Some of you might remember that Iâm a nursing student. What most of you probably donât remember is that I am graduating this May.Â
I cannot wait to come back to you all and to my writing. I feel like Iâve been denying my very soul for these two years as not a single one of my hobbies, including writing, has survived this time. Itâs getting very hard on my mental health, but itâs finally almost over.
If anyone is still bearing with me/following me/waiting for my return in any way, thank you so much. Only a few months to go!
Nursing school makes me a terrible person. This is why I have no friends.
But during the summer I will be doing a complete overhaul. I also am hoping to have a co-admin so that when I die next, the board doesnât have to.
The overhaul will hopefully make it so that we can touch upon more topics in less time by using smaller chunks and a diverse posting schedule. I think that I would also like to invite members who consider themselves to be very good at a portion (say character development) to post their own pieces if they would like to. If you guys like this, the floor will also be open to members who want to post diversity/sensitivity pieces about the various parts of novel-building (world, character etc).Â
I have momentarily died in order to deal with suffocating homework, four work days, three school days, and car trouble.Â
That being said, I will reassume life in October when my work and school schedule will provide me with one beautiful day off from both of them. That day will be Thursdays.Â
Iâm currently living in hope for those Thursdays, so please bear with me and stay tuned!
Our newest challenge will be to explore the religion in your story. There are several options to complete the challenge:
Write about a holiday. Try to consider how the rituals and mood of the holiday reflect the god(dess) or other entity being celebrated.Â
Share some outlining and construction of a religion you have built from scratch.
Draw or describe a holy place: whether it be a geographical location, a temple, or anything else
Imagine a scene in which your character is interacting with their god(dess) whether through prayer or through complete physical contact.
Post your challenge to your blog and indicate whether or not concrit is welcome and any instructions for your concrit. If youâd like, this might be a great post to include in your world-blog as well!
Since this blog has been around for a few months, I figure itâs time to hear back from those who follow and those who are members. So, in the spirit of getting some feedback, Iâve created a little survey.Â
Because I want this network to be a source of inspiration, a source of connectivity between writers, and a place to learn about the writing process and what goes into a story, thereâs a lot to focus on! I hope that this survey will help me discover what Iâve been doing right as well as what I need to improve in order to make this blog everything I (and you) want it to be.
Retell a fairytale, myth or legend. You could make an aesthetic post, write one scene from a larger story or simply write a self-contained short story. Be creative with it!
Is it modern day? Dystopian? What about genderbent? Was the original story the truth, or made up, slanderous lies? What about mixing two or more tales together? What if they were aliens? Or futuristic superheroes? How about government agents?
Be sure to post whatever you create under the #wwg tag (and perhaps tag me in it too?) Happy writing!
Congratulations, Julia! You have been accepted into the Writing Writerâs Write Group. Itâs wonderful that you look forward to creativity and connectivity as we strive to inspire both of these things. I also love your background in history. History teaches much and can be so inspiring of creativity! Please view the âafter joiningâ page for further instruction. Welcome to Writing Writers Write!
Name: Julia
Pronouns: She/Her
Time Zone: Pacific Time Zone
Blog: @juliakwritings
The ancient Egyptians revered Ra as the god who created everything. Also known as the Sun God, Ra was a powerful deity and a central god of the Egyptian pantheon. The ancient Egyptians worshiped Ra more than any other god and pharaohs often connected themselves with Ra in their efforts to be seen as the earthly embodiment of the Sun God. x
Congratulations, Alex! You have been accepted into the Writing Writerâs Write Group. The world needs more writers who write from a place of necessity and passion. Weâll also be pleased to have someone open to critiques, character building, and editing. Please view the âafter joiningâ page for further instruction. Please also let me know as soon as possible the url for your in-network blog. Welcome to Writing Writers Write!
Name: Alex/Avery Spencer
Pronouns: He/Him
Time Zone:Â
Blog:Â
Congratulations, Mary! You have been accepted into the Writing Writerâs Write Group. Itâs always great to see someone who loves mixing genres, and your creative nonfiction sounds amazing and eye-opening. Please view the âafter joiningâ page for further instruction. Welcome to Writing Writers Write!
Name: Mary
Pronouns: She/Her
Time Zone: Bejing
Blog:Â haphazardlyparked.tumblr.com
Although the announcement is coming a bit late, itâs no less important!
