Writing Stuff

[moon_custafer]

Have to get this out of my head so I can sleep, feel free to ignore:

So, the plot of the fic I’m currently working on is going to involve an early-20th-century cult, although I’m not yet sure if it’s really a cult in the modern, pejorative sense, or just a weird but not intentionally toxic esoteric religion. Thing is, most cults I’ve encountered in fiction are either album-cover satanism, or album-cover satanism with orientalist trappings. Or if non-malevolent, they’re generally watered-down Buddhism with orientalist trappings.

I’ve been trying to look into some real cults of the time period, but I’m finding a lot of the details of their beliefs and practices a bit vague, possibly due to secrecy, possibly there really wasn’t that much content, just a charismatic leader. I’ve fallen down a Gurdjieff research hole, though, and that’s a bit more interesting, if only because he was Sufi-influenced and preferred to convey his ideas to the public through dance performances by his followers. I’m wondering if any of his stuff cross-pollinated with modern dance of the Isadora Duncan era, or early modern gymnastics/callisthenics.

The only trouble is about 90% of information on the topic is modern-day Gurdjieff followers; so far I’ve only found one academic piece that tries to situate it in a historical context. Lots of videos of the actual ‘sacred movements’ though, so that might provide some inspiration.

Comments

[sovay]

So, the plot of the fic I’m currently working on is going to involve an early-20th-century cult, although I’m not yet sure if it’s really a cult in the modern, pejorative sense, or just a weird but not intentionally toxic esoteric religion.

What do you need it to do in the story?

(If a weird but not intentionally toxic esoteric religion, I'd steal massively from occultism crossbred with the classics, myself.)

[moon_custafer]

I basically need some of its members to have got way out of their depth with an extraterrestrial artifact they found and are interpreting through their own particular lens.

So I guess it does need to include some kind of belief in objects of power, even if they ascribe it to gods or an ancient advanced civilization or something.

Other than that, their belief system just needs to be something interesting enough that the reader isn’t left wondering why anyone would bother joining.

[sabotabby]

That sounds fascinating. What about basing the cult on theosophy? I love that shit.

[cuddyclothes]

What a great idea! Research is a bitch on some topics. Part of what attracts people to cults is that at first they don't know it's a cult, but it's somewhere to be valued and to not feel alone. Once they've been thoroughly indoctrinated, they see their worldview as the "truth". Along with that comes isolating from friends and family.

I don't know how much of the story involves that. Good luck!