Name some myths and legends in your YA.

Marzipan · Aug 11, 2009

Mythology has always been a part of literature and so has research. Recently a lot of YA novels have had paranormal or mythological elements such as faries, vampires, werewolves, witches, and demons.

This is just for fun, and I was curious. What sort of legends have you guys dug up for your WIP?

Apart from all the fun werewolf/shamanism stuff that I've researched i've also have snuck a lot of Norse mythology into my work. It goes well with the whole basis of totem animals and shape changing and I have also pulled Fenrir and The Midgard Serpent into the equation as characters.

Horserider · Aug 11, 2009

Since Destiny's world is made-up, all the legends in it are from my imagination. There's on in particular of how the two moons, Aikia and Ladia, came to be that was fun to write.

LittleFlowerLei · Aug 11, 2009

I used the folklore (Or mythology. idk what it is.) story of "the twa sisters" for my YA fantasy.

The story is about one sister who murders her younger, prettier sister because the man the older sister loves wants the younger one instead. The story (As one of the ways she was brough to justice.) says that she was found out because a musician found the younger sister's body and used her hair as strings for his instrument. He played it in front of the town and it told the story of how the older sister pushed her younger one into the river. Older sister was taken into custody for her murder (Although in some variations, the older sister got away wtih it.)

That was a fun chapter, actually.

Stunted · Aug 11, 2009

Like Horserider, the most important myth in the novel is original. I really like the way it interacts with the rest of the story.

Last novel around, I read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/157859071X/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

basically cover to cover. I highly recommend it.

Sage · Aug 11, 2009

I made up mythology for LS. Although I used the Seven Deadly Sins for demons, so I did do some research for that.

DownLoad was SF.

AFTRLYF and HEVNSNT are actually adult novels, but every Angel of Death in it is based off a deity or the name of a being associated with death, so I did a lot of mythology research for it.

Echoes of Silence and Euniq had a lot of names based off appropriate entries I found on pantheon.org. Euterpe, who was in both and the MC of one, is a muse, and all the children of her race were also named after muses.

~*Kate*~ · Aug 11, 2009

I'm using some very, very basic information on witches and wicca. If this ends up a series, I'll have to flesh it out a little more, but for now it's just bare bones b/c that's all I need.

Blackest_Nite · Aug 11, 2009

I, like a lot of other people, have made up the legends for my WIP. It is a fantasy so elves and other mythical creatures are present, but it's a very subtle element. I do like it when authors use folklore and mythology as a basis for writing, especially when it isn't well known lore.

Amynta · Aug 11, 2009

While my current WIP is set in its own world, some of their own aetiological myths/historical events, such as the one that explains why women are forbidden from practicing magic (which is a problem to be overcome), is heavily inspired by one of the myths explaining why the Athena became patron of Athens, and not Poseidon. And the WIPs aetiology also includes a lot of influence from the Trojan War and the surrounding mythoi, such as Aeneas and his quest to found a new Troy.

Tuuli · Aug 11, 2009

I also use Norse myths, but I have a unique twist on it. The secret is use something people are less familiar with. Agents get excited because they don't have a bunch of similar stuff in their slush piles.

Kitty Pryde · Aug 12, 2009

I've been using fairy mythology from England, looking back as far as I can go to the earliest stories and poems. Especially 'Kensington Gardens' by Thomas Tickell and 'The Court of Faery' by Michael Drayton. It's been interesting sorting out what came out of folk mythology, and what authors like Shakespeare and JM Barrie have added to the mix.

Saltier · Aug 12, 2009

My current WIP has some alchemy in it

YAwriter72 · Aug 12, 2009

I have faeries and elves and pixies and ogres and trolls in my WIP. Agent told me when I pitched the story to make the world my own, don't do whats been done already. So I did! I did use some common things like Glamour and the veil separating worlds, but other that that, its all from my head. hehe. Scary.

Shady Lane · Aug 12, 2009

that broken bones grow back stronger.

