Ghost
Inkling
I haven't written enough for this to come up, but I'm curious about what is treated as real and unreal in your world. Do you write in creatures that don't exist there? Do you ever let the reader know which beings truly exist? How would you show which ones are real and which are imaginary?
I figure, even in a fantasy world (or especially in a one) there'd be legends about people and animals that don't exist. Regular critters are misidentified, and I imagine fantastic beasts cause more confusion when they're thrown into the mix. Let's say I have a chimera. That's a fantastic and biologically unlikely creature. Who's to say there isn't also a beast with the head of a crocodile, the body of a yak, and ducks' heads for feet that quack when it walks? If most of the population believes in both, do I treat both as real even if the shaggy duck-footed beast doesn't exist?
Right now, I plan to treat real creatures and imagined creatures the same way. (Although the one with ducks' heads for feet is an academic joke in my world.) I wonder if I should handle it differently so I don't confuse people.
I figure, even in a fantasy world (or especially in a one) there'd be legends about people and animals that don't exist. Regular critters are misidentified, and I imagine fantastic beasts cause more confusion when they're thrown into the mix. Let's say I have a chimera. That's a fantastic and biologically unlikely creature. Who's to say there isn't also a beast with the head of a crocodile, the body of a yak, and ducks' heads for feet that quack when it walks? If most of the population believes in both, do I treat both as real even if the shaggy duck-footed beast doesn't exist?
Right now, I plan to treat real creatures and imagined creatures the same way. (Although the one with ducks' heads for feet is an academic joke in my world.) I wonder if I should handle it differently so I don't confuse people.