S18:E11: How to Write Mythic Fiction: 7 Practices to Reconnect With the Lost Art of Mythmaking

What is mythic fiction and how can we write it? Earlier this month, I shared an episode about how to write mythic fiction in which I discussed the difference between adapting inherited myths, that is just retelling the old symbolic stories over and over in quote-unquote new ways, versus creating our own myths.

My suggestion was that truly mythic fiction is not merely a process of imitating epic structures such as the hero's journey and populating them with a list of character archetypes such as hero, dragon, king, mentor, etc.

Rather, mythic fiction is a generative creative process that arises from our deepest and most intimate journeys into the unknown wilds of imagination and intuition.

from the same energetic authenticity and integrity that birthed the old myths, fairy tales, and folk tales that continue to matter so much to our culture.

Mythic fiction is something authors must discover for themselves through the integrity of their own creative processes.

But how can we actually access the same deep imaginative creativity? How do we write mythic fiction? Mythic fiction is not myth itself, but it shares resonance with the old myths in that both contain truths that transcend factualness.

Both communicate in the language of imagination, the imaginal language, the language of image, the language of symbol, archetype, and shape.

Not least because the medium of story is itself mythic and archetypal, I believe this mythic energy is the true magic of story, no matter what genre you're writing in.

Although we may most easily think of mythic fiction as something like fantasy or magical realism, all genre stories, such as romance and mystery, are inherently archetypal and symbolic.

Mythic fiction captures a quality that bypasses the audience's conscious mind to speak on a deeper level.

Although archetypal symbols and story structure are certainly part of this, this mythic quality is not a formula.

It is something we experience as truth through our own unique imaginal wanderings.

It cannot be taught, but it can, in a sense, be learned.

Mythic fiction can sometimes have a dreamy or otherworldly quality about it, but it can also be extremely modern and plot-based.

It is not defined by voice, tone, or aesthetic.

A story can be mythcore without being mythic.

Putting a dragon or a sorcerer in your story does not make it mythic.

And although speculative fiction often lends itself to myth, every speculative story is not necessarily mythic.

Although some mythic stories may be very right-brained or obviously mythic in their motifs, such as James Joyce's Ulysses, this is not a requirement.

The requirement is that the author is not telling the story so much as the story is telling itself.

And this does not mean authors don't make important technical choices in order to communicate the story to their audiences.

The profound skill of writing is that of somehow wrangling the wild genius of storytelling into a format accessible enough to engage the consciousness of the left brain.

And this is no mean feat.

Mythic stories speak truths even their authors may not have known they knew.

They are stories with the depth and capacity to guide, not through morals or agenda-driven plots, but through the inspiration of the deep visual imagination.