Julyâs Writer of the Month was chosen for her amazing activity, inspirational prompts, and her all-around awesomeness.Â
Jess has an amazingly creative mind, plenty of story projects to keep her busy and to keep us all very intrigued, and still manages to give plenty of time to us here at Writing Writers Write.Â
As winner of Writer of the Month, Jess has her very own spotlight page where you can find a little bit about her and a lot about her amazing stories as well as a link to her blog. She will also be setting our group a mystery challenge.Â
I canât wait to see what it is!
Congratulations to Jess, our first Writer of the Month!
Hello and welcome to a new post about building a culture!
Today weâre going to focus on building a belief-system. This doesnât have to be the first thing you consider in your culture but itâs one of my favorites! Religions and other beliefs are fascinating and a good look into a culture.Â
An interesting exercise before beginning your own religions and belief-systems might be to pick a fairy tale and look into international versions of it. The differences in fairy and folk tales show values and beliefs unique to that culture, while the similarities in folk tales show how the biggest beliefs and fears in humanity are often universal. Cinderella is the most widely spread tale-type and a great one to begin with.Â
Once you have some idea of how fairy/folk tales spread and evolve, it can become easy to imagine mythology doing the same thing. This can help you to understand how to begin building beliefs and to consider how beliefs across your world might interlace and differ with one another.
Now, letâs consider belief systems and values! First, weâll consider religion.
Religion consists of several parts. First, there are the deities--the gods and goddesses--then there are the lower deities such as demigods, demons, or servants of the gods. Next, there is the representation of the deities, the rituals and the holy days. Last but definitely not least there are the rules and dogma insisted on by that religion.
When you are considering religion remember that, like every aspect of culture, religion is not static. Even the oldest religions change and every person in a religion has their own unique beliefs.
Gods and Goddesses
Gods and goddesses often embody or control that which a culture considers most sacred. Sun gods abound in ancient polytheistic religions as do water gods, gods of the earth and nature, and gods of the hunt.Â
When considering what your gods represent or gift to your world, consider what your culture sees as life-bringing and life-saving. Your culture may respect the elements above all use and have gods that represent water, earth, air, and fire. They may have a god or goddess specifically for child birth, the hunt, sex, and love.Â
Many pantheons had gods and goddesses for just about anything you could think of, but in all of them there was one god(dess) more powerful than the rest. This god could be a sun god(dess) as sun brings life (Ancient Egypt: Amun-Ra). Or the god(dess) could simply be the one believed to be the fore bearer of the rest of the gods or a king among the gods (Zeus and Odin).Â
Your culture could also simply worship nature, both the physical nature on earth and the idea that all things are connected. They could also worship two sides of the same coin: light and dark, passion and peace, chaos and control and have deep respect for all that it takes to keep these two gods in the balance.Â
The gods and goddesses in your culture can represent just about anything, but it is important to consider why a culture cares so much about whatever the god(dess) represents. The belief that this element or state of being is so important as to deify it will continue to influence the actions and values of your culture, particularly in relation to that element or state of being.
 Other Deities (Demigods)
Like any good story, religions, even monotheistic ones, need more than one character. Demigods are creatures that have magic but arenât quite gods, mortals that become gods, or sometimes beings that are half-god half something else. Popular demigods include: demons, fae, spirits, servants of the gods, antagonists of the gods, and children of the gods who are deified and return to their parents.
Itâs also important to remember that some demigods go by the same name in different religions but are actually not the same thing. For example, demons in Christian tradition are always evil and work beneath Satan. In other religions or mythologies, demon simply means a spirit that is capable of magic but isnât a god. They can be tricky but are not always necessarily evil.
Demigods are often creatures that can transverse both the material and spiritual world. This makes them perfect wish-givers (djinn), dealers of magic (demons/fae), heroes (Jesus/Hercules), or messengers (angels).Â
If your god(dess) needs something done on a regular basis, they will most likely have a demigod creature to do it for them. If your god(dess) has an enemy, that enemy will be a demigod (what else is capable of actually threatening a god?)
This makes demigods useful both in keeping mythology interesting and in explaining various phenomena believed to be brought about by gods even if those gods donât leave the spiritual plane.
