# Monsters, and other things that inhabit your worlds



## Draconian

I was wondering what creatures/monsters are in your worlds. In my world currently I have wraiths, vampires, werewolves, sand monsters, a vicious crossbreed between sharks and raptors and etc.


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## Map the Dragon

Do you simply mean the creatures that one might recognize, or those of our own inventions as well. (On a side note, who else was addicted to the D&D Monstrous Manual when we were kids?)

I have far too many creatures and quick-show monster appearances in my novel...I probably don't even remember them all. Some of the 'normals' that find their way into Firesoul are - minotaur (one such beast is in the band of questing heroes), dragon (but with my own twist - they change color with mood, talk, and are about the size of a volkswagen), and a bear...well, I call it a Ridgeback Bear - its about the size of a house and its spine/ridges protrudes from its back. I also have another creature that some characters encounter called zangiel - the zangiel are about the size of a couple horses, have skin like the surface of a basketball, one giant, milky eye, and are colored in various pastel shades. Oh yeah...and they're nimble and climb huge trees despite their size.

I have other, much less dangerous creatures and 'things' throughout. My favorite invention is called a xintrix. I'd rather not reveal too much about these entities...you have to pick up my novel to discover them - but I can tell you that they are entirely original and have been a favorite among my readers.


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## TWErvin2

Flank Hawk has an array of monsters, from giants, goblins and ogres to sea serpents, mermaids and dragons.

Although not unique, my novel has both mundane and souled zombies.

At least for me, it's not as much the types of monsters, but the part they play/how you use them in the context of the tale.


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## BeigePalladin

> Do you simply mean the creatures that one might recognize, or those of our own inventions as well. (On a side note, who else was addicted to the D&D Monstrous Manual when we were kids?)


 
I still am 

monsters I use are mainly any humanoid one, due to my angel-and-devil system, so mostly the undead (though my vampires are a bit odd) and the aformentioned things. My other world (which may one day actually get motivated) has the standard fantasy faire


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## Hans

Since in my world chimaerology is one of the biggest magic routes I always can come up with all kinds of monsters and creatures. It also gives me a good in world explanation to how that many different critters could evolve. They did not. Thea were created.

I use mythology a lot as source of inspiration. Never was a big fan of RPG monster manuals. And never read the D&D manual. The only classic RPG monster I use is the Ork, which I use as "catch all" term for roughly man shaped, breeded as cheap cannon fodder.


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## Jester

At one point I had created a compendium of all sorts of beasts. My desire was to have every beast in myth represented in my world. I quickly grew to realize that was a little too much. My main "supernatural" entities are beings referred to as 'celestials' who are the servants of the gods; each god of course has their own distinct celestial, such as the God of Valor having the minotaur.


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## fcbkid15

Oh i have many. So far i have the humans, elves, dwarf's, i have a race of drak dwarf's which are very evil and vicious possessed by dark magic. I have dragons, pheonixs, gargoyles, griffins, sea serpents, harpies, sea elves, and much more.


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## Kaellpae

For my world I wanted to toss in regular animals, maybe some custom built, old mythological creatures and mix in some nightmares and cuddlies from my own head.
I know of a few creatures I want to use, a specialized fox and dragons come to mind. I want to stay away from some of the alternate human races.(I.e. Dwarves, elves and gnomes mostly)


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## Dante Sawyer

The abnormal creatures in my MS are either denoted as "gods", "demons", or "spirits".  Gods and demons are extremely powerful and intelligent (although they don't have any "god-like" powers).  Spirits are more like ghosts or other, less dangerous, creatures.  I also have a beast called a bori which is like a cross between a rhino and a cow... and it's blue.  It's the main pack animal in my fantasy universe.


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## Map the Dragon

Dante Sawyer said:


> I also have a beast called a bori which is like a cross between a rhino and a cow... and it's blue.  It's the main pack animal in my fantasy universe.



These are among the best types of creations in fantasy. As readers, we all expect the epic evil monster, or the new race protagonist, but what really makes our worlds real are the creatures that some might take for granted...the pack animals, the pets, the creatures that we see a few times but are of no real plot consequence.


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## Jester

Kaellpae said:


> For my world I wanted to toss in regular animals, maybe some custom built, old mythological creatures and mix in some nightmares and cuddlies from my own head.
> I know of a few creatures I want to use, a specialized fox and dragons come to mind. I want to stay away from some of the alternate human races.(I.e. Dwarves, elves and gnomes mostly)


 
I'm just the opposite. I want to use as many humanoid races as I can. I can't think of creative creatures as well as I can create races - I just run into walls with them.


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## Kaellpae

It's not that I don't like humanoids. It's just that Dwarves and Elves seem to make it into a lot of fantasy, which makes sense, but they always seem the same to me. I want to see a race of dwarves or elves or even gnomes that go against all the other stories. It won't stop me reading a book if they have those cliche races and their characteristics, I just find it monotonous. A lot of them fail to stand out to me.
As for making your own humanoids, or recreating an old race. That's the kind of thing I want to do.


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## Draconian

Hey guys thanks for the all the posts you've given me a lot to think about.


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## Whytemanga

I try to "break" an old creature before turning it into something new. I might not include anything of the breaking to the making in the actual story, or even history, but it's still a part of my process to try and breathe life back into something I've seen just too much of.

