War of the Gods: a story idea.

[Devora]

I've had this idea (since i first tried planning this idea to reimagine the Norse Mythology in a realistic light) where all the Gods from the major mythologies (i.e Norse, Hindu, exc.) come to this great battle that shakes the universe, almost mimicking the Norse belief of Ragnarok.


Would this work as a story, or is it a little too ambitious to work into a narrative?

 

[Chilari]

I think it can work. If you create an identifiable protagonist to tell the story through - perhaps a mortal used by one of the gods as a pawn as the Greek gods were prone to do in myth - then there's no reason the scope of it should be a problem.

 

[Jessquoi]

That would work. I think it would be even more interesting to tell the story from the POV of a god. How would gods think differently to mortals? It could be very fun and an interesting insight for readers.

 

[Chilari]

Perhaps if the scope of the story intimidates you, you could consider starting small, or at least, starting so it seems small, and gradually reveal the full extent of the conflict over time. For example, you could have a relatively small rivalry between two gods, or the fall-out this produces in the mortal world, along with the small scale conflcits that will arise from it, before revealing that this apparently small thing is influenced by and influences something bigger, which is actually only a medium sized thing, and part of the much larger overall war between gods. If you have a mortal character caught up in it, or recruited by one god or another to their side, then the scale can be revealed gradually to this character along with the reader. Then it wouldn't feel quite so ambitious to start out with and build up naturally.

I for one look forward to seeing something like Pan competing with Loki over who's more mischievous - or working together to make trouble for the more serious gods.

So good luck and let us know when you've got something we can read!

 

[wordwalker]

Gotta love an idea this big. And Jessquoi has a point, it might be about how distinctive a god's view is even in the middle of a shaking world.

Then again, Chilari's right too: something this big would be fun to move into carefully, seeing how many wrinkles you could bring out of a human caught between them. Neil Gaiman's American Gods is the usual favorite along these lines, but I prefer Jane Lindskold's Changer and Legends Walking.

 

[Alexandra]

Why would all the gods from the various mythologies wage war on each other — relevance? I suggest you read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

 

[Penpilot]

Why would all the gods from the various mythologies wage war on each other — relevance? I suggest you read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I'll second reading American Gods. It deals with a war between various Pantheons, one being Norse. it'd be a good book to be aware of so you can make sure you differentiate your story from it.

 

[Devora]

Why would all the gods from the various mythologies wage war on each other — relevance? I suggest you read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I'll check out the book. I've been meaning to read Gaiman for awhile, but I never got around to it.

As far as why they're fighting I don't know since I haven't got the much planned out, but all I'm asking is will the idea work and is it any good?

 

[Chilari]

Don't get hung up so much on ideas. There are lots of ideas. Some have been done, some haven't. Some have been done really well by one author and really badly by another. It's not the quality of the idea that matters, but the delivery of the writer.