The Greek God

[UnpublishedEroticaWriter]

I was looking for feedback on the Greek Gods. Without looking anything up, how much can you tell me about them? Or Mount Olympus itself? What would you like to know? What do you consider ad nauseam? I'm trying to judge how much I should go into in this second part of my story. It won't involve Greek Heroes. It's about a Muse who rebels against the rest of the Gods for the love of a mortal. So, it's obviously a Rom-Com.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I was looking for feedback on the Greek Gods. Without looking anything up, how much can you tell me about them? Or Mount Olympus itself? What would you like to know? What do you consider ad nauseam? I'm trying to judge how much I should go into in this second part of my story. It won't involve Greek Heroes. It's about a Muse who rebels against the rest of the Gods for the love of a mortal. So, it's obviously a Rom-Com.

Why are you asking writers? Surely you need to be quizzing your readers?

Why don't you put something in your Authors Profile? That way, anyone following you will see the profile update, and maybe you'll get a bunch of PMs. I'm not sure any suggestions you get from the AH will be of much use.

 

[Britva415]

I'm trying to judge how much I should go into in this second part of my story. It won't involve Greek Heroes. It's about a Muse who rebels against the rest of the Gods for the love of a mortal

I think you need to kind of assume that the reader isn't going to have much familiarity.

Look at it this way: How much would you go into it if it weren't a pre-existing cultural resource, and it were an invented mythology/entirely fictional world you had created yourself?

I'd treat it like that. Whatever details you need to reveal in order for the story to be comprehensible, that's the level of detail you need to go into. And like any invented world, the best way to reveal is to make the reveals part of the story rather than an info-dump.

This has the double benefit of informing readers who don't have the background knowledge about the Greek gods and the setting, as well as not overexplaining to those who do.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Well, I'm writing in a world where I'm frequently mixing up both Greek and Roman gods, so I've looked up quite a bit about both. But I haven't gotten around to looking up muses yet. The charities/graces yeah because Hephaestus' second wife was one, and Volcan was raised by a Nereid so I needed to know more about him. However, they have some pretty odd ideas about the graces, one of them is named blossom, so I could see the muses being a bit off kilter from what modern society thinks of as a muse.

What I remember from my research could easily fill an essay, and I can't entirely guarantee that it'll be accurate and not just something I twisted for my story. Anything you want to hear about in particular though?

 

[12oclocktales]

Several Greek gods married mortals, most famously Dionysus and Ariadne. That story might be worth referencing.

 

[AlinaX]

The Greek gods are capricious and care should be taken in writing about them.

 

[StillStunned]

The Greek gods are capricious and care should be taken in writing about them.

Not unless learning English is easier for them than learning Ancient Greek was for me.

 

[jehoram]

I recommend Edith Hamilton's book "Mythology." It's the most concise retelling of the Greek myths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology_(book)

I think it's still in print, after over eighty years.

If you need inspiration, Athalia wrote a very good story based on a Greek myth. It was, I think, her first attempt at erotica, written when she was in college. She showed it to me and I edited it, and she submitted it to this site. (It was her first submission, IIRC).

https://www.literotica.com/s/endymion

 

[Voboy]

The Greek gods are capricious and care should be taken in writing about them.

This.

I wrote a story about Zeus once where I compared his dick unfavorably to Hermes'. Next thing I knew, my house got struck by lightning!

 

[StillStunned]

This.

I wrote a story about Zeus once where I compared his dick unfavorably to Hermes'. Next thing I knew, my house got struck by lightning!

I've been in two buildings and one airplane that were struck by lightning. I try not to joke about Zeus or Thor or anyone like that.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Greek mythos is too complicated for anyone to help you with a short-form response in a thread. And nothing we can tell you will help as much as doing the research. Also, you need to know enough about what you're asking to tell if you're receiving anything helpful. Zeus is the top dog, Hades rules the underworld, and Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and passion. Odipus has mommy issues. Artemis is a killer huntress. Apollo is her brother. Athena is the goddess of War (and a few lesser things, like wisdom, but if you were truly wise, why'd you be fighting in the first place?). Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, and the ship used to transport Dracula to England. Hera was Zeus's old lady and the goddess of marriage. She's done a piss poor job of it too!

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

For lit writers and readers, Eros, the god of love and desire, is most important.

 

[AlinaX]

Hermaphroditus!

 

[mike_ledur]

I recommend the book Metamorphoses by Ovid. It's all about how the gods intervene in human lives. You might find it inspirational.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I remember there's nine Muses, representing various arts. Thalia and Melpomene. And they're female, immortal and get fucked and fucked over by the gods (mostly Zeus). That's about it. Beyond mentioning she's immortal (or is she?) and has some godly powers (or just skills and ability to inspire?), and he's a mortal, everything else is up to you. Do the gods interfere? Why? (Zeus wants to bang her, usually...) How will it end?

I reckon you can go into as much or as little detail if the world as you like.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

The only Greeks I respect are Erato, Prometheus, and Heracles. Fite me.

