1. Introduction
2. Understanding Folklore and Myth
3. The Intersection of Folklore, Myth, and Speculative Fiction
4. Techniques for Integrating Folklore and Myth
5. Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
6. Writing Exercise: Integrating Folklore into Speculative Fiction
   1. Example Prompt
7. Conclusion

Introduction

Hey Author of Tomorrow, if you’ve been following along with me this year, you’ll have heard me reference folklore as an amazing tool. Today, I want to help you integrate folklore and mythology into your speculative fiction. The great thing about folklore is it can be a major component of your story, or just a little spice to add depth to the story.

Folklore is an amazing force to add culture, character building, and establishing the setting all at once. Think about the times you’ve heard folklore, and half the time you don’t even realize you’re hearing it. Sometimes it’s stories about a ghost at the local graveyard, to ways to have better luck like that pair of underwear that you should probably wash.

Myth is often linked to the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and other ancient civilizations worldwide. These myths often revolve around powerful gods and goddesses, epic heroes, and fantastical creatures.

Blending traditional elements with modern genres can create compelling narratives because it provides contrasts and familiarity for the audience to engage with. This approach combines new perspectives with nostalgia to create a unique storytelling experience.

Understanding Folklore and Myth

Defining Folklore and Myth

Folklore: Folklore encompasses the traditions, customs, stories, and beliefs of a community or culture, passed down orally from generation to generation. It includes fairy tales, legends, proverbs, jokes, and even traditional crafts and dances. Folklore reflects the values, fears, and hopes of the people who tell these stories.

Myth: Myths are a subset of folklore, consisting of stories that are often sacred and explain the origins of the world, natural phenomena, and the customs and beliefs of a society. Myths typically involve gods, heroes, and supernatural beings. They are foundational narratives that help shape a culture’s worldview.

Roles in Cultural Storytelling

Folklore: Folklore helps keep the history and traditions of a culture alive. This can be accomplished through stories, songs, and rituals. Many envision folklore as the elders standing by the fire and passing on these stories, songs, and rituals to the young ones in the dark of night. But really, in modern times, it’s more in the lessons learned in the daylight of school, family, media, and our social circles. Media is a large influence on modern folklore. The spreading of information and stories has made it possible for you to access tales from across the world.

Myth: They were used for explaining natural phenomena, teach moral lessons, and provide entertainment. The stories of Greek and Roman mythology, in particular, continue to captivate readers and inspire countless works of art, literature, and film. The enduring appeal of these ancient myths speaks to their relevance and significance across different cultures and time periods.

Common Themes

Common themes in folklore and myth include:

• Creation and Origin Stories: Explaining how the world and humanity came to be.
• Heroic Journeys: Tales of heroes undertaking significant quests or adventures.
• Moral Lessons: Stories that teach ethical principles and values.
• Natural Phenomena: Explanations for natural events like thunderstorms, earthquakes, and the changing seasons.
• Transformation: Themes of change, such as metamorphosis or personal growth.
• Good vs. Evil: The eternal struggle between opposing forces.

The Intersection of Folklore, Myth, and Speculative Fiction

Historical Examples of Folklore and Myth in SFF

Folklore and myth have often intersected with speculative fiction, enriching the narratives with timeless themes and archetypes. Let’s look at a few examples first.

• J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth: Works such as “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” find themselves deeply rooted in Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythologies. Inspired by these tales of the past, Tolkien blended mythological traditions with his own invented languages and histories.
• “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson: This cyberpunk novel explores themes of linguistics, philosophy, and ancient Sumerian culture. Hiro Protagonist, a freelance hacker and pizza delivery driver, discovers a computer virus and a drug, both called Snow Crash. These have roots in ancient mythology and definitely take this sci-fi into a unique ending.
• “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman: Explores the idea of old gods from various mythologies existing in modern America. These gods (from Norse, Egyptian, Slavic, etc. mythos) struggle to remain relevant in a world that has mostly forgotten them.

Enhance World-Building and Character Development

Folklore and Myths offer writers a chance of adding depth to their stories while also creating a sense of history. One thing I struggle with early in the writing stage is remembering that this world I’m creating existed before page one, chapter one. One way to remind yourself of this is to use folklore and myth to look at what the people in your story believed from the past. The great thing is that you can pull from pre-established myths or folklore or make your own.

