When I first wrote BECOME (then, THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER), I relied heavily on Christianity as the basis of my world--a lot of my characters/events/history came from the King James Bible, specifically the Book of Revelations.
But when I was finished writing, I discovered the book was awfully Christian. Which in and of itself wasn't a bad thing, but since Desi is the devil's daughter and there's some pretty dark scenes integral to the story, I didn't think the book would find the right audience--strongly religious people would relate to the religious themes, but be turned off by the darker themes, and vice versa.
Over several revisions I cut down the Christianity as much as I could, but never really got to a place where I felt like the book could sit squarely on one shelf (inspirational/Christian) or the other (fantasy).
Then one day I was doing some family history research and had kind of gone off on a tangent, researching this druid king that's way back on the Irish side of my family tree. And I found this image:
I have a pendant very much like this, but it turns out not to originate as a Celtic design, but Norse. As I read about this Mjolnir (Thor's hammer) pendant, I became entranced with Norse mythology.
Then things began to click.
The Norse have the world tree, with Helheimer at its roots and a giant serpent eating away at the tree's foundation.
Christians have the tree of life, with Hell at its roots and the devil, often depicted as a serpent, who seeks the world's destruction.
The Norse have Odin, the god of all the words who lives in Asgard.
Christians have God the Father who lives in Heaven.
The Norse have glorious warriors led by Thor, who sometimes come to the aid of mankind.
Christians have angels, led by Jesus Christ, who sometimes come to the aid of mankind.
The Norse have Loki, the trickster, who despises living in Thor's shadow and seeks to bring down the hierarchy of his father, Odin.
Christians have Lucifer, the father of lies, who despises Jesus and seeks to usurp all of God the Father's plans.
...
By marrying the two mythologies I was able to soften the Christian aspects for the benefit of non-Christian readers, and introduce relationships between Christian and Norse belief-systems in a way that I hope is intriguing to my readers.
I have to admit that after researching, then writing, my new Norse-Christian mythology, I pretty much had my mind blown! It seems I found relationships all over the place to the point where now I think, "This could really be true!"
I love it when books make you think, by keeping one foot in reality and the other in fantasy to where you're no longer sure where the line (if there even is a line) exists. I hope you find the mythology just as interesting when you read BECOME!
Do you enjoy reading about worlds that are completely new and original? Or do you like to read about things that could exist in our reality?
22 karate chops:
Very interesting to hear how the mythology of your novels was born. I like to read novels that are not real, but make you feel like the worlds created could exit.
I enjoy either. It's hard to write about angels and demons and not refer to some kind of faith/christianity. I'm glad you found a way to make it work b/c I loved Become!
I prefer the blending of worlds to create something new and original, or the use of a religion that isn't Christian base (not that I would realize it was Christian based most of the time).
I love Norse mythology. You've just given me another reason to bump your book further up the pile. :)
Clever of you to merge the two! Norse mythology is fascinating. You're right - your book might've struggled to find just the right audience otherwise.
Good job. I love it when two worlds come together like that. And good on you for figuring out where not to cross the line.
Very interesting how you merged the two together, Ali!
I like reading about all kinds of things. New worlds, current worlds...if it's a great story with dynamic characters, it's all good!
Yea - my angel/demon world marries all the major mythologies - the overlap is huge. Part of the collective unconscious and all. Great job!
I loved the blending of Norse/Christian mythology you used for BECOME. Then again, I'm a big fan of Norse mythology. Well, all mythologies. Hehe!
And I love both new incredible worlds and the more realistic ones too.
I loved studying Norse mythology in sixth grade, and it was so much fun to read your take on it in Become! I didn't realize how many similarities there were with the Christian religion--what a fun thing to research!
Norse mythology? That is pretty cool Ali! I love reading about new worlds. I find it fascinating what we writers can come up with. ;)
These mythologies intersect all over the place and throughout the world. I love the marrying of the two - I think it could be a fun idea with two other mythologies too. Of course, that is all dependent on writing it as well as you wrote Become :)
I love all kinds of mythology and sounds like a great mash up. Isn't it great when looking at your family history sparks something in your writing.
Marta ~ Me too. That's why it was important to me to use lore that's familiar, while putting a new twist on it. I wanted people to go "I wonder ..."
Laura ~ Thank you! I'm glad it worked for you!
Stina ~ I love it when I get something NEW, even if it's "old" ... just give me a new twist--something that I haven't thought of before.
Alex ~ Hard to say. But yeah, once I started digging into Norse mythology I was pretty much blown away by all the similarities I was able to draw upon.
Anne ~ Thank you Anne! I've had Catholic friends read it and it hasn't offended them, so I guess I must have stayed on the right side of that line! :)
Laura ~ Whew! An open-minded reader. Love it!
Christine ~ It really is amazing how much we all have in common!
Cherie ~ Another open-minded reader! So grateful for you!
Meredith ~ It really was fun! And my son (6th grade) LOVES Norse mythology. I'm sure his talking about it influenced me!
Carolyn ~ No guf! Have you seen Prophets of Science Fiction? So interesting to see all the things writers dreamed up in their books/screenplays that are now REAL technologies. As if writers are psychic or something. :)
Tasha ~ I bet many different ones could be merged. Like Christine said--we, as a collective, have much of the same belief systems. And thank you so much for the compliment!
Patti ~ Absolutely! I love family history, that's for sure! I have a druid king in my family line--I love to image what his life must have been like.
Thanks for this post, ali! As you might have surmised from my previous inquiries, this mix of mythologies was what I found most intriguing about your story-world, and I've been curious to see how you got there.
You did it so well. It's my favorite part of the book! As for your question, I have to say both!
I'm going to have to download your book. Really. This is definitely something I'd read for fun not just to do a book review.
I'm fascinated with Norse mythology. And it seems that everywhere in the world is connected back to it somehow.
When I read Become, I was fascinated with the way so much of the Christian and Norse mythology looped, swooped and entwined so well. I was rather impressed with that aspect, to the point of going to pick up a Norse mythology book to freshen up on it.
As for the worlds, I can escape into a new world or one that could actually exist, so my answer would be both.
I love mingling facts into my story. I research in order to add that bit of information to the story.
This is so very cool! I love reading how writers mold their ideas from one thing to another. I just watched Thor the other day so I also liked hearing this comparison after I watched the movie. So true!
This is awesome Ali! The perfect way to make it all work! I love mythology. It makes things so intriguing :)
Oooooh I love background stories like this! And the combination of the two traditions is a great move on your part. Esp. now after Thor came out everybody LOVES Norse myth.
Post a Comment