If a manticore is a combination of some beasts, then why not combine a few beasts that haven't been combined before?

Dragons are giant reptiles with wings. Why not take that logic and apply it to some other kind of creature? The Pegasus and Phelddagrif are similar examples, but what about giving a creature something other than wings, and "making a big deal about it" in your world? After that, it's mere nostalgia & tradition that keeps the Dragon around these days. It's not bad to reuse creatures and tropes -- it gives an experienced reader a bone to quickly chew on in your world after all -- but even giant talking reptiles get a li'l boring when they're as numerous in tales as the trees in _Evilwood_ forest.


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## Kaellpae

@Whytemanga: That's exactly what I'm doing with creatures in my world.


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## TheHalberdier

Hi!

Currently, the creatures in my novel are dragons, humans (squabbling over power and politics), dwellers (intelligent, zombie-like beings), daemons (fresh from Hell), and daemon incarnates (leaders of daemons).


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## sashamerideth

I have all manner of creatures in my story.  I don't have typical fantasy creatures, I have horses with claws for hooves, six legged oxen, and a companion animal that resembles a foot long pill bug. 

I am debating a second intelligent species, that no human can communicate with. As communication is impossible, there would be constant war with them.


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## Leuco

For my story I used a terrorizing tribe of regenerating trolls that live in the caves of the mountains. The residents in the valley live in constant fear, expecting them to storm down upon them in the middle of the night and kill them while they're sleeping. Sound familiar? There's also a troll version of the wicked witch/snow queen archetype and references to other green humanoids like orcs and hobgoblins-- a nod to Emerson.

I've got some walking undead too, but they're supposed to be more of an ironic representation of immortality rather than the relentless hordes that traditionally symbolize the feeling of modern stress. I also wanted to use the Dread Knight monster in my story because they represent the tragic hero perfectly. The fall from grace theme is a big one in my novel.

There's also a cyclops, much like Polyphemus from the Odyssey, that represents the primitive and violent, yet sensitive, nature of an unforgiving wild. He doesn't herd any sheep though, and no, he doesn't gets stabbed in the eye. Oh, and there's also threat of a disease, which I guess is a micro-monster, isn't it?

But, even in a world filled with such creatures, the true monsters in my novel are the people. If you're interested in reading it, PM your email and I'll send you the pdf.


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## Helbrecht

In the story I'm currently writing, one of the first creatures to be introduced is the _kezzit_ - "Baby Dragon" in the language of the protagonist's mentor's culture. As the name suggests, they're reptiles of a sort, like man-eating iguanas the size of Alsatians. Komodo Dragons, basically, but a bit bigger and a lot faster. They can spit and spray their neurotoxic venom, which they coat their claws with by licking them in their downtime, which produces a pain similar to being set on fire. Their gums are also basically petri dishes for dozens of nasty pathogens, so even if antivenom is acquired, bites are usually fatal from the ensuing infection. However, their large diets combined with their small frames means that their meat is packed with nutrients, and they have two huge bladders filled with practically drinkable water that make them very valuable to hunters in the desert environment in which they're found.

And in one of the stories I'm planning for (set in a tundral environment i.e. Northern Siberia), the main pack animal is a great big fluffy dog the size of a pony with huge, wide paws that distribute its weight over a large surface area in the snow to prevent them from sinking in. They're characterised in folklore as being aloof, noble wolves, but in reality they're just big, dumb, friendly animals. Domestication might have something to do with that.

I also have a species of spider that lays millions of microscopic eggs when it reproduces, which, due to its verminous role in the local ecosystem, get stuck in food stores, slums, etc. They are subsequently ingested or inhaled, gestate by drawing nutrients from the host's body, then grow and expand in large clumps underneath the host's skin, forming pox-like sores. The sores erupt when the eggs hatch and hundreds of baby spiders spill out. It's awesome.


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## Kevlar

@Whytemanga: I think you're thinking chimaeras. Manticores are mythological greek things with cat-like bodies, human-like faces and barbed tails they can use as projectiles. They're a bit of a chimaera themselves. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, I'm a teenager not a professor. My own rendition of manticores are giant poisonous insects with long stingers. Inspiration came when a (wood wasp?) bug with a stinger as long as it was smacked into me while out camping. After the initial "OMG that thing is massive and looks painful!" I got some inspiration. 

I also have basilisks (neurotoxic spitting lizards) but both of these creatures might not even make their way into my story, as they're from the far south, mostly in an area controlled by some countries of the other hominid, the horned draey. Like humans these guys have different skin colours and features, but they all have goat like ears and ramming horns. (This made me unhappy when I learned Bioware ws smacking horns on the qunari. They ended up looking like what I had imagined the draey.)

Other than that I can't think of my other creatures ,unless you consider the cave lions, mammoths, aurochs, whoolly rhinos, (European) hyenas, and (Irish) Giant deer to be monsters. (If you haven't heard of the Irish deer, the thing stood 7' at the shoulder and could have a rack 12' from tip to tip) I do have some evil things one of my main character's distant ancestor apparently destroyed, but if they ever show up it will be in his son's generation, or his son's.

As with Leuco the true monsters are the people. They kill, they burn, they plot, they rape.


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## Whytemanga

@Kevlar - In truth, I pulled some random creature names from a hat to help back up my message with some examples. I ... think. I'm slightly dyslexic and highly ADHD riddled, so my text & thought patterns can sometimes be a li'l obscure.

