Now, its things like this that I can sink my teeth into as inspiration. Concept art, computer generated robots, anything with movement and a bit of depth is worth-while looking at for inspiration when starting to write, or even during the long-haul of writing. Those who are working on novels seem to forget that each chapter can be a stand-alone adventure: there is no need, as long as the events of one chapter don't drastically change the narrative, not to take time out and tell a story within a story. I mean, if Shakespeare can put a play within a play, and Stephen king can take an entire novel out of his dark tower series to tell a side story, then surely we can take one chapter in a book looking at zodiac signs!
Now, this brings me rather nicely to the purpose of this post: good story-telling is almost never literal. If you are aspiring to become a serious writer, not simply the next pulp-fiction novelist, then metaphor must play a large role in your work. Using already developed symbols like the zodiac, the raven, or drawing from Greek or Norse mythology is a method writers use to add depth to their work. When a reader looks at your depiction of Odin, they immediately contrast it with the image they have in their mind of the one-eyed God; this contrast lets you shape a character which is already developed into the character you need him to be, and so long as you explain this development your audience will love you for bringing that spark of the old into your work.
Great examples of adapted metaphors are Edgar Alan Poe's The Raven which draws from the mythos around the raven, and around Hades in Greek Mythology. Another great example is American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which repurposes the Gods of most mythological pantheons into characters with flaws and traits both similar to their origins, and vastly different. Other examples of works which draw from these mythologies are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which obviously draws from Greek Promethean myths, and Galatea 2.2 which draws from the myth of Pygmalion in mythology.
The risk with this sort of intermythology within a work, is that you risk alienating your audience by 'ruining' their favourite aspects of a metaphor. The easiest way to avoid this is, when starting to build your representation of an old metaphor, identify the most important aspects of the character. Examples of those who butchered their origins include:
Stephanie Meyer: Vampires die in sunlight, its one of their defining features, and removing that alienated a huge portion of her reader base. Though she made other mistakes, vampire fans hate her sparkling nonsense the most.
Wolverine Origins: Did wolverine justice, but ruined many other characters in the series: fans of Gambit and of Deadpool went in to the movie hoping to see their favourite characters but important elements of each were lacking: most importantly, Wade Wilson was silenced halfway through the movie. The 'Merc with a Mouth' was robbed of his quips and given, um, sword arms...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFBBsTjRZrQ listen especially where he says: "Is not Deadpool to me."
When using old metaphors, you will strengthen your character's depth, but you have to realize that if you change a character too much from what people understand it to be: for instance you take a werewolf, make it shape-shift only in the autumn, have it take bathes in silver, and when it transforms, instead of going into a rage, it drinks tea and plays chess, it is no longer a werewolf and your readers will recognize this. Now, if you change only one element of the werewolf, for instance we'll use Rowling's example: the transformation is controllable but still happens at the full moon, then you can use an old metaphor to create a very powerful new character, in this case Lupin.
In short, were you to create characters from the zodiac signs, you must make sure they are true to their zodiac temperaments: a Scorpio should be hot-headed, and a Capricorn should love the sunlight and hate the moon. As a matter of fact, it might be really cool to make a werewolf-Capricorn hybrid.
Anyways, that's my rant for the day. Hope you enjoyed it!
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