Religion -

07Jan 2011 by diannagunn

Mythology 101

You're not going to be writing any actual myths today-unless you choose to-but it is important to take a look at the mythology of your world. Today's questions are designed to help you make your world a little more complex, and to give any religious characters you might have some more depth. Mythology is my favourite part of worldbuilding, so don't be surprised if this exercise takes you a bit longer than usual. It's not just that it's my favourite-there are a million different things you can explore with mythology. Questions&Recommended Reading ~What do your Gods do in mythology that lend credibility to their character? If you've already done Religion 101, then you have an idea of what your gods represent. A pretty good one at that. Now consider the…

Religion 101

Novels, Prompts, Workshops, Writing

Religion is an important part of our world and our history, and it will probably be a major factor in yours as well. Religion is used both as a tool to liberate and as a tool to oppress all kinds of people throughout history and even today. It's used as an excuse for various wars that are really about land and resources. People have a great need to believe in something greater than themselves, especially people living in rough times. Those who endure the most suffering often have-and really need-the most intense faithfulness. As living conditions for people in general get better we stray away from religion and find different paths, some along various spiritualities and others in science, but most of us have a spiritual root of some kind.…

Prompt and Questions

Novels, Prompts, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing

First, since the prompt is likely to take you away from this blog, let's tackle today's questions. Today's questions will be about religion, which is crucial to understanding the whole culture that your characters live in. Religion is of varying importance to varying cultures throughout the world and throughout history. Your world might be predominantly non-religious, but it might be like ours a couple hundred years ago, almost entirely ruled by religion. 1. Does religion influence education? How so? Religion, especially if there is a state religion, almost always influences how people are educated in any given country. The effects could be as simple as a bias in teaching or as complex as the temple itself providing education. Your church could be in charge of your schools. In the Kingdom…