I don't think very many people write fantastical things fretting that they need to "stay in-genre" and yet so many writers continue to write what they've read, and when asked why, they respond with something along the lines of, "it's the genre." That is why I think this is really a bigger battle.

A battle between genre and amateurisms.

If you're not writing with elves, orcs and dragons, is it really Fantasy? I think the answer is a definite "yes", and I'm sure many of you would agree. That is only the basis of my point, however, and not the point itself. Please, if I may...

I come from a background of drawing first and foremost. Although my life in high school focused more on writing for sure, I returned to art during my "brief flirtation" with post secondary education.

I tell you of my art exploits because in the art world of cartooning the amateurs always learn first and foremost by copying the great cartoonists who came before them -- logically, because those great artists "made it", and so have secrets in the craft that these young-in's can uncover. Logically. But in truth, we just draw their stuff because it's fricken' awesome, and I wanna draw more like those guys, and I wanna draw their characters, because I love them, and I want to see them do more awesome things.

In a sense, I wouldn't mind a certain percentage of who I am as a cartoonist to be replaced by a certain percentage of who those great creators were.

It's a good way to learn -- and it's very fun -- but it's not in the best interest of YOU or your GENRE.

I'm not about to tell you what you're genre is. I don't think anyone should (especially if "anyone" is a writer). Genre should really be a malleable, a dynamic thing, and not so tangible as to have staples, or traditional tropes & creatures.

It's in YOUR best interest, 'cuz what you really want is *to be the next big thing*, if you're like me. Maybe, to *revitalize the genre*, even, or, no, *hopefully* as I guess it's, no, it IS selfish not to try to do these things.

Consider. People may not realize it, but they don't want to read the same things over and over again. As a writer, this is just a truism you will eventually come to. But, then also consider, why should writers not go the whole ten miles and present entirely new creatures, races, and story tropes?

It'll take a while to dissect what makes these creatures, and these races, and these story tropes tick, definitely -- if you do it right, but I think it's the only way to really get what you really want. Given, you can't go SUPER left-field, because writing and art only work when based on things we've stored in our memories -- but they needn't be "my take on" pointy eared humans, or "my take on" bat winged lizards. Writing about those things is a lot of fun -- but it's essentially the same thing as drawing Naruto, Batman, or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. A bit more diluted then Naruto or Johnny, but certainly Batman -- that ol' _pointy-eared_, _bat-winged_ human. Indeed, DC continues to publish Batman because they like money -- and the core fanbase continues to buy Batman because they've already invested so much into the character, but the average person is, again, beginning to get a li'l fidgety when presented with a new Batman property. A _li'l_ check-my-watch-every-five-minutes.

Make new stuff, just don't make it boring as all heck, or completely un-boring, aka: unbelievable. I'd like to consider elves a template now, rather than a tradition, if that makes sense.

We're standing in what people perceive as Tolkien's shadow otherwise. It's not a bad place to stand, 'tis true, especially with the sun blazing down on the scene as it does, but... I mean...

I want more than this. Why wouldn't you?


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## Antaus

There are tons of monsters in my fantasy world, it would be hard to list them all. I do use a lot of stock creatures though, goblins, orcs, trolls, dragons, and so on. The dragons in my story are intelligent and capable of speaking as well. As the world is still in development and I'm working on various aspects of things, I am working on several custom races right now though. Trying to think up stuff that's original isn't easy, a lot of times even 'original' critters have elements from other material.


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## Shadoe

I don't have a single goblin, orc, troll or dragon. I have flying tigers the size of elephants, though. They're the good guys.  And there are flying jellyfish that behave like piranhas. They're NOT the good guys.

I've recently decided that there must be some kind of dangerous critters running about in the wilderness between the cities and settlements, otherwise the wilderness would be a lot more settled. I need to get some ideas on what those are....


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## Argentum

I have to agree with Whytemanga that elves are basically a template now. Most people don't really do much with it, but there are so many possibilities if writers would just take them and make them into something entirely new. I think it is fun to take stock creatures/creatures/races and turn them into something different.

All the creatures and monsters I made are humanoid in some way. All races are either plain human or half human, half lizard/mouse/mole/wolf/deer. I think it'll work out well. It should anyway. They're human enough to be considered simply a variation of human, but different enough to be considered inhuman/monster. I don't think I could create a race entirely new and un-humanoid and make it believable and interesting at the same time.


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## Aegle

Snorlax. The greatest monster of all. (I call my dad Snorlax every Sunday when he naps on the sofa.) 


Winged elves intrigue me greatly. I'd love to wrap a story 'round their phases of creation.


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## Argentum

Ha ha! Snorlax! Brilliant!

Personally, I never cared much for stories where authors tried to create their own entirely different race. Not very many of them can pull it off without seeming to say, "LOOK! I created a whole new race! Aren't I original?" Now that I think about it, I don't think those writers put much effort into the creation of their non-human races. Of course, some of them can pull it off brilliantly.


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## Aegle

Yeah, and I developed a 'ghetto pixie' race, where the pixie is so bountiful in the 'backside' that her backside drags the ground, and she barely stays afloat. 

I agree wholeheartedly, too. I still haven't given up on the human race for unique contrasts, etc.  There are still stories to be told!


