How to Create Fantasy Creatures

 How to Create Fantasy Creatures

A "Realistic" Spin on Creature Creation

Practically every fantasy book has some sort of mystical creature, either original, borrowed from folklore, or neither (anthropomorphizing Earth's creatures). Whatever the case, magical creatures are signature of fantasy. If you have them in your story, then it is crucial they be one of the stronger components since they contribute a great deal to the allure of your realm.

 

The method I use to create "realistic" fantasy creatures is mix-and-match. Probably every creator has used this method at least twice: basically, mash together two or more random creatures into one. For example, a centaur; a human and a horse. We don't stop there, however. That's the easy part.

Here's where we get a little bit into the nitty-gritty, specifically history. Everyone (I think) knows what a centaur is. Centaurs have a high level of appeal. Something about them just...clicks. In fact, a centaur practically makes sense, unless you were one of those sharp kids who asked, How does that even work?

Vampires--How have they come to be one of the most vastly-known "creatures", even before Twilight's time,  when they are simply humans with fangs and a dangerous penchant for blood?

One of my theories behind the centaur's 'popularity', for lack of a better word, has a lot to do with its origins. Wikipedia has a section called "theories of origin" for centaurs. One of the major theories is that the motif of centaurs arose because of a pastoral community that evolved primarily due to its "mounted nature". These ancient cultures did practically all their living--and dying--on the saddle. Other cultures who found this sort of living alien interpreted these men on horseback as...Well, centaurs. Suddenly, all these stories about centaurs bursts forth, and quite frankly this is where the creativity seriously kicks in.



Weird, isn't it, how our world's history play into our subconscious human brains? Or at least mine...Anyway, inspiration comes in unlikely forms. Something so simple as a way of life can give a completely fantastical and even far-fetched creature a ton of credibility. So try not to concentrate too hard on the creature's physical appearances alone and delve more into its history and traits.

Another theory behind classical creatures' popularity is relate-ability, or how easily a reader can portray/interpret something. When feeding readers an image using words, be careful not to make the reader work too hard to grasp the concept of your creature. Make it easily memorable, perhaps by putting together widely known animals. Or something. So A) try to pull something together that your friends wouldn't struggle to imagine relatively accurately or B) anything else. 

 Okay, that's that with my theories. Now I'm just going to give you extra things to consider.

Perception can be a major key factor in helping you create something effective. Snakes are considered evil by many cultures; make the bad guy serpent-huggers (Hermes's staff also has snakes wound around it--good or bad?). Birds are considered magnificent simply because they can fly--the good guys probably have a few hawks to help them on their quests (but don't forget half the world considers pigeons pests). Things like that. Although, I feel using the power of perception has become rather...Cliche.

Other things to consider when creating a creature are its way of living. For example, the influence of natural habitat, feeding habits, predators, prey, enemies, allies, mating habits, and so on and so forth. But there's already a blog that discusses that, and I'm certain you've already come across it ; )

Anyway, before I leave off, I have to mention "minor creatures". While you shouldn't concentrate too much on these, your world shouldn't only consist of the elephants, the whales, and the tigers, either. It should have small creatures as well, creatures who perhaps don't stand out very much, but could help you very much in describing an environment. After all, nature is a huge network of protean animals, a gigantic circle of life.

As I mentioned, I don't believe too much effort should be wasted on these minor creatures as they are, well, minor details. Unless a certain bug has amazing healing capabilities, in which case you should spend a little more time thinking about it, then the main purpose of these "minors" should be to simply contribute to the environment.
Although I insist on calling this "minor stuff", it is obviously important enough to bring up. For one thing, if you get carried away in describing/mentioning these little fellas, then you risk straying your reader from your primary actors. At the same time, they can be incredibly effective tools, if done right.

It's not enough to just want to make something completely original (and I don't think we need to be reminded that utter originality is a goal far beyond anyone's reach anyway). You want to make something memorable. So don't stop at strange new faces or body structures; write down some possibilities as to why your creature is the way it is. Strive to have it make sense!