Where To Find Inspiration For Writing Gods And Inhumans
This is related to my recent post on writing non-humans!
Here are where I get my inspiration for writing 'primal' characters:
Old World Religions (that you aren't familiar with): like Jainism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism Taoism, and such. Since I'm assuming that you probably come from a first-world, probably western civilization, you're probably unfamiliar with these religions/philosophies. However, in my personal ~beliefs~, these religions are just soooooo interesting in how they characterize their gods and how those characterizations impact the natural world and their worshippers. Ugh, love it.
Old World Cultures: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Assyria, Celtic, Aztec, and other such cultures are great because their religions and cultures are often not given much time in the sun to show of their amazing intricacies. Old cultures can also give people a way of 'expanding' their moral event horizons so they can write characters that don't abide by modern, moral sensibilities. I also just like learning about cultures that aren't just "Greek/Roman" over and over again.
Representations Of Archetypes. Tarot cards, Carl Jung "Devouring Mother", the three goddesses of Maiden - Mother - Crone, story archetypes of Martyr and Persecutors. The best thing about this section is that it lends well to creating this atmosphere and believability that yes, these creatures have been around before the dawn of mankind. And archetypes such as the Devouring Mother, which spits in the face of parenthood, lend moral separation and insidiousness to villains.
My personal inspos when I need to get into that primal, inhuman headspace are:
Suspiria (2018): I like the main goddess trio and it managed to use primal elements of tears, darkness, and breathing to connect with dancing which is like softcore body horror, and aspects such as: feminism, WW2, fascism, imperialism, germany, and it's amazing.
The game, Immortality: This game has a great mystery aspect which is important when making characters feel out of this world, because the more they are around humans, they get more anthropromorphized. The two characters I'm referring to also use heavily this focus on time, storytelling, and archtypes which contribute to this believability and otherness yet relatability.
(watch Flawed Peacock's videos on Youtube if you can't play/watch these games/movies. P.s I also like his Who's Lila video for it's supernatural abilities. The channel also covers more supernatural inspiration points, movies, games, and books which are highly complex and rife with inspiration. God, I wish I could write like that)