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## Draconian

Yeah I agree, but you would be surprised by how ideas people haven't thought which makes me wonder if i will think some of those ideas.


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## Codey Amprim

Well, I'm not going to go through the list of creatures that inhabit my realms, but I'll give you some advice.

Having all of these awesome and cool and badass creatures in your realm (while being creative with each, mind you.) isn't necessarily a bad thing! But, it isn't exactly realistic, either. Look at our world, we have sharks, lions and tigers and bears OH MY! but what do they all have in common?
Prey.
Your world can be filled with all of these terrifying, awesome, fantastic creatures, but they all need things to eat besides your heroes and villains! Unless your heroes and villains are cows... or pigs... or basically anything that says "eat me." And I doubt your characters are said things. Your world needs grazers, herbivores, gentle giants... the beings that are on the nice side of your world. 

I feel like I'm being a tad harsh, but believe me I'm trying to help haha. 
Hope I helped!


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## Whytemanga

Draw up one of those "this eats that" maps -- that'd be neat, and useful. An ecosystem, basically, is what you're saying. An ecosystem per bio--uh--sphere/dome/distinct landscape area. Your misty mountains, your webbed wood, & your rocky-filled-with-horses planes.

Eh, though I suppose most "insert magical creature here" are at the top of the food chain, this exercise might give yah the chance to stick them somewhere else, or devise that there is something more dangerous above them, or maybe even below them (to humans, maybe from poison) but this creature is immune, so it's able to eat it, etc. Lot's of options.Lot's of fun.

You don't need to be able to draw at all, either. Just write the name of the creature, circle it, then draw an arrow to whatever creatures it eats.

While your at it, hey, why should all creatures just eat each other? Maybe one HERE needs to only suck the marrow out of other creatures bones in order to build up it's shell for the winter time (or, etc). Maybe it only tends to hunt a certain large-boned creatures for that purpose, but sticks to smaller creatures for food.

Also, here's another idea, why can't some creatures domesticate their food sources? If they're actually smart, and not completely obsessed with their own culture's tradition of hunt (or etc), then I'd expect some bests to keep their own livestock in an escapable cave drop-down, or...well, you get the idea.

Ideas. WOOT. I post.


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## grahamguitarman

I agree that you need to think about the ecosystem as a whole and not just the predators, when I'm creating worlds for a novel (done plenty of that - just never got round to actually writing the novel till now) I always think about the little creatures as well as the big, what about the native birds, rabbits and other small creatures that make up the background of the world - that is what makes an invented world believable (assuming that is what you are after) the film Avatar is a good example of how a fantastic world seems more real for the wealth of wildlife living there.

As for elves & dwarves ect. they have become pretty much a template these days (a very tolkienian template at that) but they don't have to be! try going beyond Tolkien to the original tales that inspired him.  

Did you know for example that in Norse/Old english mythology (which Tolkien took as his starting point for middle earth) Dwarves were dark creatures that lived underground - but not the richly carved great hall of middle earth, these were small damp & opressive caves and the dwarves were thought of as barely living creatures infused with much deep magic, capable of crafting wondrous magical rings & weapons but certainly not the heroic battle ready warriors we know from modern fantasy.

I'm still developing my world ecology (I decided to start writing the book before the world was complete this time) but there will be unusual beasts of burden, small flying mammals, and other benign herbivores that simply live their lives without having an impact on the world around them (other than eating the trees of course) then there will be some beast like humanoid races (with a storyline that explains the origins of some of those races) and trees that because of their unusual growth patterns make good living spaces for ordinary people if encouraged to grow in a certain way. 

there will be elves and dwarves too but these will be my own interpretation of the tropes not the typical tolkien style elves & dwarves people are used to seeing, maybe even the stonelike unliving dwarves of norse mythology.

As an artist I also intend to have B&W illustrations throughout the book to show what things look like - partially because I cant resist drawing them but also because by doing so I hope to break the preconceptions that people have of how certain things should look (elves & dwarves especially)


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## grahamguitarman

Here is a preliminary sketch of the main mount in my world - a Loakir







Drawing sketches of the creatures in my world helps me to create more solid descriptions and often influences the way I write about them.  the large ears for example came about because I decided I liked the look of them that way, this then lead on to descriptions of the animals care such as having to keep the ears clean and free of parasites, and the fact that Loakirs have excellent hearing.  You don't even need to be good at drawing - even a bad sketch can help make a more solid description of your creation.

I'm also thinking of having an appendix with illustrations of the beasts / constructions of my world for which the sketches will be helpful.


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## Codey Amprim

That's a nice drawing, and a cool concept! Love the name, too!


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## Whytemanga

I'd love to read a good book that knows how to incorporate visual aids well. Very rare, though. Little more than maps and rune languages ever really make it past that powerful, initial "campy" feel for me, and there are many ways to screw up in the eyes of the reader a good map or glyph syllabify. Take _Artemis Fowl_ for example. Liked the overall book; hated the fictional language's visuals (and I still do today ).

What's more worrying than image quality (to me, as there's little I think one can do about it) is how well one's potential demographics will receive the art for it's _style_ or otherwise.

