Author's Notes: For this first story, I aimed to introduce my two characters and write the basic creation of Earth. I didn't want to get too bogged down in details about every little thing about the Earth that could have been created. So, I focused on the shape, the major surface features and the creation of basic weather. I tried to still keep the narrator's voice in there a bit, but I didn't want that to be the focus of the story. I wanted the god and assistant to become the driving force instead of our comedic narrator. I tried to create visual representations of how each thing came to be rather than just say poof it came into existence. Writers should always try to show not tell, right? Also, i wanted my creation myth to align with more of our modern understanding of the world. That's why I had the Earth physically shake to create a lot of the features. I primarily took inspiration from the Genesis myth for this first story. However, it ultimately turned out pretty different. Here are the first few verses of Genesis as a reference.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
I hope it has become clear that I am writing each story as a chapter in a book rather than individual stories. I want this storybook to be a continuous read when it is done.
Bibliography. Genesis Creation Narrative on Wikipedia
Author's Notes: For this second story, I again kept with a slight bit of inspiration from the Genesis creation myth. However, again, I strayed pretty far from the original story with my timeframe and the things I discussed. Here's the original verses about animals in Genesis for reference.
20. And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."
21. So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
22. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
I also took inspiration from a Jewish story called The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog about the friendship and eventual opposition between cats and dogs. I didn't take much from this story besides the idea that dogs in their current form have always been around and cats have always been mean to them.
Originally, I had intended to make this story about the creation of both flora and fauna on Earth but, I had so much fun just describing the creation of Dog that I ran out of space. I decided that I will introduce flora along with humans as a solution to food for both groups. This allowed me to explore a bit more of the relationship between Charles and Max. It also gave me some room to play with the magical capabilities of the typewriter and office supplies.
I genuinely wanted to detail so much more and really explore the creation of plants and animals and Charles and Max's relationship. Sadly, there' only so much space available and I've never been one to write very succinctly as hard as I may try.
Bibliography. Genesis Creation Narrative on Wikipedia
The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919)
Author's Note: I really didn't know where I wanted to go with this final story when I started it. I knew I needed to create plants. I needed to do that quickly in order to still have room for human creation. I knew I needed to create humans. That's it. So, I started there.
I tried to do a quick and comical recap of how plants came about. Then I detailed the origins of man. I wanted there to be some relation to apes. That's why I had him physically change some apes into humans. I also knew I wanted my story to end with a call to creation and action. In order to get there, I decided to have Charles more or less tell the audience that there never was a plan and it's up to humans to figure it all out. I liked the idea of the hands off creator and mentor. So, I had charles act in that way in the end for both us humans and Max.
Finally, I really wanted to send home the idea that humans have all the power to define our own story and create. So, I had our narrator reiterate the point one last time.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't really base this story in much. It was all pretty original for me. I suppose I did take one final thing from the story of Genesis. I had the opposite sex human be created from the first one by having Charles write in that change. In general, I think the ideas of a hands off creator applies to just about every creation myth. I have yet to read one where the creator continues to be the puppet master throughout all of time.
Bibliography. Genesis Creation Narrative on Wikipedia