creating monsters/beings

[spywolf]

okay I am currently creating a world to set a story(s) in but I don't really want to use monsters/beings that are very commen in fiction at the moment
its most likely going to be urban fantercy and the protaganist is human

my question

is it okay to make up new beings?
are there any ideas you lot think would be cool to base a new ones on ?
or any really weird/ unushawal beings/monsters that are not commen in books that could be used instead of compleatly made up ones if made up ones are not a good idea?

our thoughts please

(note this is just something in the early planning stages that I am mostly doing to keep my sain inbetween exam study and for the summer. so I don't know if I will ever manage to write any stories bassed on what is discussed any time soon
in my life so far I have written 51/2 short stories and I am a novice, that at the moment writes for enjoyment)

[Snowleopard]

It's perfectly fine to create your own monsters/beings.
You just have to be sure to create a set of rules for them in your head or on paper,
so you can keep them consistent.
That is:  They can do this, they can't do that, this weakens them, this enrages them, etc.

Like JBs White Court vamps.  They have a great deal of strength but they can overuse it
and then they MUST feed.  Their inner demon will pretty much take them over.

[Quantus]

Never hesitate to create your own creatures, sometimes that can be the most fun part of the whole thing.  Think of it like aliens:  they almost never have any prior art to draw on.

As far as tweeking the less common things, you can always put a new spin on something old to make it your own.  This has been done time and again with Vampires of every shape and size, for example.  Personally I have a soft spot for unusual were-creatures, myself.  One of my perpetual WiP's opens with the MC being attacked by a group of Were-ants, for example.  It's a Queen with the actual supernatural power, who thrall's and empowers random human bruisers, giving them super strength (in line with the Ant's proportional strength) and the group coordination of a Hive Mind. 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

It's perfectly fine to create your own monsters/beings.
You just have to be sure to create a set of rules for them in your head or on paper,
so you can keep them consistent.
That is:  They can do this, they can't do that, this weakens them, this enrages them, etc.

Bear in mind also; you need to know what the rules are. (Provided you're writing a story where rules apply; dream logic can also be made to work.)

Your reader may or may not need to know some of the rules.

Your characters also may or may not need to know some of the rules. Not necessarily the same ones as your readers.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Never hesitate to create your own creatures, sometimes that can be the most fun part of the whole thing.  Think of it like aliens:  they almost never have any prior art to draw on.

With aliens, you have a bunch of real world physics and biology constraints to deal with.  They are a lot of fun if you can do them, but it's a complicated challenge.  Fantasy-type monsters give you a wider range of options.  (I am trying to remember which RPG firm has an internal monster-design flowchart of which the first question is "Did a mad wizard create it ?", with the "Yes" arrow leading to a box reading "NO THEY #@*!ING DIDN"T" and then rejoining the "No" arrow.)

[Quantus]

With aliens, you have a bunch of real world physics and biology constraints to deal with.  They are a lot of fun if you can do them, but it's a complicated challenge.  Fantasy-type monsters give you a wider range of options.  (I am trying to remember which RPG firm has an internal monster-design flowchart of which the first question is "Did a mad wizard create it ?", with the "Yes" arrow leading to a box reading "NO THEY #@*!ING DIDN"T" and then rejoining the "No" arrow.)

True, though the extents of those limitations depends on how hard the science is in your Sci-fi story.  ESP powers and exotic materials or alien compounds can be substituted for Magic in many cases without delving too deep into the hard science of it all, and can serve the same plot functions.  I mostly meant if you think of them from the Magic Aliens POV instead of mythological creatures you dont have the cultural inclination to want to go out and base everything on some historically accurate myth.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

True, though the extents of those limitations depends on how hard the science is in your Sci-fi story.  ESP powers and exotic materials or alien compounds can be substituted for Magic in many cases without delving too deep into the hard science of it all, and can serve the same plot functions. 

Meeeh.  I have a genetics degree; I personally find books doing that basically unreadable on suspension of disbelief grounds, so I'm not the best person to express an opinion on making them work because they kind of inherently don't for me.

[spywolf]

what if they biologically worked?/ were fantercy creatures not aliens that were made up
those would be okay?

[Quantus]

Meeeh.  I have a genetics degree; I personally find books doing that basically unreadable on suspension of disbelief grounds, so I'm not the best person to express an opinion on making them work because they kind of inherently don't for me.

Hehe, fair enough.  I prefer to go with the Hitchhikers Guide definition of Alien Life, which includes everything up to a Super-intelligent shade of Blue they bring out in a prism for special occasions.  No Genetics required 

[Galvatron]

I enjoy made up creatures, you can make them work in your world as long as you know what they are and are not capable of doing, and have the rules for them worked out.

I think there is a fine line between too much and too little detail and you have to find what works for you and what you can make work.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

what if they biologically worked?/ were fantercy creatures not aliens that were made up
those would be okay?

Sure, and if anybody did want to run bits of biology past me I would be happy to advise.

[spywolf]

will do
*is planing on taking a biology based degree*
and no one is likely to read anything I write

[Aminar]

I can say, I have an entire Urban fantasy world with this going on.  It can get difficult for a variety of reasons.

Are you planning on setting it on Earth or not?
If you're putting it on earth you may need to justify why humanity has never noticed them or create a series of myths surrounding them to suggest that humans on your earth did notice them.
If you are not using earth you have a ton of worldbuilding to do culturewise, accounting for these creatures and how they either affected culture/History or how they managed not to.

Where did they come from on an evolutionary level?

How much have they been affected by humanity?

Etc.  Etc.

But go for it.  It's an untapped market.

[The Deposed King]

If I was struggling for inspiration and hadn't the foggies but wanted to 'break out of the mold' I would go back to some of the old Computer Strategy games of the 90's for my fantasy race inspiration.  Master of Orion I & II & III or Dream Empire's Fall, or Imperium Galactica.  Just take the racial types that fit your fiddle.  Alter the names and racial descriptors ever so slightly and wham bam thank you mam you've got both a live picture as well as growing mental image of some super cool races that have never been seen in a fantasy setting before.

Rinse and repeat until you've got a new fantasy world populated with rarely or never before seen racial types.



The Deposed King