It could be the strongest art in the world (like Lackadaisycats.com) or the weakest (xkcd.com), but, if the overall audience you are pitching too isn't into your art, _yah_ just won't find_ yur_ livelihood in their meek monetary response. (The beautiful _Lackadaisy_ doesn't make enough profit to sustain the creator, but the simple efforts of _xkcd_ has seen that it's creator lives a well-off existence. I get why, but it still frustrates many of the artists I know to no ends )

I don't think I've yet seen illustrations accompany the quickly-becoming-common fantasy index at the back of the books, but what I'd really like to see is a sort of encyclopedia-like insert (featuring illustrations) at the back of the book rather than a simple visual accompaniment to the index. I'm talking in-depth; stuff like word break-downs. I find it fascinating (and since many fantasy readers are total nerds (take a drink ) I'm sure many of them would agree!

In the end, just like how text inserts (see the Comic, _Watchmen_) can really kill a reader's enjoyment of their visual story experience, I kind'a more-than-surmise that images throughout a prose narrative would, likewise, do more damage than heal. My inexperienced opinion. You can find out for yourself, though. :>

Boy, I sure do adress off-topic stuffs. Take this awkwardly meta'ed lampshade hanging for example.

As for the original tales that inspired Mr. Tolkien -- many writers have already done that too--gone the way of the original, I mean, and I suppose ... still are 

Nothing wrong with elves, orcs, or etc; tolkien's twist, the documented versions of the myth's twist, or your twist -- nothing wrong -- I'm just certain it would be more profitable (in the long-term) for us to ditch 'em like cold dirt and go for the real gold that lies buried beneath our land.

I say "long term" 'cuz, well... The more people see your work as uniquely _your_ brand, the more fans, and subsequent chance at creating and maintaining a livelihood in this zanny creative endeavour, will you have.

Sure, this is _your_ elves, maybe _your_ worgen (if you're _Blizzard-Activision Entertainment_), but you could have something _entirely yours_. Humour me a moment longer and I'll explain.

Short-term gain would be the "built-in audience" for elves, and worgen (Blizzy's werewolves). Built-in audiences are people who'll automatically buy your work 'cuz they remember having a good experience with an elf and a werewolf in the last series they read. It sounds profitable, but here's the catch: in the end, I think it only really works as far as advertising. You see, once this audience is done with _your_ elves and _your_ werewolves, they're off to read someone else's. Your bold new take on gryphons and trogs is left in their dust. That's 'cuz this group is monetarily invested in _elves_ and _werewolves_, not specifically _your work_.

You'll keep your core audience who like more than just your traditional tropes of course--I don't want to make anyone think they won't--but they sadly pale, when you're just starting out, in comparison to the already-massive demographic of elfwolf shippers.

People want ledges they can grab onto -- which tends to be the types of ledges they know to be grab-able and not at all slick, sticky or prickly -- certainly elves, werewolves, trolls, dwarves, dragons, and the likewise -- I'm just pretty sure you can build a more outstanding, and ultimately more rewarding house if you create your own bricks, rather than add purple dye to the brick mix; or going back to original mud-brick and hay design _if you know what I mean_.

If you can invent something that stands out of the current crowd entirely, without any noticeable drop in content quality, you will draw in many more readers than if you start with purple walls and hay roofs, 'cuz in the end, unfortunately, it's not _skill_ that wins an artist or writer his or her livelihood. It's how many people you can spoon-feed with _G̶a̶r̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d_ or...no, wait... your brand of vegetables.


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## Anomander

Creating everything in your world might be very difficult. You'd have to come up with something that seems authentic in that world, and not completly absurd or laughable. The creatures need names, description, backstoy maybe etc. That's why there is so much borrowing of material in the fantasy genre. Making something that is completely revolutionizing is really hard. That's why we so often see elves, dwarves, dragons etc. in different fantasy books. It's much easier taking certain things from other books and then making some new creatures that are original.


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## Misusscarlet

I have the regular old creatures in my story. I have some 3-tailed cow looking creatures. Gigantic painted mustangs. Dragons of course. Shapeshifters, of course I haven't read about anyone creating a blue fox shapeshifter. My main character though, her species I thought of. The best way to describe her is a butterfly. She metamoprhs into something new as she grows older and gains more experience. Her hair color and eye color changes as her power increases, a subtle change.


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## mythique890

As for drawings within books, anyone read Sanderson's _The Way of Kings_?  I only read a sample, but my mom had it, so I saw the book.  Pretty cool, IMO.

There's something to be said for tropes, they're repeated for a reason: people like them.  Books written about familiar creatures with twists tend to sell better.  People like what is familiar.  That said, I like it when an author takes a less 'done' fantasy creature and makes something out of them.  Speaking of, has anyone noticed the run on angels lately?  Kind of made me mad, because back in 2008 I was trying to come up with a good race that hadn't been overdone, and I was like, "Hey!  Angels!"  Cassandra Clare totally put me out of business.    At least her story is decent.  The other two authors I know of who used angels, one is 'meh' and the other is plain terrible-bad-awful.

Anyway... I have dragons.  In defense of my dragons, they do have a twist and they don't live in a high fantasy realm.  They live in Montana.  The twist is a secret.  In my other story, the one that started out with angels, I also have magic-using humans, winged deer (peryton, from real mythology), unicorns, and some kind of shape-shifter I haven't defined yet (benign).  I hadn't really thought of monsters... that could add something to my plot...


