A-Z of Werewolf writing

Becoming The Wolf

There are different ways that people can become a Werewolf. In this chapter, requested by many of you, we will be covering these ways, where they came from and how you can integrate them into your stories...

I would suspect that many of you would have heard of a few of them, the Werewolf is a widely recognised supernatural character in many of the modern TV, Film and literature we all enjoy today. Yet there are some rather obscure ones, that would make a great starting point to write a Werewolf story with a difference.

There is the bite, where a Werewolf bites a human and infects them, turning them into one as well. There are little known ways, consisting of rubbing a magic salve on your body, drinking rainwater out of the footprint of the animal you want to turn into.

You can also drink from an enchanted stream, or be cursed by the gods, Though, the way most writers seem to gravitate to on Wattpad is the family Werewolf, where the Werewolf gene is passed down through a blood line, and people can turn into a wolf at will.

To begin, lets focus on becoming a Werewolf through a bite. These wolves usually only turn into a werewolf on a full moon, and are often not in control of themselves. An example of this is Professor Lupin in Harry Potter. The bite of a werewolf carries bacteria that is toxic to humans, it is this bacteria that would allow the human to transform- if they survived.

Taking real infections into account, for a 'realistic' transformation, you would be looking at a 'transition' period of about 2 weeks for the bacteria to enter the bloodstream and multiply. The human would also experience normal cold and flu like symptoms, aches and pains and be chronically tired. But something to think about is this... if you use this example in a modern-day story, it is reasonable to assume that modern antibacterial medicine could cure the human before it had the chance to overcome the body.

Being cursed by the Gods is an interesting way to turn into a Werewolf, and one I think could easily meld into an exciting story concept. This way is 'divine punishment' from the Gods, and originally put forward by scholars from as early as the Roman and Greek age, take the example of Lycaon (that name ring a bell?) who was turned into a wolf by Zeus as punishment for slaughtering one of his own sons and serving his remains to the gods as a dinner.

Being born a wolf isn't exactly becoming one, there is nothing you particularly need to do. It is writer's discretion on whether you need one parent or both to carry the Werewolf gene. Often you wouldn't turn into a Werewolf until you hit puberty, though again, its writer's discretion!

The other examples are self-explanatory, rubbing a magic salve on your body, drinking rainwater out of the footprint of the animal you want to turn into, and drinking from an enchanted stream... ideas you could definitely have a lot of fun with!

Which way of turning is your favourite? 

Have you checked out our latest contest? Why don't you try out one of these ideas for transforming into a werewolf by entering! Its a short story contest of between 500-1500 words, and the winner gets some awesome shout outs AND gets to be featured by our contest collab account official-visible... head over to contests to find out more...