McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Some Fantasy Standards
belial.1980:
Shamans are way cool IMO. Shamanism exists in one form or another in just about every corner of the world, from Australia to Siberia. And the interesting thing is that these different cultures share many common themes in their beliefs. Shamanism is varied in all its different forms but there are a few things that they tend to have in common:
In most cultures shamans are considered gifted. They're go betweens for the living and the dead and often interact with nature spirits/gods/spirit animals/relative divine powers. They're generally considered healers and are often called upon to drive away evil entities that make members of their community ill. This can involve the use of magic or various exorcism-type riturals. Also the shaman might be called upon to journey to the land of the dead to bring the soul/spirit of the departed back into the land of the living.
Often times the shaman must undergoes a type of transformation to come into their powers. This usually involves some kind of near death experience. I read about one culture where a shaman is visited by the spirits of his/her ancestors and "rebuilt" in a sense by having crystals placed in their bones and given magic powers.
I did a fair amount of reading on Shamans last summer though most of the specifics have escaped me. However I do recall that I found the shamanistic tradition of Siberian peoples (specifically the Ket) and some of the Alaskan tribes especially fascinating.
I'd recommend reading a book on a world study of Shamanism to give you some ideas. Since it's a very elemental belief system it leaves a lot of room for creative liscence as an author.
Aludra:
I tend to like the vampire books that stray from the traditional vampire traits, giving new horror stories from which the vampire myth could have erupted. For example, in my second-cousin's book, The Broken Thread, Dracula's garlic allergy is explained humorously as an exponential increase to allergies one had when alive. The main character of The Broken Thread is a vampire who is deathly allergic to peanuts and peanut products.
I like when vampires stray from the normal neck-bite draining and do some chomping. And when they can do things humans think they can't, like eat food, make jokes, or walk in sunlight.
I also like vampires who can shapeshift into more than just bats, and just generally refuse to fit in to the Stoker's Dracula category while remaining extremely horrific. Like it would be cool if the main character found out that thier creepy uncle is actually a vampire who can change his appearance and has been stalking them for the last 20 years. That'd be hilarious and very chilling at the same time.
I like shamans that fit into the native american tradition of the term like Pokey from Coyote Blue.
jtaylor:
Shamanism and shamans are almost too generic to be used as a single identifier, as there are several different practices and traditions in the real world that fall under that description, and there are also several different treatments of it in fiction already.
When you say "Shaman", the most common meaning is from Native Americans, but there are several Shamans from Mongolian descent, and witchcraft or Wicca can be described as European shamanism.
Some article on Mongol Shamans:
http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/Magic.htm
http://homelands.org/worlds/shaman.html
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: jtaylor on August 26, 2009, 06:33:16 PM ---When you say "Shaman", the most common meaning is from Native Americans, but there are several Shamans from Mongolian descent, and witchcraft or Wicca can be described as European shamanism.
--- End quote ---
There are actually many Native American cultures; please to be doing the research with a reasonable degree of respect and specificity as to which one you mean.
jtaylor:
--- Quote from: neurovore on August 26, 2009, 06:38:23 PM ---There are actually many Native American cultures; please to be doing the research with a reasonable degree of respect and specificity as to which one you mean.
--- End quote ---
Sorry, that was implied, I should have been more specific. I was just being broad because I think that is the most common general grouping of Shamanic traditions. I didn't mean any disrespect, I was just being brief.
I am most familiar with the practices of the Navajo people, as I did some reasearh after reading Tony Hillerman and then again later when I was looking for a spirtual path after I found Christianity didn't work for me.
The wikipedia article is pretty good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_people#Healing_and_spiritual_practices
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