Creating a Myth: A Guide

Forms of a Myth

Myths can take many different forms:

• A legend based on historical fact
• A fictional story meant to convey a more significant lesson
• The belief system of an entire culture

What is important to remember about creating myths for yourself is that you are trying to answer questions like “Who am I part of? Why am I here? Where did everything come from?”

What Are the Six Types of Myths?

• Creation Myths
• Theogony or genealogies of the gods
• Cosmological or origin of the cosmos
• Iliad and Odyssey cycle
• Heroic age myths
• Other local, short-lived traditions are less known today.

What Are the Characteristics of Myths?

• Myths are always set in the past.
• Myths are timeless. They are not affected by when or where they were created but rather deal with universal themes.
• Myths are sacred stories that provide a deeper understanding of the world around us. They give us an insight into what people in earlier times were thinking and how they understood their place in this world.

What Are the Elements of a Myth?

Elements of a myth include; setting, characters, events, themes plot. These are some common elements of myths that you should use when creating a myth.

These can all be used to help build your myth and make it unique.

• Stay away from using too much descriptive language
• Introduce the setting of your myth in the very beginning.
• The trick is to make it short and concise while still containing all of the vital information needed for the reader to understand the topic
• Remember, not every myth will be written down as a novel or story since they were passed down orally from generation to generation

What Techniques Can I Use to Write My Myth?

There are many different techniques you can use to write your myth. Here are just a few of them:

• Use personification
• Place the myth in an interesting setting
• Choose an interesting creature or animal to be featured in the myth
• Create a dialogue between different characters
• Create suspenseful moments where people want to know what happens next
• Use metaphors and similes to help illustrate the meaning of the story

The possibilities are endless! You can use any technique you’d like or even a combination of different methods to help bring your myth to life.

Here’s an example:

“Lightning flashed across the sky as thunder echoed through the air, making sure it was heard throughout the land. The creatures and animals ran to their homes, looking for shelter from the storm that was coming. Lightning struck a tree in the forest, causing it to fall over, trapping several animals underneath its fallen branches. What would they do now? How would they get out of here?”

The myth itself doesn’t tell us what happens but leaves it up to the reader’s imagination. It provides vital information to the story but doesn’t give away too much about what happens. This would make the reader continue reading to find out what happened to the trapped animals and if they could get out of there safely.

What are some Common Myths?

Many different myths exist and continue to be created every day. Here are just a few examples:

• Why the Sun Rises in the East
• Why Snakes Shed Their Skin
• How Pecans Came to Be
• Fate, Destiny, Free Will
• gods and goddesses
• gods and heroes

What is a Greek Myth?

Greek myths were first written about by Hesiod and Homer, two of the first known poets in Greece. Greek myths were widespread in ancient literature and helped shape what we now know as modern-day society. Many people see Greek mythology as historic. These myths were once believed to be true by those living in Ancient Greece. They used them as a means to explain the world around them.

Examples of Myths:

Example 1:

It was said that there was once a great king named Midas who had the ability to turn anything he touched into gold. This made him very wealthy. However, it also meant that food lost its taste. One day, as he sat down to dine with Silenus and Pan, the gods of the forest and fields, his fingers turned everything he touched into gold. But to his surprise, Silenus spit out the drink he had been given because its taste was unaffected by Midas. Pan laughed and told him that this would be his punishment: everything he touched would turn gold. And this is how we get the term “Midas touch.”

Example 2:

Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. She bore many children, both male, and female, but her favorite was Eros. He not only shared his mother’s good looks but was also one of the most mischievous gods in all of Greece. Aphrodite often had to make things right after Eros’s pranks. One day, he became so upset with Aphrodite’s constant meddling in his affairs that he decided to have a little fun with her. He shot one of his special golden arrows at her, and she was utterly smitten by Anchises, a young prince from the island of Troy. Soon enough, she had fallen deeply in love with Anchises, and Eros was delighted. Now Aphrodite seldom interfered with his love affairs but instead stayed out of them completely.

Example Greek Mythology

Here’s an example of a myth from Greek mythology about how the sun was given to us:

One day Helios, the sun god, approached King Aeetes of Colchis and asked for the hand of his daughter, Medea. The king consented, but only if the young god could complete a series of challenging tasks that no mortal had ever accomplished before. Helios decided to try anyway and traveled to Iolcus, where he began to work at King Admetus’s palace. Over the next few years, Helios worked as a shepherd, an agricultural laborer, and even as a musician in the court of King Oenopion. The king’s daughters were impressed with Helios’s many talents and fell in love with him. However, when they found out that he was engaged to Medea, all three sisters tried everything they could to get rid of Medea so that one of them could marry Helios instead.