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## Elishimar

In my project I want to eliminate elves and dwarves, so I made hill-men, forest-men and the main race, The Eilan. They are your basic humans except they have stones set in their chests given to them by their deity that gives them extra power, each stone is unique, etc. I also have your run of the mill earth animals, and some tormented, demented, and tortured animals, that will make up evil creatures and demons, etc. For instance a black leathery wolf type creature with a flat, smashed in face and a long slashing tongue with white cloudy bulging eyes. For a baddy race, I am working on a disfigured humanoid thing that feeds on rage, fear, and hatred, that resembles human-animal hybrids.


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## ScipioSmith

I tend to use a lot of traditional names for things, simply because I suck at making up names, but the extent to which they match up to the traditional meaning varies. My Elves are High Elvish, apart from the ones who are pointy-eared Nazis, but my Fire Drakes are bipedal sentient fire-breathing lizard-people and my Leviathan is the largest land creature (I think the biblical original was a sea monster). The one time I didn't do this was for the air element bird-people, where because I couldn't think of a mythological race I called them Aestivals, and have easily the worst name in the series.


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## JCFarnham

The discussion about "grabable ledges" or tropes is a difficult one really. I know of one author [who happens to have a book on writing speculative fiction, I'm sure some of you will know who I'm talking about] who pretty much flat out says if you're going to have Elves just have elves, calling it a schmerp or whatever is just going to piss people off. The authors thought being that if you include something "with a twist" it'll annoying a larger readership than it intrigues. Of course, I'm not so sure about that. There is certainly something to be said for the use of easy relatable tropes in building something that people can get their teeth in to, but as Whyte said, I'm not sure if that's really the way to go. 

Conversely I don't necessarily advocate completely new everything, because I'm sure that would also alienate a lot of people who would rather have something they can relax and read in one sit [for example]. 

I believe the real trick that us writers should be pulling, is to create worlds that make sense first, then populate them with creatures second. Because lets be honest, elves, dwarves and dragons most certainly CANNOT and probably SHOULD NOT be shoehorned into every fantasy setting under the sun. What I'm getting at is... If you're story NEEDs elves [rather than just a "point-eared human" analogue to fill the role of "a foil for _normal_ people"] to work then by all means include them in whatever Tolkien/D&D capacity you wish, or don't wish for that matter.

Graham's method of creating an "ecology" seems to play into this idea. His creatures, beast of burden, rabbit analogues and so on, have their place, and certainly [I'm guessing] won't be there just to call attention to "Hey guys, look over here I'm writing fantasy!".

I think I'm of the writing camp that would rather stick with humans [or similar whatever that may mean] unless something a bit more wacky is needed [at least in the sense of main characters]. A similar problem is with including characters who aren't really necessary. A good point that Card brings up in his books on writing is knowing your structure [though I tend not to agree with his execution of this idea]. If you create a world from scratch, with a very detailed and very alien feel then chances are you'll be wanting to explore this fantastic new world, and not ignore it in favour of a character driven "I need to change my life/grow up" type story. In my opinion there is more leeway than Card suggests in mixing these various structures, so what I take from this idea is ...

If you want a certain creature, species, elf-analogue, etc. then you'll probably need to be able to find a way to explore this world even if only in passing. It would be a shame to have created lots of neat monsters for example if there is no possible way you can get them into your narrative [without breaking something  ]

That being said in my science fiction universe I have many Alien species who are pretty much there to be mentioned in sweeping, generalised political statements like "the Avonion Hegemony is angry" [okay not such a good example, 1 because its lame and 2 because they're actually quite important... though not directly for the novel]. and I think using creatures in this way is a good [though maybe cheap if done badly] way to populate a world and not let it feel incomplete, you know giving it a sense of "there's more happening in this world than our story, because its a _real _place, but that doesn't matter right now, what matters is what Alice is getting up to with those Schmerps" [hurr hurr hurrrr]

Logic is mightily under-used in amatuer fiction, I believe.


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## Benjamin Clayborne

Humans are the best monsters. ;-)


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## Johnny Cosmo

> Humans are the best monsters. ;-)



I couldn't agree more. I've neglected mythical creatures and monsters, in favour of threats that are more relatable. I do intend to include beasts inspired my mythology, but my characters will face far greater problems in other humans.


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## Benjamin Clayborne

Although as far as creative monsters go, I really like the Malices from Bujold's "Sharing Knife" novels. Very creative kind of destructive evil. (I highly recommend everything by Bujold.)


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## KingArthur

I've create a creature that i thought was so unique i had to build a story around it. They're called Kae and are created from the idea of conflict. While there skin is ash colored they're eyes are silver and the see in shades of silver. they're eyes are also attracted to metal with hair that is silver and claw tipped fingers and toes. I think being created from conflict makes them interesting because they don't act like any other creature they are conflict embodied and the act as such and that's all, no pretenses, no mercy, no shame.


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## Draconian

Hey this thread has gotten huge since I started. I made a new creature in my world, beings made of equal light and darkness but later these creatures split apart in two( beings of darkness and beings of light). I won't tell anymore about them because I don't want to spoil my story.


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## Hans

Draconian said:


> I made a new creature in my world, beings made of equal light and darkness but later these creatures split apart in two( beings of darkness and beings of light).


What do you mean by the words "light" and "darkness"? In a physical sense darkness is the absence of light. So beings of both could be patterned. Or they are a little bright, but not too much. 
So when they split do you have shining white creatures and pure black ones?

