1. wiccaryan

    wiccaryan New Member

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    Trouble writing a Prophecy, help?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by wiccaryan, Sep 4, 2009.

    Hey everyone, i'm currently writing a novel, and i'm having trouble writing a decent Prophecy, lets face a mystical Prophecy needs to sound, well...mystical lol.
    The Phrophecy is about how two people, unusual in joining, with extreme powers who will save the world basically.
    The two unusual people are men, who in my novel are in love, and their both amazingly powerful, like bring-the-universe-down kinda powerful. Other odd occurences that are signs of the world ending are time doesn't progress, stuff like, "When the sands of time stand still, and the water's of earth run dry" you know what i mean?

    Some examples of Phrophecy in popular culture:

    "By night one way, by day another. This will be the norm. Until you find true love's kiss, and then take true love's form" - From Shrek

    ""When three planets burn as one over a sky of dancing light, and magic will rest for a holy day to welcome a twice blessed child." - From Charmed.

    It would be a perk if it could rhyme, but it's not essential :) Please some help?

    Rye
     
  2. Gallowglass

    Gallowglass Contributor Contributor

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    Does it being mystical add anything to the story? Mystical prophecies don't have to be mystical, there are exceptions. It can simply be dramatic. Would that work, do you think?
     
  3. wiccaryan

    wiccaryan New Member

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    Oh yes, a dramatic prophecy would work, it doesn't have to be mystical :) ANY ideas, suggestions etc are welcome :)
     
  4. DragonGrim

    DragonGrim New Member

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    If the plot works without the prophecy, leave it out.
     
  5. glennmid101

    glennmid101 New Member

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    Dna

    If these two people can save the world, it may because there bodies have chemcials or substances in their dna, that can avert a disaster.

    They could also be descents of Adam and Eve.

    Prophecies have been done before, and normally in code, like Nostradamus. Or it could be in an ancient text, like the Rosetta stone.

    Another idea, would be if these two people touched a book of prophecies to activate a force that heals the world.
     
  6. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    Janus arisen shall save the day,
    their powers reign, come what may.
     
  7. architectus

    architectus Banned

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    Frozen in time, the earth all but stops to spin
    Blah'bla ba blah, hope rest in the fate of two men

    I wanted to do something like that, but I couldn't think of what to fill the blah's in with.

    Frozen in time, the earth all but stops to spin
    salvation rest in the fate of two men
     
  8. Cyrano

    Cyrano New Member

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    Darkness shall blanket the world once again,
    If not for the strength of two fated young men.
     
  9. B-Gas

    B-Gas New Member

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    Prophecies are probably the most reviled element in fantasy writing, especially if they involve The Chosen One, or even better, The Two Chosen Ones (It happened, and in a published novel no less. The Fifth Sorceress, by Newcomb).

    Does it honestly need to be there? Will the story be incomplete without it? Will readers think, "gee, that sure was a breakneck story that had me gripping the book with knuckles white and eyes wide, but it sure would have been better if the world-shattering main characters had been pre-ordained by destiny a hundred years before they showed up?"

    At least make it obscure, silly and disbelieved by most people, like most prophecies are. Or, if you are against going by that route, at least have the antagonist know about it and actively work to prevent it or subvert it. If neither of those happens, it'll be difficult to convince people it's anything but another layer of super-duper extra-specialerness, because they're not only saving the world, but they're saving the world and some dude wrote it down a long time ago, so it's like even better.

    Sorry if that was too harsh, but prophecies really rub me the wrong way. There are ways to do it right. Make the prophecy wrong. Add in some elements that don't come true. Make the prophecy stretch on longer than this story, and add in some darkness- they might save the world, but it won't last. Something like that.
     
  10. tcol4417

    tcol4417 Member

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    Rhyming prophecies... egh =S

    That's very "Rowan of Rin"-ish. Actually wait, I liked that as a kid >_>

    Just remember to keep this audience-oriented. Younger readers enjoy things like rhyming couplets and such, but older audiences tend to be turned off by anything too cheesy.

    Examples:
    Rowan of Rin is written for kids, rhyming couplets, dragons, spiders and a kid saving the day when all the grown-ups were betrayed by their own weaknesses
    His Dark Materials Trilogy - SPOILER WARNING - is an awesome series aimed at young adults and retains a much more ambiguous prophecy regarding the MC:
    So yeah >_>

    Anyway

    Lightless eyes behold a burning sky
    as stone crumbles and dreams fade to ash
    the forests weep, the oceans scream
    in terror, we watch our world
    sundered by His return.

    With shoulders back and head held high
    do we face our destruction
    and men march side by side
    two forces bound by fate
    as our salvation

    though to be honest, something brought up obscurely and elaborated on as the story progresses is much better >_>
     
  11. TDANDY

    TDANDY New Member

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    13 years yet from the fallen sun, rise again from the land of the free.

    From darkness may yet awaken light, true redemption and power brought to be

    Let come again the time of man

    Who's strength and love will forever stand.



    It's not that hard. All you need to know is a little bit of poetry. Make lots of rhymes and abracadabra there you are with your mystical prophecy.
     
  12. Destin

    Destin New Member

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    The earth will stop it's voyage round the sun
    Two men get together as one
    To protect the world from being unmade
    Then throw on some leathers for a gay pride parade.

    Couldn't help myself.
     
  13. Joran Selemis

    Joran Selemis Member

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    ^ I like that one.

    Two monsters, who look as men
    will lead the galaxy t'ward its end.

    Or the world. Or the continent. Or whatever it is.
     
  14. Joran Selemis

    Joran Selemis Member

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    ^ I like that one.

    Two monsters, who look as men
    will lead the galaxy t'ward its end.

    Or the world. Or the continent. Or whatever it is.
     
  15. B-Gas

    B-Gas New Member

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    Why do you need a prophecy?
     
  16. elfen

    elfen New Member

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    You don't need a prophecy per se. You could do it as a revelation by a different character, or a revelation by your main characters. You could have them being in love as the catalyst for their "powers" emerging, but use that as a plot device in itself i.e. they have to keep it hidden so their "power" identifies them, they don't know each other, or hate each other, they bond and their powers come out, lots of different ways.
     

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