Hey everyone, Abby here with another writing post! Today I’m talking about that one thing we all hate to love (and really love to hate) in our writing, and that’s prophecies.
What is a prophecy?
In any dictionary, a prophecy is just a prediction. In the writing world, however, the prophecy is often what sends the hero or your group of characters on some big journey to find the magical flower or defeat the Big Bad™. A good example of this in the fiction world is the Warriors series. This series was all about their prophecies, a few of which are below:
“Fire alone can save our Clan.”
“Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will turn red.”
“After the sharp-eyed jay and the roaring lion, peace will come on dove’s gentle wing.”
(Can you tell I used to be a big fan?) For anyone who has read the Warriors books before, you know exactly what each of these prophecies means. But for anyone who hasn’t, there’s a lot of possibilities, right? This is the essence of a prophecy.
Do I need to include a prophecy in my story?
Nope! It’s completely dependent on the story you want to tell.
What are the main elements of a prophecy?
The main aspect of a prophecy is the foreshadowing it provides for your story. This is one of the most blatant ways you can tell your readers, “This is something that is going to happen in the story and I’m not outright telling you how it goes down yet.”
Look at the first prophecy on the list. What can you gather from that? There’s fire, and it’s going to save a Clan. That’s what you can get from the surface, and that’s the foreshadowing that carries throughout that first series. That’s what you know is going to happen, but you don’t know how; it’s giving you some information, but not enough that you lose interest in the story itself.
The second element is symbolism. Prophecies hardly ever say exactly what is meant (how much fun would it be otherwise?) and this is something you can play around with a lot.
In the second prophecy, the phrase “blood will spill blood” sounds… weird. Is that even possible? This is when we look further. We get the idea that someone is getting injured, but what does blood have to do with it? That’s where you bring your readers into the story; capture their interest and keep it. (The same concept applies to the third prophecy as well.)
The third aspect is vagueness. You have no idea exactly what’s going to happen when each of these three prophecies comes to pass. I’ve read a lot of prophecies that give exact information, like: “On the ___ day, ___ will get the ___ that they need to defeat ___.” Where’s the fun in that?
Look at the prophecy you have now. How vague is it? Ask someone to read it, then guess what’s going to happen. If they can tell you exactly what’s going to happen (or close), then you may need to rework a couple of things.
Incorporating Mood
The language of your prophecy will heavily affect the moods and the symbols conveyed. Maybe you want your prophecy to suggest that a girl needs to get a magical stone to defeat the evil king. The two prophecies I have below are meant to convey the same thing, but you’ll be able to see how the language and the mood affects the message.
The beholder of the stone shall unleash the power to send the dark crown toppling.
Or…
Yo, she’s gonna get the stone and just frickin’ send it, there goes the king.
They convey the same message but not the same mood. When you’re working with prophecies, the mood you’re writing with is going to play a lot into the reader’s interpretation, so that’s something you’ll want to keep in mind while you’re writing.
So, that’s all I’ve got for today! Prophecies are one of those things I love to hate so I had a lot of fun writing this post 😀 If there’s something you want to see me write about in my next post, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in my ask! Until next time, much love <333
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