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What to say when there's no God?

Theankh

Scribe
I have a bit of a quandary.

In my fantasy world, religion isn't part of the story. The setting means there probably is some form of religion or spirituality in people's lives but right now, I have zero interest in it, partly because my main character has zero interest in it.

It's going to have to be brought up eventually though, you can't have major life events like births, deaths and marriages without some kind of hint. And even worse, I've found I have no idea what to make my characters exclaim! I didn't really realise how reliant I am on phrases like 'oh my god' until I noticed they didn't make sense in my world.

I was thinking about just using elements of existing mythology, like the roman gods, or the norse, changing the names and using that as a rough framework for the 'background holiness' that has to appear in the story eventually. This is more for my benefit than anything, just so I have something for them to say. How do other people deal with this kind of thing? Do you create a whole new religion from scratch, even when it has nothing to do with your plot?
 

TWErvin2

Auror
If it is a backdrop because it has very little to do with the plot or the beliefs of the characters, but you feel it is important to have, there is nothing wrong with using something that exists or existed as a template.

The other option, if you do not want religion to exist in the world you're creating, then you'll just have to be very careful in wording and elimnate or significantly alter certain ceremonies. In a fantasy world it's quite possible to have it populated by all athiests if you write it that way. How convincing you are at it, with hard work and attention to detail, certainly doable. How the potential audience responds? Unknown.

Just my two cents as in my novel-length fantasy works, religion, while not a main focus of the main character, does play a part in the world's cultures and the plot.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I haven't written about a world with religion for years, and I find it pretty easy to avoid. "Oh my god!" can be replaced with a simple 'Amazing!' or, depending on the connotation, a well placed f-bomb. There are a lot of things people exclaim regularly that have no holy connotation. As for having things in the background, surely this comes up often? When your characters are eating, do you write an entire bestiary and guide to flora of the world to ensure that it is possible that they could have a dragon steak? Probably not. Work backwards, I would say. You have a culture already, I presume, so think of a few things that could be important to a religion that may have made the culture the way it is. If you have a culture of, let us say, blacksmiths, then it could be presumed that the gods are of fire and stone and metal. Name them whatever, I think people will pick up pretty easily that "Damn them to the fires of Urthgon" is equivalent to "damn them to hell", or that "by the might of Calsirun" is equivalent to "by the might of God." A few names that match your culture and references that would hint at something more is more often than not enough.
 

Eliazar

Scribe
You can always use a mundane authority, like a king, a philosopher, or some "holy" sites in the nature, their father land, or somethig. I suppose these phrases came into existence when people faced some unexpected situations and thus cried out to whomever they believed in. If you don't have a god, make them believe in some famous or mighty person, or a hero from their stories, or even some "idea" or philosophical concept, whatever it is your people believe in. And I think everyone believes in something, even though some might deny it ;)
 

fcbkid15

Scribe
I wrote a story a while back like that with no religion, and my characters usually said something like "In the name of the queen", or simply "Oh my."
 

Digital_Fey

Troubadour
It sounds as though what you're after is the 'illusion' of a general faith, rather than a detailed religion that forms the foundations of society. As such you could probably get away with thinking of a few names for deities and dropping them into the conversation whenever appropriate. For instance, someone nicks their finger on a new dagger and mutters, "Odin's beard!" (Actually I'd avoid mentioning beards, it's overused, but you get the idea :p). If marriage or funeral rites become an issue, it might be useful to do some cursory research with regard to different religions and pick out any elements that you like/find appropriate, avoiding unnecessary detail of course.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
It's easy to give the common folk a sort of folk-way; medicine, belief in some sort of god who gives them rain for their fields, etc. Most of our world and its current religions started out like that, giving people hope, laying down basic rules and morals... it's all very helpful to establishing boundaries for how people act and who they are.
If communication is your primary reason for considering this, I would think it might be fun to come up with a list of expressions for confusion, surprise, frustration, etc. that didn't involve religion. There's a list you can google about insulting someone in Shakespearean English which is particularly funny to me. It might get you started...... Shakespearean Insults
There are a limitless number of things one could exclaim about, and it might even help to reveal your world and people.
Why call a problematic stray a "God D**ned dog," when "slavering cur" or "mangy mongrel" will express how your character actually feels about the animal?
And, don't forget all those oldies but goodies, "a pox on you," and other insults and exclamations based on disease or plague. "Oh, pussblotches!" or "Flea-bitten squirrel butts!" OR WHATEVER see it's fun.
And last but not least, the insults which portray which mannerisms are not looked highly on in your culture, "Boot-licker", "pig-nosed", "horse-faced", etc. etc.
 
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I remember in The Sword of Truth they didn't have gods, but they would always curse "By the Spirits!" and in Codex Alera they would always curse "Ravens!" because ravens were a bad omen. So really, it just depends on the world you set up. You could make it anything. My fiancee, in an effort not to curse, always says, "Fudgemonkeys!". Hey, whatever floats your boat.
 

Helbrecht

Minstrel
A rule of thumb I use in my worldbuilding is that no matter how detailed it is, if you don't have something your protagonist can swear by when his house blows up, you're doing something wrong. :)

It would certainly be possible to write a world without religion. I believe the Pern series is a good example of this, and several of our fellow Scribes, as discussed above, seem to have done a fine job at it. But personally I think an atheist fantasy world, particularly if it's at a medieval level of technology and/or social development, is a little curious. Humans (and presumably elves and dwarves, etc.) seem naturally inclined to develop detailed mythologies and theologies to answer questions that can't otherwise be explained. The overwhelming importance of organised religion in medieval Europe was part of the reason that many of its institutions which we now regard as primitive and unfair - you know, feudalism and stuff? :p - lasted so long, and if your world has similar institutions it might need a similar body to support and legitimise them.

So you can do without religion, but if you want to incorporate it at all without doing much work, then borrowing a lot from real-world mythology is probably the most economic solution. You don't need to define the roles of every god in your fictional pantheon, either. Just determine the name and general image of the dominant deity, the god of war and battle, the god of chaos and discord, the god of life and fertility and the god of death and you're probably set. :)
 

Ravana

Istar
Go grab some Dr. Strange comics. He has a whole host (a hoary one, even) of exclamations. ;)

Normally, if I'm going to use religion, I make it up from scratch. And if I'm not, I either omit mentions of it altogether, or use generic references such as "By the gods!"–and let the reader assume there are gods (or at least that the characters believe there are), but that they probably aren't going to be showing up in person, and in any event won't be playing pivotal roles in the story.
 

CicadaGrrl

Troubadour
If it's just a matter of ejaculations, yeah. Just avoid the word. You can also write death and birth ceremonies that make no reference to a higher power. If you do put in religion, even nominally, though, try to make it your own, and developed enough for your purposes. Or at least rip off a religion that doesn't get ripped off much. In the main, look at the people and the culture you have created, and see what would mean divinity to them.
 
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