Representation of the Gods
Another thing to consider about your deities are how they are represented. What do they look like in the physical world? What symbols are connected to them? Who may represent their will?Â
Many times, it is only demigods or other minor deities that have a physical form as higher gods control the world from their own home beyond the world of mortals. Demons of all kinds and across many religions are described as animalistic or as having a mix of human and animal traits. Many times, they can shape-shift. In Abrahamic religions, angels are described as beautiful, humanoid, and winged. Fae were described many different ways depending on their type, some beautiful and some terrifying or both.Â
Higher gods sometimes are considered beyond a mortal form and are represented by symbols rather than faces. They can be considered to be pure power, pure spirit, and to be everywhere at once. This isnât always the case, however. Some pantheons have illustrated even their highest god. Whether or not your higher gods have a specific form is up to you.
Lastly, who may represent the will of your gods? A prophet? A Priest? An oracle? How extensive is the training before a person can represent the gods? Is there a divine sign that informs others that this person is a prophet or meant to be a priest or oracle? Is the sign all it takes or are there training rituals as well?Â
Many times, the perfect candidate will be similar to how the god is imagined. For example, in pantheons with both gods and goddesses the gods require priests and the goddesses require priestesses. In religions that hold a goddess highest, they consider women particularly capable of holiness and often have a high priestess. In religions that hold a god highest, priests are favored.Â
How the gods and demigods are represented both physically and how their will may be represented is indicative of many aspects of your religion. It again reinforces what is considered sacred or good and what is considered bad. It also reinforces what kind of people are the most pure and what makes a person worthy of representing a god.
Rituals/Holy Days
Rituals and holidays help tie the gods to their people as they allow contact between the people and their gods. Rituals often symbolize hope that the gods will act or symbolize thanks for what the gods have already done. Holidays are used to celebrate the same, often at once: thanks for what has been given in the past year as well as hope that the next year will bring joy.
Rituals will be specific to your god(dess), what they symbolize or what gift they provide, and how they are represented.
For example, say that there is a sun goddess who is also the goddess of war and bounty. She is a desert goddess and her people believe that their survival in life and in battle is a gift from her. Things grow because she decides not to burn them too hotly, and battles are won because the difficult life she provides allows her people to grow strong, resilient, and disciplined.Â
What might a holiday for her entail?
She doesnât sound like a particularly joyous goddess. Perhaps her holiday would be full of rituals and prayer and solemnity. Her people might show respect by wearing the colors of the desert: orange and red. Painting their faces for war even if they are not soldiers. Dressing simply but very clean. Their might even be a sacrifice of a recently defeated enemy tribe.Â
Or perhaps this is the one day her people are meant to drop their discipline and completely rejoice. Maybe they drink spicy alcoholic drinks that turn their faces as red as the sun. Maybe they wear the colors of the desert but in jewels glistening on their bodies as well as the dark orange clothes.Â
Or perhaps it is a mixture of both.Â
Perhaps the holiday insists of rituals while the sun shines down on them--their goddessesâ eye--and at night, once she has given them her blessing and kissed the horizon, they party.
As long as your rituals have something in connection with the god(dess) they are for, they can be a unique touch to your story culture. They can make the culture seem more alive, as well as their god(dess).Â
Rules/Dogma
Socially, religion provides too basic needs: an explanation for unexplained phenomena, and a set of basic rules and values for a culture to function on. Therefore, it is important to consider not only what stories a religion provides to its people but also what rules and values it expects them to uphold.
Religions set morals. They set daily rituals. They can really set whatever you want as long as a god(dess) has said it is so and has a believable reason to do so.
Common rules in religions:
-How to treat others, particularly elders and family
-Burial rites and how to get into the afterlife
-What foods or animals are clean and unclean
-How modestly to dress or how to dress in the presence of specific gods/servants of the gods
-How to contact the gods
-How to worship
-Birthing and naming rituals
-Sexual relations
If your god(dess) or culture has a specific interest, it is likely written in their holy book and so you can feel free to think outside the box about any rules you might thing are necessary in your religion. Also remember that different people hold different rules more highly than others.Â
Some people might dress exactly as they are told, others might only uphold the most important detail when they dress or might even only dress âproperlyâ at a service.Â
Some people might think some rules are archaic and others might not.Â
Some might be more interested in what the god(dess) supposedly provides when offered one ritual over the other or when a particular rule is followed.
Remember again that while religion provides basic guidelines and an overall trend in dress, behavior, and belief, it is not a monolith just as no part of a culture is. People in one religion will not all act the same or believe the same or emphasize the same values. There will be many similarities as this is a basic belief, but there will also be many differences and many different takes on the religion.
In the next post, weâll discuss folk lore and the stories that cultures tell in order to keep their traditions and their religions alive. See you next time!
