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Cosmic inspiration: Why to retell the story of the universe in your fiction writing

Andrea Gonzalez

Just like the most engaging stories, our universe started with a bang! Its history and the history of its exploration and representation could be enough to create as many narratives as stars exist. We keep creating tales and sagas to transmit, explain or transform the origin of all.


Cosmic entity creating the universe

Here are some ideas on why we keep retelling the universe's origin and what way of doing so can be better for you. Use these notes as inspiration to keep searching for your favorite story and, if it doesn’t exist yet, create yours!


To find ourselves: stories for mythology buffs


Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapped and unlock the secrets of universe. Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor.

Since the notion of the universe is potentially infinite, we often need to find a special place for ourselves, either if this place connects us with something bigger or provides a refuge for us. If you enjoy reading or watching tales with mythological roots, such as Azaziel, The Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars, you might relate to the heroes that face enormous adversities and overwhelming difficulties.


These narratives are examples of individuals dealing with the uncertainty that the immensity of the universe makes us feel and can help us figure out how we can find meaning in our relationships and actions, providing new importance to all that is outside our reach, comprehension, and control. Even psychological and anthropological works, like Campbell's Monomyth or Maureen Murdock’s The Heroine’s Journey, can inspire you to find new meanings hiding in the part of the cosmos that is your mind and to create or recognize stories that guide you through the confines of the universe.


To find answers: stories for thinkers


It was as if he had never been scared in the first place. The thought of his existance serving a greater purpose had come. Forged By Light and Fire, PepperBerry

The exploration of the universe has an origin itself, or rather, many, since most ancient cultures dedicated time and resources to understanding the stars and their rules. This dedication derived into religions, myths, and even systems like astrology, creating a wide variety of understandings of the universe, why we live in it, our connection, and even our destiny as part of the cosmos.


Many of the questions that the universe's origin raises come from the human need to find a purpose and validate our existence's importance. This subject can be explored from a point of view that looks out to build communities, as is the intention of some religions, or as a starting point to analyze more abstract concepts through philosophical doctrines, such as Metaphysics.


In the case of religious narratives, writers, painters, and other creatives haven't been limited to the classic stories and canonical beliefs have to offer. In current times, we can find many fictional worlds that combine different traditions, keeping fresh interest in antique figures. In PepperBerry's first production, Azaziel, for example, readers will enjoy a new creation story that combines djinns, angels, and humans to provide a fantastical explanation for historical conflicts and social dilemmas that have changed the course of humanity.


Works of science fiction, like P.K. Dick’s The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, can help you to approach philosophical views, either if you want to understand complex concepts or if you need examples of how to pour what you have learned from the readings of Emmanuel Kant and Mary Midgley.


To find humanity in the infinite: stories for scientists


Astronomy taught us our insignificance in Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson

A century ago, scientists such as Alexander Friedman, George Lemaître, and Edwin Hubble were working in contributions to sustain the Big Bang model. Since then, this theory has been mostly accepted as the standard explanation for the beginning of the universe, even though it wasn't created to answer how this happened but to represent and explore the evolution of the cosmos. Today, we can say that our universe was born of an explosion. Still, the rest of the story, and even the origin of this explosion itself, has been explored from many different angles, and there may be many reasons to pass from the scientific facts and theories to the fictional realm.


As time goes by and scientific discoveries evolve, the theory grows far away from the unforgettable first bang. And so, even though we have a solid origin story, we keep trying to explain it, add more, or even change it. Most of us can access sources of information (ebooks, documentaries, NASA, Popsci.com, etc.), yet, the concept of the universe is overwhelming, at least for many, and even unreachable for some of us. To understand where we come from and what happened before we existed, we might need legends that fill with meaning the past, so we can make it more accessible and close to us.


If the story of stars, planets, galaxies, and other celestial bodies is your passion, and you want to add the human element to it, you can read biographies of astronomers, cosmologists, and evolutionists, who have helped us to understand where we came from and how life started. Books like Christina Koining’s Variable Stars and Pippa Goldschmidt’s The Falling Sky can awaken your curiosity or help you to relax if you are researching heavy scientific topics.


To create: for poetic souls


Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order, Virginia Woolf

For some of us, to live is the greatest way to experiment the universe. Art and creativity are ways to define, challenge, and evolve our connection with the universe and all that exists in it. To tell a new story is always a way to expand the horizons of our readers and our knowledge of ourselves. Since every one of us has unique ideas and different interpretations of old stories, each one can imagine new possibilities never seen before.


Creating new stories of the origin of everything allows us to share our cultural background, the stories we heard as kids, the facts that help us choose a path in life or even just funny anecdotes that keep the relevance of antique topics alive in our conversations. Poets, from Emily Dickinson to Joy Harjo, have maintained the mystical origin of the universe as a constant source of inspiration for their creation.


We all have the right to explain to ourselves the concepts that intrigue us, and we can use this opportunity to surprise everyone else. But, even if we find inspiration in other sources, the act of creation is a way to explain the mysterious first bang, as usually a creative act evolves into many new ones.


To connect with others: stories for historians and all of us


“You’re never going to kill storytelling because it’s built into the human plan. We come with it.” Margaret Atwood.

Either we are creatives, or we love to find new stories and representations of the topics that have intrigued humanity since ancient times, every exercise of retelling of the origin and the history of the universe is the continuation of a long tradition. We all have heard one or many of these tales, and in this communication lays the act of preservation of our potential as humankind. Academic students, book club attendants, social media users, or traditional conversation enthusiasts, we all can tell a story to preserve the same version of it, or we can share different, various stories that enrich our perspective and imagination.


In present times, we can even find concepts like multiverses and existential realms that allow us to create and know a broad diversity of versions of the same story without limiting the possibilities of creativity. We can be connected with our favorite author or filmmaker, with scientists in observatories worldwide, with famous astrologists, or with the ancient philosophers that founded our understanding of reality. Still, we are part of the infinite tradition of making the universe a narrative.


You probably already have thought about many stories that tell or retell the universe's origin, life, or humanity. Now that you have some recommendations to create your own stories, don’t forget to keep searching for inspiration in all the old and new narratives and explanations that can increment your ideas and knowledge. The more you research, the more material you’ll find to nurture your own mythology.


Gateway to heaven. Illustrationfrom Forged by Light and Fire
Gateway to heaven. Excerpt from Forged by Light and Fire

Azaziel is the origin story of a djinn who is raised by the angels to end a war that is devastating the earth and disrupting creation. The mythological themes, philosophical approach, and artistic narrative can inspire readers and creatives. Additionally, PepperBerry’s future projects will include historical episodes and ancient cosmologies that you’ll find intriguing if you like to explore fantasy worlds that collide with reality. Don’t miss any of our stories: you’ll find new universes and characters that make you dream!


PepperBerry is a publishing house integrated by writers, artists, and creatives from different countries. By buying Azaziel and any other production of our startup, you’ll help us grow and keep bringing new narratives for you to enjoy! Keep visiting our site for more tips and inspiration, and follow us!

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