(you have no idea how many people are pissed off that it's my premise and it's not true.)

CommonReactor · Aug 12, 2009

I'm trying to thread some Celtic mythology and astrology into mine...I've been reading some of the Welsh stories in particular. Pretty interesting.

Shveta · Aug 12, 2009

Shady Lane said:
that broken bones grow back stronger.

(you have no idea how many people are pissed off that it's my premise and it's not true.)

That's hilarious. Well, probably not for you.

But people are silly.

I hope always to write stories that somehow involve Indian culture and/or Hindu/Buddhist mythology. My current work in progress uses a character from an ancient drama by Kalidasa and borrows a storyline from the Mahabharata.

Poetoffire · Aug 13, 2009

The myths in my novel are of Thantalos, Sisiphyus, Charon, and Merope, superimposed on the concept of the Grim Reaper.

Marzipan · Aug 13, 2009

Thanks everyone! I'm glad so many people responded. I also come up with my own mythology and legends here and there but I also believe its good to keep old myths alive in new literature.

Thalia · Aug 14, 2009

Norse mythology is just plain awesomeness.

I can't exactly name everything in the WIP I'm most excited about now, but one WIP has Norse Mythology, Greek Mythology, King Arthur, and any other mythology I learn enough about to slide in there.

McMich · Aug 15, 2009

I used both norse and celtic mythology- mainly because my family is a combination of irish and Norwegian, so I grew up with the norse/celtic myths. Now I am being exposed to indian myth through all my indian co-workers. I've read alot about mythology but I've been exposed to so much celtic/norse mythology I can't help but use it.

shethinkstoomuch · Aug 15, 2009

I've used Norse and general Irish mythology, but I've drawn heavily from the Welsh.

PaperFlowers · Aug 15, 2009

I'm working on making up the myths behind my story.... I'm trying not to overload it with mythical creatures, and only the main characters have magic, so I find I don't have to pull too much from existing stories.
I just thought of something though -- Gods and Goddesses play a large role in the story, so I guess I may be using Roman and Greek mythology in a very limited way. I know so much about the Roman gods and goddesses that I'm probably referencing it without even - really - realizing it.

Momento Mori · Aug 16, 2009

I reference loads of myths and legends in my WIP but it's all done in passing.

The background mythology is a war between angels and demons, but the events in the book reference:

- werewolves

- vampires

- trolls

- Arthurian legend

- the legend of Tristan and Isolde

- Cain and Abel

- genies and

- ghosts.

MM

alainn_chaser · Aug 16, 2009

I usually use a lot of myths in my work but it varies how much I research and how much I make up.

For my vampires I did a lot of research because I needed them to seem medically possible. I used one amazing website that I've lost now.

For one of my long dead WIPs I used tons of research. I researched everything. Pretty much every magical creature you could come up with I researched.

For TOXIN I did almost no research. I spent like two minutes on wikipedia looking at curses.

For my current WIP I'm doing more research on angels because I pretty much know all I need/want to know about demons anyways.

Sometimes you want to stick to the old myths and sometimes you want to do something new so that effects how much you research.

Melissa_Marr · Aug 16, 2009

I'm a folklore geek, so everything I do is rooted in lore. I modify it as appropriate (and as has been done for centuries), but I approach it kinda like grammar/mech rules: I can break rules with reason, but I need to know them first.

All of my books rely heavily on Celtic folklore, fairy tales, & misc tidbits. I have a story in an antho that uses Haitian zombie lore (no bokors, but lore of the use of zombie powder) & Scottish glaistigs in Raleigh NC. Another short is a selchie tale (modified for our era) in Southern CA. My next novel will play with the Wild Hunt. My first adult novel uses an obscure bit of Irish lore. In all of them, the lore doesn't get in the way of the plot, but the two are intrinsically connected.

Zoombie · Aug 16, 2009

...all of them?

Name some myths and legends in your YA.

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