My favorite lessons from my Greek Mythology course was that what we now call Greek Mythology used to be a religion. Then the Romans came in and made their own version of it to minimize the established Greek beliefs. In a sense, you can use mythology to see what your world believed before the current times. That will give you a starting point to fill in the gaps of history and find what made your world the way it is today.

Folklore and myth can also tell you what fears, stigmas, and beliefs your characters might have. Incorporating a well-known folklore or myth automatically provides a backstory for the character, allowing you to focus on a particular phase of their life. Or you can use it to find traits that your character will possess. For example, if you made a character inspired by the trickster god Loki, they might be mischievous and cunning. This will help you add a quick layer to their personality and actions.

When you want to have folklore define a group of people, it can be as simple as traditions, rites of passage, or the things your society makes. How many fantasy stories can you think of where rites of passage were required? Often these are in YA fantasy novels, as that’s our society’s most accepted time of gaining maturity. Did you know something like BBQs on the 4th of July is folklore? Are there traditions, whether through food or actions that appear in your story? What do they say about your people and what they view as important to celebrate? Your character, not wanting to take part in these events or traditions, can create complexity in their personality and the story.

Techniques for Integrating Folklore and Myth

Researching Folklore and Myths

A myth or piece of folklore has inspired you, or you just want to add it as another element to your story. Either way, you’re going to need to do some research. Identify the themes and messages you want to convey through your story. This will help you as you dig through countless pieces of myth and folklore to find these elements. Having this in mind will help you focus your search. To create a trickster god, you can start with Loki as a reference and then explore other trickster gods in different mythologies for inspiration.

A quick google search can give you the basics. Did you know in many Native American oral traditions have the coyote as a trickster god? Anansi is a trickster figure from myths and legends across West Africa? You can research outside of the normal regions to find different ways to present your trickster god.

Understanding the cultural background and significance of myths is vital when studying them across different cultures. This helps avoid misrepresentation and cultural appropriation. We’ll talk about this a bit more later in the post.

Adapting Traditional Stories to Fit Your Narrative

Now that you’ve established your core elements from the myths or folktale that resonates with your story, find what areas it hasn’t filled. Maybe you took a character archetype, a moral lesson, and a specific plot structure. Next, you’ll need to identify the story, the setting, and the characters that will fill the rest of your story. For example, you could set a traditional folktale in a futuristic world.

After you’ve set up the main parts of your story, you can change or add things to make it fit better. You have the option to add new characters, subplots, or change the story’s setting. You might also consider altering the ending or the moral of the tale to align more closely with the themes and messages you wish to convey to your audience. Adapting myths and folktales gives you the freedom to shape the story based on your own vision and goals as a storyteller. This process opens the door to a world of imaginative possibilities that can breathe new life into classic tales, making them relevant and captivating for contemporary audiences.

Creating New Myths and Folklore within Your Fictional World

With a basic understanding of myth and folklore, you can now explore how they teach lessons, share traditions, and bring people together in your own world. What role will your new myths and folktales play in your world? Are you writing YA where teens will share stories with each other to challenge them to go to a graveyard at a certain time? Or will traditions coincide with magical events that keep people from certain areas or get them to gather in a certain area? When you figure out what you want to use these tools for, then you can build the details of myth or folktale.

If you’ve reached this point of integrating myth and folklore into your story, you’ve most likely built most of your world already. This means you can use your fictional culture’s values, beliefs, and history to craft the myths and folktales. To make your story more authentic, it’s important to incorporate myths and folktales into your world from the beginning, instead of adding them as an afterthought.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Cultural Appropriation

Sometimes we use elements from other cultures to add depth to our stories. That by itself isn’t the pitfall known as cultural appropriation. The issue arises when you use these elements without understanding or respecting their significance. N.K. Jemisin’s “The Broken Earth” trilogy is a great example. Jemisin drew inspiration from various African and indigenous cultures in authentic and respectful ways.

