I don't know much about myths - only what has come to me through pop culture. I have a vague sense of some of the characters. Like, Diana the Huntress. I always thought of Justine Jones as a bit of Diana the Huntress. But, I don't know if what I think of as Diana the Huntress is the true Diana. And anyway, Diana was part of the scaffolding.
I never worry about basing characters on people I know or figures, like in myths - in the writing, they usually evolve into their own unrecognizable entities. They grow totally apart from the original. People I base characters on would never recognize themselves, not even with a gun to their head.
I think we all totally own myths. I look at the image above, and I think it's somebody who was set an impossible task, or is up against some deadline he can't handle. A lot of myths seem to be about those things, and I really relate to that. Or like, Narcissus, in love with his own reflection. Not being able to overcome personal things. I love the tragedy of that. I love the trickster myths from Africa.
I'm definitely in the school of twist it all up. Take what you want and discard the rest. Make a collage. Nothing is sacred!
I love Jeffe's example of the sparkly vampires. And Gaiman's gods at the Split Rock house. Who says you can't twist anything beyond recognition? I love what Kresley Cole did with the valkyries, for example.
I think you need to have the psychological parts right for the story to ring true, but the outward parts are just there to be used and abused. But this is the myth-ignorant word whore talking. Maybe if I had ever studied them I'd feel totally differently.
