 Fantasy: December 16, 2009 Issue [#3445] |
  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: auric
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| Hi! I'm auric and I'm your guest editor this week!! It's been a while since I've written a Fantasy Newsletter, but it's been great, and I look forward to sharing with you the worlds of fantasy and magic, sword and sorcery, adventure and wonder! |
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Here There Be Dragons...
Okay, so maybe the title is a little misleading, because I'm not going to talk about dragons in this article. As much as I do love dragons, and as popular they are in fantasy, I am going to shift my focus to monsters that aren't so prevalent. They are the unique monsters that can populate your own fantasy world.
All the famous fantasy writers have done it before: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, even J.K. Rowling (no, I'm not just picking writers with initials) have picked creatures and monsters influenced from mythology, folklore and other fantasy works.
Take, for example, the elves in Tolkien's Middle Earth. They are tall, slender and graceful beings that have a sort of immortality compared to humans. However, sometimes when we hear the word "elves," we think of the tiny beings that work with Santa Claus making toys. Two completely different images for the same word. The roots of both all stem from the same origin. Other names include fey, fairies, fair folk, depending on the story or legend. Even more modern fantasy has adapted the elven race for varying worlds, like the drow in the Forgotten Realms novels, which have dark slate-colored skin and white hair and live underground, with a ruthless culture totally opposite other elves.
Rowling put many monsters from legends into the Harry Potter books, from the basilisk to hippogriffs to multiple-headed dog (hello, Cerebrus). But on the other hand, she created her own, possibly adapted from other sources to make a whole new unique creature. Readers are amazed by the winged lizard-like thestrals or the shadowy dementors.
Maybe in your fantasy world, there are creatures that have the legs of deer and the body of a small human, but they are called something else besides fauns or satyrs. Perhaps they look a little different or have some different characteristic about them that sets them apart from the original. Blue hair, a dragon-like tail, cat's eyes, or even all of the above. This new creation will live on in your reader's mind. |
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