Tolkien and lewis were inspired by mythology

[mayaking]

I take inspiraation from irish and norse mythology

 

[Finchbearer]

The dish ran away with the spoon

 

[mayaking]

The dish ran away with the spoon

what do you men. i know thats a famous poem

 

[pmmg]

Mr. Tolkien did in fact write a song that is very similar to Hey diddle diddle, called The man in the moon stayed up too late.

The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late

Perhaps Finch is just pointed that out.


Tolkien and Lewis were inspired by folklore and mythology, this is old hat. I will assume you are asking the fine people here, what are the things that have inspired them. Is that the purpose of this thread?

 

[mayaking]

Mr. Tolkien did in fact write a song that is very similar to Hey diddle diddle, called The man in the moon stayed up too late.

The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late

Perhaps Finch is just pointed that out.


Tolkien and Lewis were inspired by folklore and mythology, this is old hat. I will assume you are asking the fine people here, what are the things that have inspired them. Is that the purpose of this thread?

yes it is

 

[pmmg]

Well...my whole life is somewhat inspired by folklore and legends and mythology and religion. But...I dont actively think of ancient folklore when I write.

Greater inspirations on my tales would be other authors, for whom, any familiar might be able to say stuff like...Hey, this is kind of like (insert author name here). To which, I would have to go, well...yes it is. Good observation. (Less, of courses, its one I've never read, and in which case, it would be more coincidence, or GMTA).

I think it would be fair to say just about everything that has shaped me has a some affect on my writing. Probably the authors that have the most direct correlation to my writing is Tolkien, Howard and Morecock. But it would be fair to say some of it might resemble Martin, Feist, Lewis, and Eddings, and probably a bunch of others.

Personally, I think a lot of my tale is similar to Samurai Jack, which is an inspiration for some of it, but its all in there.

The stuff that Tolkien was after though, is not the process I used in working out my tale. And Lewis was never something that captured me.

 

[Rexenm]

I find myth and legend inspiring, but probably history.

 

[Jackarandajam]

I take inspiration from myth, fairy tale, crap my kids say, a stranger in the doctors office, movies, music, current affairs, future probabilities...
And Nam. Something about a bunch of Americans in a jungle across the world with helicopters while the madness of the 60s was going on stateside...
The tragedies were tragic, but that micro-culture fascinates me.
And vultures. Vultures are really cool.

 

[Incanus]

Not that I entirely understand the point of this thread, I'm inspired by anything and everything. If it generates an original-sounding idea in my head, then it inspires me.

Almost all my stories develop from a high-concept idea. The really good ones aren't easy to come up with. After that, I work out the who, when, what, where, and how.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

We write Urban Fantasy, among other subgenres, so I'd say it's somewhere between inspiration and self-preservation. We do a lot of homework, but I think it shows in the little things. So far we've been leaning hard on Irish and Gaelic myth and legend - natural for me, being Irish - but that's going to change very soon and we'll be expanding our scope outside of our fictional city. First Seattle, and then even further afield.

That's a lot of homework. And then there's more and then this happens...



...catnip included, and after the nip there really isn't any going back so you may as well open another tab.

 

[Prince of Spires]

And then there's more and then this happens...

Just a word of warning. Don't read the bits in original Egyptian from the Egyptian Book of the Dead out loud. I've seen documentaries on what happens if you do, and you don't want mummies running around. Trust me on that one...

As for inspiration, I always think there's a difference between active and passive inspiration.

Active inspiration means an author deliberately chosing a source of inspiration. Of having read something and being able to point to it and say, this influenced my work.

Passive inspiration is a lot harder to grasp and point to. There are some stories that are so ingrained in a culture that they form the basis of a lot of storytelling, even without realizing it. Biblical stories are a great example of this (and I say this as an atheist). These stories are so present in western culture that everyone roughly knows what happens in them, and they color our writing. The same with a lot of greek / roman / norse mythology. Many people won't be able to pinpoint the exact story or characters, but they'll have a rough idea of some of the bigger stories and what happens in them.

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

I mostly take from Classical mythology. Original, I know. I like tragic heroes and I think the Greek myths is what inspired me to write that kind of character. The hero, despite his virtue and Herculean feats, still makes poor decisions that lead to his own downfall.

I also borrow from Mesoamerican mythology, as well, mostly the idea of blood sacrifices and the cosmological struggle between the sun and other celestial objects like the moon.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The mythologies within my mythologies are more Earth mythology-based, while I don't really pull direct inspiration for the main storylines from Earth mythology.