Writing Challenge Tuesday: Prophesy
Destiny. If you ask me, which you probably didn’t, but allow me to ramble anyway, destiny is some dangerous stuff. The sense of self autonomy and agency come into question when we introduce ideas like prophesy, destiny, and one true love.
I’ve seen two schools of thought on this, in fictional stories. One is that destiny is a crock, all things can be changed, your fate is never predestined, and you must strive to break out of the mold. This has a lot of merit to it. I’ve known people who thought they were destined to die alone, people who are married with six kids now. I’ve known people who went into the armed forces and didn’t expect to come back in one piece. The ability to put destiny in its place is important.
The other school of thought focuses on the moment the prophesy is heard (point A) and the way the story is meant to end (point B). The story becomes about everything between points A and B, and how the protagonist either gives into or fights against his inevitable fate, only to reach point B all the same. Bonus twist, sometimes point B isn’t what it seems.
For instance, in a very mundane, Ethan Fromme sort of story, your protagonist could be told, “You will be killed by a rich man who will feel no guilt.” That sounds horrible. Cut forward to the “point B” moment, and you discover your protagonist has crippling ALS which has reduced them to a fraction of their quality of life. S/he begs a friend to whom they will bequeath their fortune to end their suffering.
Both the philosophical models of destiny (change your fate! or find your way to the end only to realize it wasn’t what you thought) have important applications.
Take Brave, for example. (spoilers.) The movie talks a great deal about fate, about magic and expected outcomes, and how things laid out generations before must be followed. The focus on this story is in the notion that there is no predetermined end. That we have the power to change our fate and break away from the past.
As a counterpoint, take the Greek tragedy Agamemnon. Cassandra is given the gift of prophesy by Apollo. When she refuses to go and become his consort, he lets her keep the gift, but with an added curse. No one would believe her. She is forced to watch as twisted prophesies become realities which are unstoppable not just by magic of fate, but because the people around her become the force that causes them to come true.
(I might be mentioning Cassandra, because she relates to a plot point in the next Faust book. Just saying, I might be.)
For this week’s writing challenge, I offer up a notion. What would your protagonist do when faced with a premonition, a prophesy, a dream of doom? What if someone believed they would die? Would your protagonist believe it? What if someone told him or her that they were destined to meet the love of their life tomorrow? Would they be looking at every new person with a little skepticism, or would they stay in bed and binge on Netflix and sleep?