 

[UnpublishedEroticaWriter]

Several Greek gods married mortals, most famously Dionysus and Ariadne. That story might be worth referencing.

After finding Zeus confessing his love while in bed with another mortal woman, Hera decreed that no Gods or goddesses may have serious relationships with mortals. She also banned humans from Mount Olympus. She forbade the other Gods from entering human civilization.

I recommend Edith Hamilton's book "Mythology." It's the most concise retelling of the Greek myths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology_(book)

I think it's still in print, after over eighty years.

If you need inspiration, Athalia wrote a very good story based on a Greek myth. It was, I think, her first attempt at erotica, written when she was in college. She showed it to me and I edited it, and she submitted it to this site. (It was her first submission, IIRC).

https://www.literotica.com/s/endymion

Well, I'm not going too much into the Greek Gods. Only going to introduce readers to a few of them in the first chapter as a starting point. The main story will follow one of the muses and her relationship with a man.
I'm inspired too much already.

I remember there's nine Muses, representing various arts. Thalia and Melpomene. And they're female, immortal and get fucked and fucked over by the gods (mostly Zeus). That's about it. Beyond mentioning she's immortal (or is she?) and has some godly powers (or just skills and ability to inspire?), and he's a mortal, everything else is up to you. Do the gods interfere? Why? (Zeus wants to bang her, usually...) How will it end?

I reckon you can go into as much or as little detail if the world as you like.

Well, the muses were Zeus' daughters, so I'm ignoring all that incest stuff. They will have a normal father-daughter relationship. Also, I'm choosing to ignore the fact that Hera is his sister and wife. All the muses are Goddesses, so they will have God-like powers. It will be like the TV show, Bewitched. She tries to live an everyday life as a human and hides that she is a goddess from the man she loves. Causing all sorts of unintentional mischief along the way. She is also trying not to use her powers or she might attract the attention of her fellow Gods. When it's finished, those interested will have to read whether they interfere. And how it will end.

The only Greeks I respect are Erato, Prometheus, and Heracles. Fite me.

Well, one of them will be there.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

The Greeks imagined their gods (and goddesses!!!) as having all the human virtues and a bonus jumbo helping of every human vice and failing. You wouldn't want to live in the same neighbourhood - jealousy, cheating, anger, rape, vengeance... they'd seduce your daughter and chain you in fire for objecting. Darn good subjects for smut, mind you.

 

[THBGato]

Just don't over-explain. I've seen several good stories here get derailed by tangental history lessons or bible criticism.

Anyone who has read (or whose kids have read) the Percy Jackson books is going to be pretty au fait with most of the gods/goddesses and their areas of influence/roles.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Fite me.

No thanks, but Kelliezgirl will. ; )

 

[StillStunned]

It might also be useful to realise that we consider "canon" Greek mythology is a digest of centuries of change in culture and storytelling. New peoples that were encountered brought their own stories, and those were sometimes ascribed to existing gods. The stories of the Titans, for instance, probably reflect struggles between the Hellenes and earlier peoples who were pushed out. Some gods rose in prominence, others fell.

So if anyone says, "That's not the actual story!" just remind them that there is no "actual" story.

 

[Bamagan]

It might also be useful to realise that we consider "canon" Greek mythology is a digest of centuries of change in culture and storytelling. New peoples that were encountered brought their own stories, and those were sometimes ascribed to existing gods. The stories of the Titans, for instance, probably reflect struggles between the Hellenes and earlier peoples who were pushed out. Some gods rose in prominence, others fell.

So if anyone says, "That's not the actual story!" just remind them that there is no "actual" story.

Yeah, they had to reboot and retcon stuff a number of times over a millennium or so. That's not even counting what happened when the Romans got ahold of their IP and had to Latinize everything to make it relatable to a new audience. And people gripe about Marvel/DC continuity!

 

[StillStunned]

Yeah, they had to reboot and retcon stuff a number of times over a millennium or so. That's not even counting what happened when the Romans got ahold of their IP and had to Latinize everything to make it relatable to a new audience. And people gripe about Marvel/DC continuity!

And waiting for the sequels! "Homer's never going to finish the Iliad, is he? Gets as far as Hector's death, and just gives up! It's been 400 years now, someone else should complete the story."

 

[Bamagan]

And waiting for the sequels! "Homer's never going to finish the Iliad, is he? Gets as far as Hector's death, and just gives up! It's been 400 years now, someone else should complete the story."

"Thanks for all the lovely responses to the Iliad, guys! Since so many of you were clamoring for a sequel, I decided to write about Odysseus having a hard time getting home! Bad navigation, lots of road hazards (and road head!). And what happens when he finally rolls up at Ithaca? Has his wife been boning the suitors? Time to get his rampage on!"

 

[StillStunned]

"I was enjoying it until the final chapters. Odysseus should have burned that cheating bitch! Or Telemachos should have gone full Orestes and done the job if his father was too much of a pussy. This author should be ashamed and never write anything again. 1*, and I'd give it none it that was an option."