“Mythopoeia” is a word meaning “invented mythology,” as in the mythology of H.P.Lovecraft's fiction or “The Lord of the Rings.” Nothing like mythopoeia could ever have existed in ancient society, because people didn't see themselves as autonomous individuals but as members of collectives such as tribes or nations. It was only right at the beginning of the modern world in the 18^th century, when people were just starting to see themselves as individuals, that mythopoeia began to surface.

One of the first examples is the mythology created by William Blake for his “Prophetic Books” epic poems in semi-Biblical free verse that tell the story of human nature as Blake saw it, using the aspects of his own subconscious to describe the opposing forces in human life and society.

Blake printed these epic poems on his own press, and colored them by hand using a secret process. Hardly anyone reads them, because they aren't very easy to follow. However, as Blake explains, he felt that he had no choice but to “create a system, or be enslaved by another man's.”

Most attempts at mythopoeia in modern fiction fall flat, because they're aren't truly mythological- they're just made up. There's a big difference. If you just sit down with a pen and paper and make things up, you're just making things up. If you try to open yourself up to something vast and mysterious that is within you and yet very much bigger, then you have a real chance of myth-making.