Or did you put some further meaning in the words "light" and "darkness"?


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## Draconian

That is what makes it interesting. Do I mean literal or metaphorically?


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## sashamerideth

Dark, can also be the absorption of light.


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## DameiThiessen

Creatures in my story are either "creatures created when a demon inhabits a physical body" or "soulless idol created by a sorcerer". So monsters are either conscious creatures with animalistic drives or a puppet created and used by a sorcerer.


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## ascanius

mythique890 said:


> Anyway... I have dragons.  In defense of my dragons, they do have a twist and they don't live in a high fantasy realm.  They live in Montana.  The twist is a secret.  In my other story, the one that started out with angels, I also have magic-using humans, winged deer (peryton, from real mythology), unicorns, and some kind of shape-shifter I haven't defined yet (benign).  I hadn't really thought of monsters... that could add something to my plot...


Montana!  Im from Mt.  You should include some small snippet about Butte.  I have a lot of different creatures and races more than I care to write down right now.  Suffice it to say I have all the usual elves, dwarves, demons, dragons and the rest.  Though they each have their own twists making some very unique, as unique as possible, and others with only minor differences.  Along with the usual I have three races that I invented.  Then I have a whole series of mythological supernatural godlike creatures in the mythology I wrote.  You know I have to say the part I like the most is creating the cultures and traditions that go along with each race that I create.  I think that is where my creatures become truly unique not in their physical appearance but in their culture, or their world view.


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## Whytemanga

Mnn...

It just seems like, "My elves are an inch taller, and orange."

The *twists* are more like _tweaks_, so when we get a mini-arc that introduces the "new" creature/race, well, we've been there and done that.

Only now, instead of "they're as tall as a human" we have, "they are an inch taller than a human," and instead of, "pale skinned," we get, "orange skinned." Besides that, barely anything else is notably different. Besides that, nothing else has any real wonder waiting for me to discover, document, fear, or love.

Wanna keep that audience guessing. Rarely ever want that audience to guess right--unless it's part of a ploy to have 'em guess wrong later, and so on.

Fantasy, to me, is when a book fills me full of childish wonder; be it a new creature, an object that does something it normally doesn't, a battle tactic I've never thought about before...

Use the old tropes if you want, but don't expect 90% of your audience to be filled with any sort of wondrous feeling if you do. Not unless they've got a pretty wondrous secret up their scales.

Seriously, entire portions of plot in the greatest books are carried by the flavouring of a NEW culture, NEW species, NEW way of looking at something. If you combine a two things you've seen before, chances are, everyone else has seen 'em too, and to see 'em both in one thing pro'lly ain't much of a "twist". We're looking for, "things you'd never see, not even in your dreams." which literally means, things you'd never see. Not even in your dreams.

I just don't wanna read a real boring section of an otherwise really good book!


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## Draconian

Hey thanks for the advice I think I have an idea of a new species, I will take this advice to heart.


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## Legendary Sidekick

My story has its share of supernatural beings. There are seven demon lords, who I refer to (behind the scenes) as the "distorted demons." They were all released from Hell at the same time and in the same place. As a result, they shared a body, each owning a different section of the body. The body parts split and grew into monstrous forms (except for the demon presiding over the sin of "sloth." He was too lazy to change his form, so he is merely a mustard yellow, hundred-yard-wide floating eye). The "lust" demon is the most disturbing.

I also have several demon children--creatures born of lust and one other sin. The form, including gender, is determined by the specific combination of sins. (Succubi are products of lust and gluttony, imps are products of lust and pride, etc.) Not all of them are inherently evil. As long as the concept of "fallen angels" is plausible, I figure demon children are capable of defying "their nature" (or their parents) as well.

Angels are more human-like, but they are far from perfect. My archangel character tries a little too hard to fit in with macho warrior-types, while the cherub is so far removed from humanity that her naked body is as bald and anatomically-incorrect as a department store mannequin.



Benjamin Clayborne said:


> Humans are the best monsters. ;-)


But I have to agree with ^.

Human villains aren't evil just for the sake of being evil. They usually have some grand plan, and more fallibility than they can admit to. Both my main hero and my main villain are capable of screwing up all their hard work in one deft move.


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## Devor

I did create an ecosystem for my country, but it doesn't feature any particularly magical creatures.  I tried to flush out rare and unusual creatures from the world and from prehistoric times, as well as combine creatures in places that seemed natural to me.  For example, there's a weasel with thin flaps along the side to glide like a flying squirrel or a sugar glider.  Everything in this habitat is distinctly different in an effort to make the world "feel" magical without actually muddling the setting with more magic than is required for the plot.  And since the people here originally came from somewhere else, they brought a handful of the "mundane" animals like horses with them.  The same is also true for the plant life and their farming systems, and it's all relevant because the main character is something pretty close to a farmer.

While I'm still flushing out the races of the world a little bit, there are "groups" of several of the people-like races that share similar traits within the group.  I've also done things like combine Ogres, Orcs and Trolls as the progressive life cycle of a single race, while adding other creatures to round out a group of races.  There are elves and dwarves, but they're distant allies who have little place in the country.

In short, I'm hoping at times to be different without making things bizarre, unless I need to for the story I'm telling.  The land has an origin-story focused on two or three distinct new races (the third has only a really tiny role).  By the point that story is told, I think the reader will be intrigued enough to care about the new races involved.  That's especially true, I think, because I didn't have to stop and explain the non-orc creature who fills that same insignificant orc role in the world.


