It doesn’t have to be magic. But you do have to make up your own rules for how the world works and why it works the way it does.

In the Bourne series, for example, Jason was part of a new kind of military assassin under the Treadstone project. Both in the books and the movies, Treadstone is built up into this ‘legendary’ government program.

You could say that the unique mythology of the Bourne series involves black ops top secret government programs. Because Bourne just wants to live a free and peaceful existence, the villains in the Bourne series are usually high ranking members of intelligence organizations like the CIA or the State Department. They are often people connected to the Treadstone project in some way, or are at least investigating it. Bourne can never escape his dark past! This is part of the unique mythology of the Bourne franchise.

So it doesn’t have to be magic or sci-fi. A unique mythology is just a unique angle or set of rules that define the world that your characters exist in. In the case of the Hannibal Lecter series, sometimes it’s the characters themselves! It’s either got to be the characters, or the world, or some combination of them that makes them unique. I like to call it unique mythology, because classic mythology such as Greek or Roman is a good way to think about it. You’re building larger-than-life characters who face larger-than-life threats. So what is your larger-than-life element? It is usually tied to the theme of the story in some way.

You’re not telling a story about ordinary people living ordinary lives. In the world you create, there must be something extraordinary that creates intrigue, and that extraordinary set of things are your unique mythology.

I wonder if franchises are easier to create for sci-fi/fantasy stories in general— or at least stories with some of these elements. Magic/ mysticism seems to be key.