Creating Fantasy Creatures

[TheHalberdier]

Last night, I checked my old box of 'fantastic and twisted literature' and saw the sketches of the creatures I made. They have complete statistics such as strengths, weaknesses, and even current population count.

Is it feasible to create fantasy creatures out of scratch? Or you can just use existing fantasy creatures and make great twists about them?


By the way, I love dragons, elves, and beast summoners.

[Eliazar]

I am always interested in seeing new fantasy races. However, I think often, they are not too well done and are very reminiscent of the classical races like Orcs and Elves, only that they now have weird sounding names. So if it's not something very different, I usually prefer the classical stuff.

On the other hand, classical stuff can get a little boring and unimaginative after some time if it's just the stereotypes repeated, so giving them a twist is a good thing. However, here again, it depends on how much they are twisted. It's basically the opposite of above: Sometimtes, they do have the same name but are not really reminiscent of what you'd expect a Goblin to be or look like at all, in which case, you might as well call them something different.

It's hard to give any general advise, I thin k it's balance that makes it Regarding my worldbuilding adventures, I am not yet too certain which classical races I want to include and which new ones (or not so well known ones) I want to invent. Though I am continually shifting from all classical to almost all "self-made" (well, they're just inspired by mytholigy etc.). For example, I thought I might include elves aka Albs ("Alben", which would be the very classical German term), but currently, I am rather moving into the direction of having some kind of Satyrs replacing the parts of the "good" elves I like and adding something new, while I think some kind of Bird People (people with bird heads) might well fit with aspects of bad elves, rendering the elves pretty unnessecary, saving me the trouble of making some elvish characters interesting and not too clichee and giving me freedom to expand freely on the aspects I like

[SeverinR]

Its your world,
change traditional beings to suit your world, create new beings.

Be sure to balance them as to world existance.
How do they survive(if super weak) What keeps them from conquering the area/region/nation/world if super strong.

I took kobolds and rebuilt them to be annoying carniverous humanoids that reproduce quickly(like rabbits) and swarm their victims by numbers. They are easily killed being 3 ft tall and not very strong. Life span is 40yrs but rarely make it that far.

This shows why they are still in existence and why they haven't conquered the area.

Elves can be cliche, but just like humans they can be vastly different. Are humans cliche or are they just written cliche?

[Dante Sawyer]

There's always something original to be thought of. Even if you're just putting your own twist on an exisiting creature, it's still something new. A thread here at mythic that I found somewhat helpful is this was by Map the Dragon.
Encyclopedia of Ideas
Hope it helps.

[sashamerideth]

I write both fantasy and science fiction, I think this frees up my imagination, I don't even consider classic fantasy races, rather think of alternative evolution to come up with my races.

[Kaellpae]

My world is a futuristic earth. I kind of figure some of the mythology will stick around in some form so when I make a creature it reminds me of a classic fantasy creature then the name will seem similar. For a couple creatures so far, like a Gargol(Gar'gol?) Like a Gargoyle but just a big bird that lives mostly in buildings and reminded someone of a Gargoyle. But since this is a future earth I figure the spelling will have changed.

Edit: I haven't decided on a big bird or a big bat. A large, mutated bat would probably work best.

[TheHalberdier]

Thanks for the pieces of advice fellow writers!

Here are the creatures that fascinate me:

1) Dragons- Most of these fire-breathing megalomaniacs are immortals. If not, they live longer than humans or any other creatures. I prefer dragons that can talk through telepathy and can take the form of a human. Dragons play important roles in my novel, but they are not exposed too much.

2) City-carrying beasts- These giant beasts are so large that they carry cities in their backs. The move very slow, though. So, if a city-carrier beast is attacked by a dark army or anything foul, the city is in terrible mess unless they have experienced defenders.

3) Summoners- It's cool to see a summoner in the battlefield. I love to imagine him summoning one creature after another. Summoning requires great physical and mental energy though.

4) Time-rippers- Creatures that can rip the fabric of space and time. These creatures can be powerful enough to withstand death, but they are a rare breed.

5) Shapeshifters- Any creature that can mimic another creature is a treasure in every fantasy piece. Just imagine the plot twists and mysteries a shapeshifter can do. It might even fool the protagonist, or the antagonist in that case.


Come, let's breathe life unto them.

[Trayvian James]

It sounds to be like you've got some really original ideas. I like the city-carrying beasts. I've never heard of that one.

In the world I created for my novels, there is only one standard creature that I didn't invent, and that's a dragon. Why? I love freaking dragons. They're awesome. Other than that, though, everything is my own creation, which I think is pretty cool.

But I know authors who feel strongly on both sides of the argument. Some want only original creatures while others want to pay tribute to Tolkien and other legends by using their creatures. I say, to each his own, just so long as you make the creatures your own. Good luck to you!

My friend and fellow fantasy geek (Map the Dragon) and I created an entire fantasy library of creatures, places, and monsters, and now its there to pull from. We just try not to fight over who uses what creature. Once claimed, the author owns that creature. It was a pretty fun use of a Saturday.

[Motley]

I love inventing new little things. I've been working lately on the perfect city scavengers that are not rats or birds. Creating new creatures and races definitely gives a sense of elsewhere to your story, which is, I believe, the main point of writing fantasy. I want to transport readers.

The biggest thing to remember when creating a new race or species is to figure out why they exist. Everything comes from somewhere and everything fills a niche.

[Sevvie]

For my main fantasy story, I already have 10+ creatures/races created specifically for this story's world. But I also use typical ones such as dragons, and gryphons (with a twist). I've detailed all the information on these creatures, including what they're like, what they look like, behaviors, what they're capable of, they're purpose in the world... the list goes on.

It helps that I draw as well, so any time I randomly draw up a creature, I might find myself going "Hey... this would work really well in my world." Or I can easily sketch out a creature/species I have in mind.

I find making new, original creatures much more fascinating and engaging than re-using the same creatures that have been around in fantasy for countless years.