Creating a Mythological Structure

One of the surprises that cropped up when I was writing The Wanderer series occurred when all of the gods started to show up.

I’d originally conceived of the first book in the series, The Wanderer, as an historical of the early middle ages, and the religion at that time would have been Catholicism. It played only a minor role in the original draft.

But then I decided I didn’t want to be tied down by historical accuracy so I created a story world heavily influenced by the history of England during this early period, but without the monotheism.

I realized that pagan culture might be a more interesting backdrop for these characters, and it was. Exploring what characteristics the gods (of all genders and none – I’m using the word “gods” as all-encompassing) might possess took me a long time to hammer out.

But then the gods and their demands on their followers stopped being background. They became characters who play pivotal roles in plot events. Their actions and machinations drive Lucinda’s actions and reactions and they create quite a few of the consequences.

I sometimes felt like I had to run to keep up with them. I can’t even begin to list the research I did into mythology and its impact on culture (and vice versa) in order to make them seem real.

What I love about this evolution is how it allowed me to explore choice (always a theme in my novels) against the pressure of fate and societal expectations.

The first god, Sophia, initially emerged as just someone Lucinda could pray to and whose followers gave Lucinda shelter. Then Sophia grew into a complex character with a backstory and history herself, with both good and bad facets.

Naturally she couldn’t be the only god that people worshipped in a polytheistic society and pretty soon I had them popping up everywhere. The result, I think, gives a pretty good flavor of what a medieval polytheistic culture might have looked like.