On Writing a Story About a God

Before you open up any romance novel you already have an idea that the plot will be some close variation to boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. In action stories the good guy always wins. We know this.

So, what do we know about a god story? What has to be in it to make this fictional account interesting to the readers? What would a god do in this story? How should the people react and relate to this all-powerful, all-loving, all-merciful, all-knowing god?

Will there be good versus evil? Violence? Sex? Sin? Murder? Human trials and tribulations? Will this god come down to live as a man for a time? Will there be betrayal?

Just as Sherlock Holmes needs his Professor Moriarty, would this fictional god also have a powerful nemesis?

You decide.

And then see how many of your ideas come close to the stories within the bible.

reply to post by jiggerj


When I read the OP I immediately thought of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is about this high school guy who meets this girl and finds at that she is God, but she doesn't know, and her subconscious affects the world around them. It was an interesting watch (and read, it's based on a series of light novels).

So if you were to make it a story about a God, I guess it would have to be something along the lines of x is God, but does not know it, eventually copes with abilities. Or x is God, never finds out, but friends do.

Like that movie The Nines, where Ryan Reynolds keeps meeting these people over and over who keep trying to get to him, and he keeps switching to alternate realities, unknowingly while the people around him try to (and try to prevent) help him find out he is God.

It all depends on the elements that you want to be in your story and whether you want it o be a story or a short mini story

EDIT: Did not see this lol
And then see how many of your ideas come close to the stories within the bible.

Ok if I had to think of a story myself, I guess I wouldn't make it monotheistic, so I don't really have an answer sorry

I see what you are saying about following a story structure...

But what if it was a more mundane thing that happened, but was later dressed up?

Like the story of Jesus, If you read it from a political perspective, It seams like Jesus gained a political movement against a tyrannical government. It seems to make more sense to me in that perspective. But like many stories told over and over it became more embellished.

Ok so I reread the OP and Now I can post something meaningful.

God stories main objective is to give the people of their time Hope, that something better will come, allowing for control of the people. I think a religious system is one of the greatest weapons man has ever created. It can give good thigns, but take away much more.

A formula for concocting one:

-Make the people feel guilty for something
-Make it so the people will have to redeem themselves someway (establishing there may be hope for them still)
-High Authority that must be obeyed
-Group of people that will be the only means of communication to this High Authority ( like an advisor)
-Something that will make the people WANT to redeem themselves / a push factor (i.e. Hell / Public Disowning)
-Something that will make the people WANT to redeem themselves / a pull factor (i.e. Heaven / Anything they want)
-Establish a doctrine for your religion
-Establish history from that point in time onwards

This type of religion will ONLY work on people who are truly lost in the world, like children who are from parents that are survivors of a cataclysmic attack, thus rendering them with no knowledge of how the world works.

Originally posted by yellowsnow
I see what you are saying about following a story structure...

But what if it was a more mundane thing that happened, but was later dressed up?

Like the story of Jesus, If you read it from a political perspective, It seams like Jesus gained a political movement against a tyrannical government. It seems to make more sense to me in that perspective. But like many stories told over and over it became more embellished.

Historical fiction. Sounds about right.

Originally posted by mr10k
Ok so I reread the OP and Now I can post something meaningful.

God stories main objective is to give the people of their time Hope, that something better will come, allowing for control of the people. I think a religious system is one of the greatest weapons man has ever created. It can give good thigns, but take away much more.

A formula for concocting one:

-Make the people feel guilty for something
-Make it so the people will have to redeem themselves someway (establishing there may be hope for them still)
-High Authority that must be obeyed
-Group of people that will be the only means of communication to this High Authority ( like an advisor)
-Something that will make the people WANT to redeem themselves / a push factor (i.e. Hell / Public Disowning)
-Something that will make the people WANT to redeem themselves / a pull factor (i.e. Heaven / Anything they want)
-Establish a doctrine for your religion
-Establish history from that point in time onwards

This type of religion will ONLY work on people who are truly lost in the world, like children who are from parents that are survivors of a cataclysmic attack, thus rendering them with no knowledge of how the world works.

You've got it. If all of your story points were broken down to represent one lead character (or just a few) it would read like a soap opera. That's how I see the bible. Great stories, but just stories.