When dealing with mythology, religion, and beliefs in fiction
Whenever I write a story which involves mythology, there is something I always make sure to do. Be respectful and do my research. Even more so when I’m not writing about my own beliefs or culture.
Whenever I write a story which involves mythology, there is something I always make sure to do. Be respectful and do my research. Even more so when I’m not writing about my own beliefs or culture. I want a reader to see my writing and think “oh wow, this author has done their homework” rather than “this is nothing like them”. And one of the key things to respect them is by learning what you can about the subject, and applying it. Even in fantasy.
For fantasy to be truly believable, it needs good immersion, and to get that you need all the small details you don’t think about, little hints here and there at something bigger. And I think the same when applying things that don’t belong to me.
Another thing to remember is that some things we may write about, people still believe. We might not believe it, but it’s important to them, and I don’t think it should be taken lightly. I strive to get things as correct as I can in my stories, only taking liberties when I can’t find something, or to bend the rules slightly to add things such as magic.
Of course genre can change how the information we have found is applied. A parody piece might have gods acting nothing like their real-life counterparts and that can work. However, in more serious pieces, if you have a god in your story and they are nothing like their counterpart except in name, readers can take it badly. I certainly do, and it can put me off so badly I’ll tell people to avoid it. I don’t want this to happen to me, and so I work hard to stay true to the research.
Sometimes liberties have to be taken, there are gaps in knowledge, or even things not being translated so you can learn it. Sometimes you need to make things easier for your readers too, especially if they are quite different from the original culture. I find this a lot with my stories in Japan, and have to pick and choose a happy medium. One such thing is name order. In Japan it goes [Surname, First name] and people often call people by their surnames. In the west it’s [First name, Surname], and we often call people by their first names. So then I have to make a decision. When people introduce themselves do they do it the Japanese way, which would be true to culture, or the western way, which would be localised. In this case, I have opted for the western way, however I do have character refer to eachother with surnames when appropriate. I try to make it super clear to my readers which name is first and surname too, though it can be tricky. I feel like this is a happy medium that keeps things true, but means my readers can follow along if they aren’t sure on Japanese customs.
Another thing I have done is about spelling and pronunciation of words, the best example being the word yokai. In Japanese it’s actually transliterated as yōkai with the ō being an ou. So if I was going to do a direction translation, I’d use youkai. However, the -ou sound is different in English than Japanese and we would easily pronounce it as you-kai, whereas in Japanese the pronunciation is closer to yokai. So I decided to drop the u, and it’s still mostly correct, and it keeps the pronunciation closer than being exactly correct.
There are things, however, that I know I’ll do and write which won’t be right simply because I haven’t grown up in that culture, nor have I had the chance to visit Japan yet. All I can do it make it as authentic as possible, as anybody who is Japanese can probably pick out that I’m certainly not Japanese, nor grew up in that culture.
I’ve seen it from the other side, reading a story written by an American about England. It was the tiny things which gave it away, descriptions which made sense in an American setting, but certainly not here. It really broke my immersion, something you really don’t want to have happen to your readers.
On the other hand, I have seen it from an author who went above and beyond for her stories. Michelle Paver wrote one of my favourite series The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. They’re technically children’s books, and it’s a historical fantasy series, but the worldbuilding in them is breathtaking. I noticed it when reading the first book Wolf Brother even as a child, and it still sticks with me now, nearly twenty years later. And what did she do? She went out to get as much first hand knowledge about what she was writing—or as close too as she has fantasy aspects too—and built her world on that.
Through all that research and being able to add it into her stories, she also imparted knowledge onto her readers. Before those books, I didn’t know about aurochs, juniper berries, how hunter gatherers did sea fishing or how tools were created. And while enjoying reading the storyline of the whole series, I learnt so much. That’s exactly what I want to do with my stories too.
And from that I can then build on the more fantastical aspects and incorporate it to what I have learnt. Especially when dealing with the supernatural yokai, as for some little is known. But knowing the cultural rules and how other yokai act, it’s easier to make the lesser known ones fit right in place.
I also give a little leeway with timelines too. For example in my story One, Two, Three I have an indigo farmer, and a dye maker. Indigo dyeing certainly happened in Japan… however not til a little later than my intended year span. If I were writing historical fiction then I wouldn’t stray too far, but because I’ve got the fantasy element, I’m blurring the edges a little. And the benefit is I get to share really interesting things too. I’ve looked into the indigo dyeing and it’s really cool!
When it comes to writing about yokai themselves, I always treat them with care. They’re so much more than supernatural beings of the west and even now some still permeate into every day life for Japanese people. One of which is the zashiki warashi—and there is a great documentary video if you want to learn more about it here. We don’t really have an equivalent, but I can tell from my research they’re special. So I’ve taken what I have learnt from such research, and I apply it into the past for my stories, as there is a lot of culture around the world which has stayed the same for many years.
Lastly, and the most fun part about researching, you find out so many cool things. It can be frustrating having to research for information every few paragraphs, but the upside is that I can stumble on things which spark new ideas or give me something to filter into my stories as background information.
Sometimes I feel like I go too far trying to make things correct, but then I remember Wolf Brother and the appreciation I have for it, and hope one day someone can appreciate my stories like that too.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to read your thoughts, so please comment. If you wish to support me financially, I have a subscription over on Patreon and Ream.