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## Terra Arkay

I do a little research before I decide on creating a living thing. For example I've got this one race of people, they're sort of like a mix between orcs, goblins, ogres and trolls. I try to think up of unique ideas, so far I've got a wooly stegosaurus that's yet to be named


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## Jabrosky

My current conworld has prehistoric fauna such as dinosaurs, mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and pterosaurs. Prehistory is a veritable treasure trove of strange and fearsome monsters!


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## Liu Xaun

In my world there's a type of energy that gives rise to elemental powers, better physique, and intellect. Animals with access to this energy will be filling the role of monsters. Though I think it would be cool to take an already powerful and magical creature like a dragon, and give it this energy.


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## ThalaeaAithusia

I like to take a particularly rotten human vice, and then personify it. I then "tweak" until I have a _creature_ that is nothing like anything we see in our world...you can get some pretty gruesome monsters than way. For the "good creature" type things, I like to personify something really _good_ and then embellish whatever I get.

I have other methods, but this one is particularly productive...

-Thalaea


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## quenchy

The Striga and the Strigoi
(based on Slavic and Romanian mythology)
A person can be born with two souls. She usually has no idea of this, and only Gypsy scrying can reveal his (if the scryer desires to tell the person the truth). This person who has two souls is called Striga (used for feminine and masculine). When baptized, only one of the souls of the Striga is baptized. When the Striga dies, the baptized soul will leave the body and go to wait for judgement at the end of its days, but the other soul will remain in the body. After 40 days, the burried Striga awakens as Strigoi.
The body of the Strigoi remains in the ground where it is burried. At night, a malevolent, warped, beast-like spirit will manifest above the ground at the spot where the Strigoi is buried. This spirit is material, can be hurt and can hurt others. It will go berserk, confused by its awakening - the second soul of the Strigoi has lost all memories of who it was and what it is and follows only bestial instincts, preying on the flesh and blood of animals and mortal men.
If a brave warrior decides to take down the Strigoi, she must be warned that defeating the spirit form of the unholy creature is of no use - it will manifest the next night, if not the same.  Using crosses and holy words will not turn the beast away - it has already been baptized and wards off all attepmpts to be turned from a priest. The only way to defeat it is to find its corpse during daytime. The Strigoi will not be able to manifest, but it will try to chase the hunters away with psychic shriek. The grave must be opened but the body should not be removed from it or this will allow the Strigoi to venture into the wilderness, becoming a Bukavac or Vrkolak or something worse. The body should be anointed with goose oil boiled at St Ignatiu's day. The head must be cut and turned backwards, looking directly towards the ground so that when the Strigoi will wake up at night its soul will go directly into hell. It will try to manifest, but the goose oil will not allow its soul to leave the corpse. It will cry three times the names of the hunters who did this to it and if they hear this call, their souls will be dragged to Hell with it.


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## The Grey Sage

My suggestion is: MAKE YOUR OWN along with using other established ones.
Personally I have made 8 species in addition to the 4 normal ones I use. This has given me more freedom and uniqueness while still connecting with audiences who want the 'norm'. Also with less common species it involves people more, they want to learn about this species and how it works into your story. And by make a NEW species, I'm not saying make a human w/ four arms or make a fish with tiger eyes and jello for brains, nothing stupid or miniscule. That's the basics o being original with species.


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## eve

how do you come up with choosing a monster?  why a werewolf over a giant?  and do they go together?   what's the history behind greek monsters?...does it have to make sense?


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## quenchy

how do you come up with choosing a monster? why a werewolf over a giant? and do they go together? what's the history behind greek monsters?...does it have to make sense?

Simple. If I'm making a dark world filled with monstrous powers that prey upon the humans, my first choice would be the werewolf. But if I want to make my world a bit less ordinary, I'll make a Shadow giant that preys upon the people of the area in question. Or I'll make a werewolf that has bitten a giant and now I have a werewolf-giant. Or maybe the giants have werewolfs as pets the same way we have dogs. Or the giantess and the werewolf are unique creatures and when they met, their loneliness made them fall in love  Or probably the giants are extremely evil and the werewolves are the protectors of the world - or to the contrary, the werewolves are the evil invaders and the giants protect people from them.

History helps but gives no direct answers. And if you write it well, it will make sense.

Whaterver pleases you, ladies and gentlemen.


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## The Grey Sage

When choosing the inhabitants of your world you must first make them cohesive. Your entire world must has a history, a way to natural way of working such as: this preys upon that here but over here this thing preys on that thing. And it isn't just with monsters it is with other animals, sentient beings and more. They all have to work together in a way that is believable, without that realistic factor then your story will fall into disorganization and mediocrity. As an example: I was recently struggling with three characters, who all were on the same side, who had almost no one to counter act them. Without making some characters stronger on the other side I would be left with imbalance and then the story wouldn't make sense. If there wasn't some kind of balance then the reader would ask, "Why would side #1 lose even though #2 was obviously ten times stronger. You see what I mean, there needs to be an order of your world. So if you think a certain character or monster or whatever doesn't fit, or will cause imbalance or just be more trouble than it's worth TOSS IT OUT and get going with more options.  Best of luck


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