via : Copywriter, ghostwriter, and content strategy specialist, Subscribe for writing hacks, special offers and free stuff. Say your god of war can also control certain elements like fire and wind. If your fantasy world has several humanoid species, do they each have their own gods or will they share? Creating Gods in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Finding a succinct list of the most notable ones – particularly a list with definitions and examples – is not always straightforward. Fantasy is often based on myths, legends, and folklore, and frequently includes elements from the Middle Ages. A trader might hold a god of travel or trade above the other gods of the pantheon, but he would certainly pay the god of fertility resp… There are three good reasons for avoiding such things: a) Quite often, those gods are used as shortcuts, the way that the exclusively Christian-based or Wiccan-based religion is, … The Novel-Writing Training Plan: 17 Steps to Get Your Ideas in Shape for the Marathon of Writing, Creating Legends: How to Craft Characters Readers Adore... or Despise, The Best Way to Find Inconsistencies in Your Writing, Our Top 10 Free Tools and Apps for Writers, How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro, How to Craft an Engaging Arc for Your Story, How to Use Deus Ex Machina like Stephen King, Upcoming Free Online Events for Writers: Learn With Us, ProWritingAid or Grammarly? These active gods have more of an effect on your story, which makes your story more interesting. To minimize the quantity invented, we can decide each species only has a few gods, not twenty each. Thank you! Think instead about a god — or in the more general model of fantasy, gods — that are not so simple and agreeable. Myths are powerful tools in your world-building arsenal. Your gods could be friends or enemies, but most importantly, they should have conflicts between them. Gods that are supposedly all-powerful become conveniently inactive, despite the fact we’ve been assured of their supreme powers, or have an achilles heel that miraculously stops them in their tracks before they pulverise everything. Whether we write fantasy or science fiction, chances are sooner or later we’ll need a god or gods. Fantasy names beginning with X, Z, G, K, or any other hard consonant. Different religions spring up from different beliefs about even a single shared god, so before we can create religions, decide on deities. And when someone is born, dies, or reaches a milestone, gods are often praised. I agree that Christians should be writing fantasy novels. God knows our innermost fantasies (Psalm 139:2; 94:11), and there is no use trying to hide the true motivations behind our thoughts. A grammar guru, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. You don’t have to have a sky god, or a sun god, or a moon goddess, or any of the other “staples” of fantasy. For example, Christian missionaries have traveled the world trying to spread their faith. Use your imagination. If the settingis magical, you have fantasy – which leaves a lot of room to play. Names that are too suggestive of a character’s personality, i.e. If your story comprises a trek to beg for help from a god, it should be a pretty arduous journey. Register here to access all free Fantasy Week Events. If real, are they happy with a species gaining so much power that they can leave the world the gods created for them? I won't deny that some of my distaste for the religious ending comes from my own preference for a realistic SF story, where everything that happens has a natural, rather than supernatural explanation, and that this comes in part from my non-religious worldview. Every world has religion and myths to explain its creation and how it will eventually end. He anchored his view of fantasy within the image of God and said humans are “sub-creators” who have their own mode of creation which mirrors God’s … The fantasy genre is rich with a myriad of sub-genres, and each has its own conventions and trends. Creating Fantasy Gods. At the least, our characters might want to pray, swear, threaten damnation, or utter thanks. In fantasy, gods often put in appearances that leave little doubt that they exist. You could have main characters on a mission for their god pitted against enemies on a separate mission from their god. Somewhat embarrassing for a writing-aid site, isn't it? Are they patrons of anything on your world, like Patron of Lovers or Patron of Hunters? Not any mere mortal should be able to slay a god unless he or she gets hold of a powerful weapon or uses powerful magic. When writing a fantasy series, it’s easy to fall into well-known cliches. Christian missionaries tried to spread God’s word around Earth, so why not do the same on a planetary level? Our gods can be real or wishful thinking, but in fantasy and SF, they are typically portrayed as real and taking an active role in the lives of the world’s residents. Appendix 1 is a template for creating a god. Or convert them. Characters actually using magic, or the impact of some magical creature or item on the plot, is irrelevant. The latter reduces the numbers we must create, but the former allows for more variety. Bestselling Author Joanna Penn Compares, How to Write a Book: The Best Creative Writing Courses Online, 20 Fantasy Prompts to Kickstart Your Writing (and a Trick for 216 Bonus Ideas), ProWritingAid Presents: Self-Editing School with JoEllen Nordström, Outline Your Memoir Using Fairy Tale and Myth, How Agatha Christie, Ian Rankin, and John Grisham Wrote Bestselling Crime Fiction, 5 Valid Reasons to Turn Down Clients as a Freelance Writer, How