It's no secret that an overwhelming majority of western fantasy is Euro-centric, stealing creatures, worlds and plots wholesale from old Celtic lore, with the occasional dash of Greek or Roman for flavour. Leaving aside for the moment the rampant borrowing of feudal systems and monarchies, why do so few authors bother to go beyond simple cut-and-paste when it comes to their mythology - especially when said mythology is set within an entirely difference world? There seems to be some kind of romance with Celtic mythology, especially. But it leaves your reader in an odd position: you're linking their world experience (the Celtic fey, of which almost everyone has some experience - Banshees, tricksy fairies and the like) with the otherwise-entirely-unrelated world of your novel. The reader is unsure how much of that experience can be relied upon - often, they'll just dump their whole hazy recollection of the myths into your world, and read on with that mirky not-quite-imagined feeling permeating the whole mythos.

Or, if you luck out on a particularly educated or mythology-enthusiast, they'll sit there picking apart all the places where you deviate from the standard mythology as examples of you failing to do your research. Honestly, why not just create your own? A common theme in mythology from any culture - Asian, Western, Middle-East, Sumarian - is to explain and partially anthropomorphise the natural experience. Rivers, trees, light, dark, shadow, death, fever, childbirth - facets of natural life are given shape, form and will so that the human mind can relate more closely with them, and feel like they understand them. So that we feel more connected to our world and so that, in times of hardship, we feel we can in some way bargain with it.

Your mythology should reflect the society it is built around. What parts of the world are important and unexplained? What causes hardship to your people? Cultures that experience feast-and-famine cycles are likely to invent creatures that embody and control the fertility and prosperity of the land, as well as those for hunger-diseases, rivers, water, seeds, nature and growth. If they life in areas of high danger - perhaps near a lava-bed or active volcano, or on a perpetually cracking giant ice wall, monsters and beings that embody the terrible force of those natural agents will be prominent.

But don't limit yourself to simple elements - take a look at the society of the culture, as well. As they segregated - divided into ages, or genders or castes or jobs? How advanced is their medicine and technology - are they still pointing-and-guessing, can they perform surgery? Do they understand bacteria and microbes, or is there no apparent reason that a well dug next to a latrine will make people ill? What does the society value - wealth, health, marriage, children? Strength in arms, or bravery? Craftsmanship, or balance of mind? A life lived to a certain creed? These values are born of and influence the mythology that the culture is steeped in.

What about their history? Have they been invaded, or invaded others? Is their countryside full of natural bolt-holes to hide in, or flat plains where straight-forward combat took place? Is it not actually their homeland, but a foreign place they've been forced to colonlise? Have they been conquered, have they been forced to adopt another's mythology, in addition to their own (and how long ago?)?

Can you see why Celtic mythology pasted on top of any random culture just doesn't gel? There are no inherent connections to how that mythology grew up. It's like transplanting a personality.

And remember - the culture and mythology grow together. Ensure that, when building your mythos, it's not merely pasted on top of the culture you want, but influences it as well. Festivals to celebrate (or scare away) the monsters, particular reasonings or rewards behind values - and some of those values may have to change. It's also important to decide how important and relevant that mythology is - is it a crucial part of their spirituality, or something that exists rather as collective recognition (as the Celtic, Greek and Roman myths do for us, today). Is it incorporated into the spirituality, or has your culture adopted an entirely separate belief system in addition to their myths? So many questions - so much room for creating something original and vivid that supports your story rather than surrounds it with mud. A few horus of preparation here can greatly enrich your world, and give nuance to your story where there might otherwise be banality.

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