Using Gods/Goddesses in your story

[Shanny8]

My comic Ray Thunder is based on the actions of Gods & Goddess, that have spawned demi-gods. For the main part of my story I'll make mention to some of the Gods/Goddesses, but I wont create a visual- except when I get to the scene where Ray finally meets his father(who is Thor). There is also a visual for an Irish War Goddess, The Morrigan, who Ray will come up against in a later chapter. That's my stance right now- that they exist, but stay to themselves unless the machinations of other gods and/or cosmic forces puts the universe in jeopardy.

[TheHerald]

While I disagree with the example of using the Old Testament, I do get what you are saying and agree. If you want to write gods/goddesses that would interfere with the world that you have had established, you can't really be two dimensional. In fact, I would even say that you would have to probably go even deeper into fleshing them out compared to normal everyday characters. Even then, you would probably want to keep an air of mystery about them. Though I personally find the use of gods that have created that particular universe and all to be an intriguing read and all, the problem is that I often see is that they do not keep the mystery about them at all and are just "there" because "why not?" or at least that is the impression I get from them. I like to often think that those like Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia are the kind of deities that we should strive for if we plan on creating a deity that has created the universe and all. Just like as you said have the tone set with them whenever they appear, the extent of their powers they have (or they will use), and so on.

[Mari]

@TheHerald The whole story of Moses is very spiteful, is it not? Old testament is full of stories where the God appears spiteful, if not vengeful. I'm an atheist, and part of the reason I was never interested in religion is because of the stories from the old testament were so angry! I grew up in an era where my country had 'morning openings' (literal translation) where a priest would come and tell stories, and the priest who did ours was for some reason so into the old testament, even though ev-lut protestants view that more as historical context than actual religious text. Long story short, they were really scary & made me feel like god was a bully as a child

Anyhow, I disagree that the deities in Narnia are very good. They're all very 2D for me, and the biblical correlations are a bit too heavy.

[J.Z.Castillo]

In BioHazard there is a god hierarchy that I haven't gotten into yet. There are gods... but they're more like entities too great for human understanding, like manifestations of death and life, for example. They work within their own parameters and are subject to their own limits and rules, like let's say the god of life cannot give someone immortality unless that life is constantly being taken away from other life forms, therefore keeping the balance between life and death. Just like the gods of fate can only see what was and what is and can only guess what will be, they are not all knowing.

I spent a good chunk of time getting this system down and I think I came up with something that is godly but humane at the same time, something that makes sense. That is, in my opinion, what makes a god system believable, these gods are powerful but they also have limits and can be vulnerable.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I like the idea of deities being active rather than background lore. The concept of gods are so fascinating and cool, you can pretty much do whatever you want with them. They don't even have to be from any real mythologies. In the webcomic I'm working on, the deities are actively involved, although that's due to them being the lead characters.

[Kura]

I enjoy humanizing gods for my own stories, the idea that an all mighty powerful deity is not much different from the types of people you would normally run into, and that they can run into the same types of very human problems as you is both appealing to me and fun to see/work with.

[TheHerald]

@TheHerald The whole story of Moses is very spiteful, is it not? Old testament is full of stories where the God appears spiteful, if not vengeful. I'm an atheist, and part of the reason I was never interested in religion is because of the stories from the old testament were so angry! I grew up in an era where my country had 'morning openings' (literal translation) where a priest would come and tell stories, and the priest who did ours was for some reason so into the old testament, even though ev-lut protestants view that more as historical context than actual religious text. Long story short, they were really scary & made me feel like god was a bully as a child

I am working to become a military chaplain. Personally, I would love to have this discussion (I really would), but this would be an inappropriate place to talk about it. Since this is meant to be about writing and not about religious beliefs in the real world.

Anyhow, I disagree that the deities in Narnia are very good. They're all very 2D for me, and the biblical correlations are a bit too heavy.

I think that is one of those things that comes down to the individual reader, because each person comes from a different background and experiences in life. Like for me, I can't really get into too many stories that involve Shinto gods and Japanese spirits.

[TheHerald]

@mrjonzap When you mention that hierarchy and limitations, that almost reminded me of how I sort of established my deities in the world. For mine there are those that claim to be actual gods/goddesses, but in reality they are so limited in what they can do that they are really nothing more than impostors. For they basically stole (keeping that sorta under wraps) from the actual god and are actively working towards trying to undermine their former master. I should probably try setting up a system kinda like what you have.

[Djmuse1231]

It's tricky to write characters who are literal Gods in stories, because you risk ruining the curve of power-scaling in your universe. If they are as powerful as the title "God" would imply, then they could so simply and easily rectify any conflict with barely any effort. And if they can't, then why even bother making them Gods if they are so limited in their power?

My best advice in this matter is to use Gods as active participants in the plot only if the conflict is not one that can be solves by "defeat the bad guy." There has to be a reason why they can't fix everything, break everything, or just end the story with a snap of their celestial fingers.