I just got back from church service, and the preacher showed us all this video. It sparked something inside me, made me realize just how insignificant we are in this grand universe. Now, I’m not trying to convert you. No, I’m trying to give you a perspective that leads into an article I have on creating deities in Fantasy. This video is forty minutes long. Near the end, I will admit the preaching comes into play, but if you just get the gist of the universe part, then you’re fine. If you want to continue, I will highly recommend that. It’s a great story, and truly moving.
Now, if that doesn’t send a sense of wonder into you, I don’t know what will.
When creating deities, gods, and other ominous beings, we try and stifle the magnitude of said things. When we say we touched a god’s mind, it doesn’t lend a great sense of wonder. No, it’s insignificant. We can’t grasp the mind of a god, so show this.
I crouched down, stuck the tip of my index finger on the corner of a ballroom, large and magnificent, sitting in an even bigger mansion. And that estate huddled in the cramped living spaces of a city, floating on an island in my god’s grand ocean of a mind.
That gives you a degree of amazingness, that we are so small in the cosmic order of beings.
Now, that’s not to say you can’t humanize a god. We do it in plenty of works, most times unconsciously. Bonus points if you’re tackling religion. (Note: Not “attacking” religion.)
But when I read about a deity, I don’t want some man or woman my size, maybe just a twinge bigger. No, I want something grand, something incomprehensible. Something I can’t see, can’t begin to understand. Horror is often times the name of the game, even if placed in a spectral of beauty. It’s not all Cthulhu. But man was that a scary god.
Acerbic Writing 