Has anyone tried writing a modern epic?

[Naruzeldamaster]

If ya'll were curious it was a bit like Percy Jackson but Zelda haha(Bear in mind it was far before I knew Percy Jackson existed) it was really goofy I don't remember if I ever finished it though.

One of the funnier moments was Princess Zelda Pleading to the protagonist to help her defeat ganon, Broski just wanted to do an awesome Link Cosplay. If I remember correctly I think he just thought she was a drunk/high Zelda cosplayer lol

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

Is rhyming essential for an epic? I think not

I don't recall Gilgamesh rhyming, but then again, I read it in English and not Akkadian or whatever language it was written in.

I don't think Milton's Paradise Lost rhymes, but I think there is still some kind of poetic meter to it.

 

[Adam Scribentis]

I don't recall Gilgamesh rhyming, but then again, I read it in English and not Akkadian or whatever language it was written in.

I don't think Milton's Paradise Lost rhymes, but I think there is still some kind of poetic meter to it.

You're right: Paradise Lost is written in blank verse (non-rhyming iambic pentameters, like much of Shakespeare's drama). Epic in English doesn't have to rhyme, although it may. Greek and Latin epic (Homer and Virgil) in hexameters doesn't rhyme.

 

[Karlin]

Here's a 20th century epic. The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel - Wikipedia The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel - Wikipedia

 

[rareruin]

Something I have always wanted to do is write a story that captures the style and feel of ancient epics like Beowulf and the Iliad.

Obviously, such a story would need to be writing a poetic style since that is how these stories were written.

I'm wondering if anyone here has tried this and how you would go about it?

Would you need to throw our modern story telling conventions for it to work?

epic no but I wrote a mythic lore

Long ago the heavenly forge of Graunzeil poured over with riches and gold, and the gods walked over the mortal planes in battle against each other. They picked the world for all its worth, leaving nothing behind, but trashed lands and broken men who had nothing. They knew nothing but pain in their stomachs and the broken items scavenged in the wake of battle. In the war the owl amongst many others were cast aside by the god of bliss and the blessing of light and turned to the coven in the god of wisdom and the shadow of night's domain. Under its rake a boy starved of food caught the owl by its tail in its escape from the god of bliss and the blessing of light. At this moment the sky burned brightly as a god descended to the woodlands where this boy hid with the owl wrapped tightly in his bag.

Twas not the god of bliss nor the god of wisdom but the god of fire. He asked the boy why he struggles so hard to survive, to which he only answered faintly… "Because of hunger" yet his lips were formed of silence. The god of fire replied "If you would give that owl to me I'll guide you from this forest to my kingdom in the promise of boundless food and water." The boy was pleased and knelt before the god of fire presenting him with the owl which flew from his hands and into a black cage made of soot, dark as coal, held by the god. The god of fire plucked a feather from the owl which bore the first moth into existence; it fluttered upwards, born from the heat of fire's renewal reddened like a fluttering ember.

The moth circled the boy and led him to the kingdom of flames past the gates and into the city of fire but there was no food for the boy nor was there water to be found. The moth only kept flying further into the flaming city and led him to the center tower, a billowing tornadic spire inferno and at that center was the original ember, the first fire to ever be. The moth dove into its center to be burned up by its heat and the boy was enraged because the nasty god had tricked him, so he ruffled his bag and grabbed a cracked bronze pitcher marked Graunzeil forged in the heavens. Forged in the hearth of Adelaide the city of gods. He grabbed his pitcher scavenged from war and stole the eternal flame the ember and escaped before the god of fire returned to his kingdom which was now laid in ash and rubble.

The moth was forthhence named the moth of knowledge born from the coven of wisdom and the kingdom of embers, the moth which led man to fire.