to Write a Logline: The Complete Guide. But the same clichés run through most of them, and many are so predictable that you only have to read the back cover to guess the entire plot. Is there a proxy war going on between these gods and those of other worlds? Followers of a religion with a pantheon of gods would hold one god whose domain most directly impacted their lives in higher esteem, but they would also pay respect to the other gods especially as circumstances merited the respect. Question. Can your gods mate with their followers to create demi- or half-gods? You can also identify your gods by other means like seasons or elements. Be more creative! Writing a fantasy novel involves many considerations: Worldbuilding, avoiding clichés of the genre, using popular elements such as magic originally and more.These 34 must-visit fantasy writing resources will help you with every aspect from creating fantasy maps to naming your fantasy characters. If our world has multiple humanoid species, do we want each species to have their own gods or to share all of them? Say there’s the mostly good god Eksa Amble, who is all for justice, taking care of your family, speaking out against evil… and also for the idea that all women are soulless semi-animals that can be bought, sold and mistreated any which way a man wants. The world is not going to pick up a “religious” book and read it unless they are already purposely seeking God, but writing a novel that shows truth about God in a fantasy setting is non-threatening and inviting even. Or maybe creation was a huge secret that will reveal itself at the end of your story or in a sequel. But what exactly do we mean by this?In short, a magic system refers to things that occur or exist in your story that do not or cannot exist in the real world. Having a writing plan can help you stay motivated to write the story and get a draft done. Examples of gods featured in its narrative include: Ares - The Greek God of War. If so, what is your creation myth? Remember, you're writing FANTASY. My motivation for writing a fantasy novel came from the unadulterated joy I experienced as a voracious young reader of fantasy novels. Did they shape the land a certain way or just let it do its thing over millennia? Many fantasy worlds have one pantheon of gods that interact with each other. Or they may be so incensed that they try to wipe out the inhabitants of this wayward planet. What are they gods of? If they created the universe, maybe they’re okay with it because those gods rule the other planets as well. Writing.Com's Fantasy genre, including Fantasy writing, Fantasy stories, Fantasy poetry, Fantasy authors, Fantasy poems, and Fantasy Fantasy. The clothing, weapons, armor, feudal system and dialogue are kept relatively accurate for the time period. Jessica Wood is a British freelance arts and culture writer and an amateur fantasy author with a degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and now living and working in Finland with her husband, who is also a writer. Writings; Contact; Button. Each world could have its own distinct set of gods. If you’re writing science fiction or fantasy, your world probably has a gods. Was there only one god who created your world or several? Where once it was a fringe genre, now fantasy is everywhere in pop culture, from Harry Potter to the memes surrounding Jon Snow.. There’s also never been a more exciting time to write fantasy… ... As per the title, I writing a fantasy story that involves some unique type of weapons or gear that my main cast will use. The discovery of the truth can be psychologically powerful. Has there ever been a better time to be writing fantasy? The choices you make, beyond having a magical setting, tip your story into different fantasy subgenres. Sometimes gods’ behaviors and actions could serve as warnings to your characters. Learn everything you need to know about grammar. Podcast Transcripts. I get inspiration for writing gods from 'American Gods' it offers a diverse look onto Gods and how they can be somewhat normal, and appear in normal civilisation, yet … Source: Unsplash. This was so helpful but I have an assignment due tomorrow about gods and goddesses sadly:<, © 2021 - Orpheus Technology, prowritingaid.com. The names are heavily influenced by Roman, Greek and Norse gods, but plenty of names should fit other cultures as well. With the different terms floating around out there it can be easy to confuse or overlook key sub-genres. Most gods have powers; however, not all powers are necessarily equal. Imperiex - the embodiment of Entropy. Our gods could provide the technologies being used to travel. A common use for gods is to have a priest lay hands on wounded people and ask their god to heal them. Elements of sorcery, witchcraft and enchantment; fantastical creatures and the supernatural; advanced abilities or powers..… A true suspension of disbelief. It tends to be action-packed, including quests or adventures. It includes more comments and advice, and an editable Microsoft Word file can be downloaded for free by signing up for the newsletter. For example, Zeus is the father figure, the leader, and he can father children with mortals. We can choose either approach, but gods who affect events are more useful. While you need not spend days, months, or years creating gods for different worlds, having a general idea of how they differ is a must. You need to know what’s true and what’s not as you create your world. Like all of our writing prompts, these fantasy fiction prompts and plot ideas are varied on a number of different subjects that can fit into the fantasy genre. Get FREE templates to help with your world building! God & Goddess name generator . Or you may give each god individual powers, with one or two more powerful than the rest. In Fantasy. These active gods have more of an effect on your story, which makes your story more interesting. Consider how every society on Earth has a creation myth, an end-of-times myth, and more. For a story to be considered 'fantasy', it needs to contain some sort of magic system. There should be only one God of Love though. Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time. In this case, you should certainly create an end-of-times myth your species believes in. Some might say that less educated, more rural people fall into this category, but many of our greatest scientists believe in God. Many of these fiction writing prompts can be used for sub-genres of fantasy, such as paranormal romance, urban fantasy… Planet-hopping characters may believe that gods created the universe and therefore these deities will also rule other planets. In SF, characters may travel between many worlds, each having a pantheon, which is not to say that we need an extensively developed pantheon for each world. Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings ) knew what he intended to do when he began writing. Maybe your story doesn’t have a father figure but instead has several who can procreate with human women. You can make lists of gods based on things you need in your world like a god of war or a creator god. How to write fantasy - things you should do: Read a lot of fantasy fiction. He or she can have other traits like the God of Spring or the Patron of Children. Can you combine them in different ways to create something new? For example, I knew my Rasesni culture (defined initially as “vaguely Afghan”) would be a many-gods religious theocracy, but my conlang partner had to get into the nitty-gritty of deciding that priests would tend to take god-specific names, and how that would work, and the persistence of older forms of the religious language, and so forth and so on. Darkseid - Apokoliptian God of Evil. Get free world building templates and tips emailed to you for just signing up here. Maybe the gods have a pact between themselves to leave your species alone, but one rogue god breaks the agreement with devastating results. Check out her books: The Novel-Writing Training Plan: 17 Steps to Get Your Ideas in Shape for the Marathon of Writing and Creating Legends: How to Craft Characters Readers Adore... or Despise. Creating stories involving fantasy religions is fun and for some folks tricky. Whether the gods are real or not is another matter to consider. This can be useful for having “gods” that can be killed, perhaps to the surprise of the mortals they rule. Religion is a large part of the human experience, and you lose some great story potential if you choose to omit religion from your world. Ion - physical embodiment of "willpower" of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum. We might also decide that some gods are universal while others are more tailored to a species. Each species can have their own creation and end-of-world myths, for example. If your gods can’t create life, how was your world created? People still often believe in deities. Other questions about your gods’ lives include: If someone can kill them, it must be due to a drastic method. In fantasy, gods often put in appearances that leave little doubt that they exist. About five weeks ago, while slogging through edits on The Brightest Thread, I hit a substantial snag. Lord of Light (1967) by Roger Zelazny - In the science fantasy novel a spaceshipload of humans set themselves up as gods and rulers of an alien race and their offspring. For example, can gods kill other gods? This post is not about the deities themselves. Now think about where your gods live. Part of determining how powerful your gods are is figuring out whether they can procreate. If you’re writing science fiction or fantasy, your world probably has gods. Science fiction often has characters who travel between many worlds. My current novel is set in a world that is equivalent to the high middle ages, circa 900 A.D..-1300 A.D.. Many people you know are still fervent believers, even when faced with scientific evidence. A guide for authors, gamers, and hobbyists. Do they live in an alternate universe not accessible by your characters or do your characters need to visit them at some point? someone named Cipher is an enigma. Although novels are arranged simply by genre in bookstores… Tracey Dyck August 20, 2017 Uncategorized 48 Comments. While people may follow one god they believe all the others exist as well. Read Free! The Christian god is the one who keeps quiet. Are your gods liars, thieves, or other nefarious sorts? Nonetheless, I believe there are many valid reasons why you don't want to have interventionist gods in your fiction. One way to work religion into SF is to consider world view issues. Also think about the relationships between gods when considering their powers. In school I would be scolded for reading underneath my desk while the class was supposed to be learning arithmetic. We can choose either approach, but gods who affect events are more useful. For the main things like love, hate, war, etc., stick with one per god. They’ll help you decide how many gods you need, if you need different religions and stories, and how active your god(s) are in your story arc. My mother, a reading teacher herself, helped nurture and feed my increasing appetite for new books. Do they have titles like "God of Love"? Table of Contents We might invent gods that are tailored to a species, rather than all gods being universal and therefore less specific. You could have main characters on a mission for their god pitted against enemies on a separate mission from their god. And if you want more story ideas, please check out my book 5,000 Writing Prompts! Our characters can live/arrive on a world dominated by religion despite science. The Christian god is the one who keeps quiet. Fantasy stories sometimes have a priest who has powers either received directly or indirectly from a god or gods. A grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. What defines fantasy, more than anything, is a magical setting. