Mytho-Creative Writing

Every great story has an older story beneath it. This department textbook of the Mytho-Humanities School shows how to turn mythic archetypes into living work. It begins with how world literature has rewritten myth, from ancient epic to the modern novel. It teaches mythic poetry, from image and symbol to the ten-stanza, forty-line mythic poem, with original sample poems and a poetry workshop built on one figure, one poem. It moves to mythic fiction: narrative structure, plot as a cycle of descent and recognition, and how to turn a mythic figure into a fictional character, drawing on the method behind a myth-based novel series. It introduces drama and screenwriting through conflict, the moment of decision, dialogue, and the difference between a play and a screenplay. It closes with archetypal criticism, from Frye, Jung and Campbell to hands-on analysis of literary works. Every chapter includes learning objectives, key concepts, case studies, exercises and self-check questions. The appendix gathers creative assignments and an index of figures and symbols. For poets, novelists, playwrights, screenwriters and every writer who wants to write from the deep roots of myth.