How to Avoid:

• Research Thoroughly: Understand the cultural context and significance of the folklore or myth you are using.
• Consult with Cultural Experts: Engage with people from the culture to ensure respectful and accurate representation.
• Give Credit: Acknowledge the sources of your inspiration and the cultures they come from.
• Avoid Stereotypes: Be mindful of not reinforcing harmful stereotypes or reducing a culture to a single aspect.

Over-Reliance on Well-Known Myths and Legends

Well-known myths and legends are great resources for story material. Much of the information is already known, and the writer is able to focus on the current story, trusting that most readers know the backstory. You can see an example of this in the newest set of Spider-Man movies, where they gave the backstory a line or two in the first few scenes. While the other sets relied heavily on the origin story of Spider-Man.

Relying too heavily on well-known myths can make your story feel unoriginal and predictable. Just inserting new character names into myths that have been re-written countless times and not focusing on originality can hinder your myths or folktale.

How to Avoid:

• Explore Lesser-Known Myths: Delve into myths and folklore that are not as widely known to bring a fresh perspective.
• Combine Elements Creatively: Mix different myths or add unique twists to well-known stories to create something new.
• Develop Original Lore: Use myths as a foundation but build your own lore and world-building around them.

Failing to Integrate Folklore Organically into the Story

Folklore is an amazing tool for world-building and revealing lessons that characters need to learn throughout the story without being too heavy-handed. It also gives your readers something to identify with and allows them to create their own traditions. One example of this is the opening of most branches of the Pokémon universe. You begin your adventure by choosing one of three starters. Players of the game, readers of the manga, or watchers of the TV series often have their children crawl, walk, or swat at their selected starter.

The challenge then becomes, how do we introduce folklore in a way that doesn’t feel forced or out of place, as that can disrupt the flow of your narrative?

How to Avoid:

• Seamless World-Building: Integrate folklore into the world-building so that it feels like a natural part of the story’s universe.
• Character Integration: Have characters interact with or be influenced by the folklore in meaningful ways.
• Plot Relevance: Ensure that the folklore elements are relevant to the plot and contribute to character development or story progression.

By being mindful of these pitfalls and taking steps to avoid them, you can enrich your sci-fi or fantasy story with folklore and myth in a respectful and engaging way. 

Writing Exercise: Integrating Folklore into Speculative Fiction

Create a short story or scene (500-1000 words) that blends elements of folklore or mythology with a science fiction or fantasy setting. This exercise will help you practice researching, adapting, and organically integrating folklore into your speculative fiction.

Choose a Folkloric Element:

• Select a lesser-known piece of folklore or mythology from a culture you’re not overly familiar with.
• Research its origins, significance, and common themes.

Define Your Speculative Setting:

• Create a brief outline of a science fiction or fantasy world.
• Consider how technology, magic, or societal structures might interact with folklore in this world.

Adapt the Folklore:

• Modify the chosen folkloric element to fit your speculative setting.
• Consider how the passage of time or technological/magical advancements might have changed the original story.

Create Your Characters:

• Develop 1-2 main characters who will interact with the folkloric element.
• Define how their beliefs, background, or abilities relate to the folklore.

Write Your Scene:

• Craft a scene where your characters encounter or interact with the adapted folkloric element.
• Focus on organic integration – the folklore should feel like a natural part of your world.

Reflect and Revise:

• Review your work, considering:
  • Does the folklore feel authentically integrated into your world?
  • Have you avoided cultural appropriation and stereotypes?
  • Does the folklore serve a purpose in your story (e.g., world-building, character development, plot advancement)?

Example Prompt

Setting: A colony ship in deep space, 500 years into its journey.
Folklore: Choose a creation myth from a culture you’re unfamiliar with.

Task: Write a scene where the ship’s AI, tasked with preserving human culture, is retelling this creation myth to the latest generation of colonists. Show how the myth has evolved over centuries of space travel and how it relates to the colonists’ current situation.

Conclusion

Integrating folklore and mythology into your speculative fiction can breathe new life into your storytelling, adding depth to your world-building and characters.

By researching thoughtfully, adapting creatively, and integrating these elements organically, you can create rich, immersive narratives that resonate with readers.

Remember to approach cultural elements with respect, avoid over-reliance on well-known myths, and use folklore to enhance your story’s core themes. With practice and care, you can harness the timeless power of folklore to craft truly unforgettable science fiction and fantasy tales.

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