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Maybe your God of Fire carries a lightning bolt. In antiquity, there are numerous myths of Norse and Greek gods being jealous of humans, tormenting, killing, and having children with us. But having individual gods that affect how each species behaves and their beliefs might be more interesting. A band of travelers meet in a tavern. Did the gods create our world on purpose or was it a byproduct of a “big bang” origin, and they stumbled upon it? Or you can start with Earth gods and re-imagine them. With live sessions with fantasy writers TJ Klume, Angela J. Ford, David Farland and Stephanie BwaBwa, a world-building workshop, a complete World Anvil software walkthrough and more. Let’s look at gods in science fiction first. We’ll need to figure out where the aliens came from and why they’re doing this. Fantasy names/words with a lack of vowels. In Speculative Fiction, especially Fantasy, one way of distinguishing your fantasy world from another is to populate it with made-up gods.. The last piece of the puzzle can be found in the term ‘epic’: the storyline, the characters, the themes are required to be epic in nature, and often set in a ‘past time’, one where technologies are more primitive than ours. If the gods didn’t create the universe and only rule their area of it, maybe they encourage our characters to colonize other worlds and galaxies, or the peaceful lives they live are shattered by alien invaders coming to convert them. To make the fantasy world seem realistic, describe the setting in detail, create some rules regarding magic and the … Do they have any nicknames? They may try to claim the new planet’s god X is really their home planet’s god Y. A world where the laws of nature can be manipulated in ways that aren’t logical. You may start by aiming for 500 words a day, with the goal of writing a 5,000 word draft of a dark fantasy short story within 10 days. Are they active, causing the seasons, night and day, and the winds, or do they just manipulate these forces? Are they basically good or evil? But you shouldn’t have a peasant with a staff kill a god unless that staff has amazing powers. However, this isn’t enough to define the epic fantasy sub-genre of fantasy. A Forward. In antiquity, there are numerous myths of Norse and Greek gods being jealous of humans, tormenting, killing, and having children with us. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! For example, your god of life could be the twin of your god of death. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Think about how sharing gods between all species makes your story easier to manage. Start with traits. Real-world theology aside, unless the story involves An Aesop about religion being the opiate of the masses or the tool of corrupt priests, it is popular (but not necessary) for the gods in a fictional world to really exist In-Universe. So think about how religion could interfere with or guide your characters in new worlds. Of course, gods vs gods is different, but a gods vs humans battle never quite works for me. The only difference is, when it's your story's world, you get to choose! Lots of apostrophes in fantasy languages without good linguistic reasons. While there’s some truth to this, religion shouldn’t be ignored. A developed pantheon helps us flesh out the priest character’s personality as we decide who they pray to. You can borrow traits from gods in Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology, mixing and matching to create your own unique pantheon. This works well if a subgroup of gods invented that species, their combined attributes influencing the result. You might have a single god with multiple powers that meld nicely together. Hey, nobody's perfect ;) Fixed. If your gods can have children, are these children more or less powerful than their parents? Writing SF on possibly highly-developed worlds doesn’t absolve us from inventing religion, which will never really go away. Our first ever Fantasy Writer's Week will be jam-packed with FREE events for fantasy authors. There’s an idea that science kills religion, the premise being that the more scientific discoveries are made, the less need we have of religion to explain things. "Probably has a gods" Writing your own fantasy story is an incredibly rewarding process. In SF, sometimes the gods are actually advanced aliens masquerading as gods, as in Stargate SG-1. Fantasy names with too many vowels. A conflict between good and evil is a common subject in fantasy. Hercules - Demigod son of Zeus. Now, while I don’t suggest getting rid of every fantasy clichés in… A capital G snag–God. It has 100 more fantasy writing prompts in addition to the ones on this list, plus hundreds of other master plots by genre, dialogue and character prompts, and much more. For example, the God of Love might be kind and benevolent and might carry a bow and arrow (a little cliché perhaps).

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