The Myths That Shaped You

Creative Writing Assignments: Chapter Four

This month in our DIY college creative writing study, we’re looking at fairy tales and myths.¹ This month’s readings had me thinking more about creativity and how it fits into my life rather than about specific prompts for writing. 

To Write is to Dream

The Secret to Better Writing

Mining Childhood Memories

This month, we’re prompted to think about what myths and fairy tales we heard and loved as children. What is your foundational mythology? Mine is some combination of Alice in Wonderland, Gnomes, and D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths. Is Sesame Street a mythology? Is Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls? Is The Love Boat a fairy tale? Any of those might fit into my foundational mythology as well. 

Dreams and Inward Journeys says this:

“Myths are highly patterned stories that present the reader with ideal heroes and heroines as well as dreamlike plots and settings that represent the fundamental values of a society. Fairy tales satisfy the need of younger people for dangerous adventures in that happiness and justice ultimately prevail. Both forms provide ethical lessons, helping readers to discriminate between creative and destructive, good and evil behavior.”

Ok, wait, by that definition, then yes, Love Boat definitely counts.

This month in the readings, we have some heavy hitters in the world of myths and dreams, we have a selection of creation myths, and three Cinderella versions.

I’ve never actually read Joseph Campbell until now (I did not find him an easy read, but truthfully maybe he’s just not much of a beach read, and I should try again in the winter). I’m certainly aware of Campbell. So many writing craft texts are about The Hero’s Journey (I also got The Heroine with 1,001 Faces recently, and have been dipping into that). I keep thinking I should watch the Bill Moyers interviews with Campbell, but then I never quite feel like it’s the right time to watch six hours of two dudes talking (but I have heard people say it is life-changing to watch – have you watched it?).

This month is also the first chapter where all of the readings are available online! Yay!

This month’s readings: 

• Nikki Giovanni, ego-tripping (there may be a reason why)

• Joseph Campbell, The Four Functions of Mythology (the selection in Dreams and Inward Journeys is part I, to the middle of page 144)

• Carl Jung, The Importance of Dreams, which is an excerpt from Man and His Symbols – the excerpt is from the beginning of the book, page 3, through page 17.

• Bruno Bettelheim, Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament (scroll down in the link, to the second part)

Some creation myths:

• Genesis 2:4-23 (Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible)

• The Sacrifice of Primal Man (Rig Veda, Hindu)

• Creation out of Chaos (Taoist, China) – I can’t find the exact retelling shared in the text, but it’s similar to this one.

• Dreaming People (Malayan Pygmies) (scroll down a bit in the link until you get to “Dreaming People”)

• The Chameleon Finds (Yao, African)

• Spider Woman Creates the Humans (Hopi) (page 5-6 in the link, the “Creation of Mankind” section)

Three Cinderellas:

• The Brothers Grimm, Aschenputtel

• The Algonquin Cinderella

• Olga Broumas, Cinderella