Newsletter 01/12/04

This Will Take Longer Than Seven Days Part 7
Here Be Monsters

Hello once again. Monsters are a common trend in Fantasy literature. Dragons, Giants, Demons and a whole host of others pop up in numerous stories. Many fantasy authors like to create their own monsters to bedevil the characters. If you are thinking of developing your own monsters, then this article should be of interest to you.

First off, we need to define the term monster. In a fantasy story, monster is primarily a matter of function. Monsters are things that oppose the main characters in some way, have some sort of motivation, but are not sufficiently developed to be full characters in their own rights. Using this definition, some types of creatures may be monsters in some cases, and not in others. Take Tolkien's Orcs. They oppose the quest to destroy the ring, and for the most part they are faceless minions of Sauron. As such, they are monsters, usually. They don't have much in the way of personality, aside from their hatred of Sauron's enemies. Now, the Orcs in the tower start moving away from being monsters. They have slightly better developed personalities, and these personalities affect the way the story goes. To my mind, they are still quasi-monsters, but are on the verge of being antagonistic characters in their own rights.

So, how can we make our own interesting monsters then? Like everything else, there are a few ground rules to follow. The first, and most important to my mind, is don't over do it. Some would be authors have dozens of ideas for new monsters to throw at the characters, and want to use them all right away. Please do not give in to these feelings if you have them. Too many monsters means you will have to spend too much time describing them and often explaining them. This takes away from the narrative. Again look at Lord of the Rings. We've got Orcs and Trolls, Shelob, the Nazghul, and that's pretty much it. After the first encounter with them, the reader knows what an orc is, and knows enough about them to make further explanation unnecessary. When an army of orcs appears on the horizon, it's enough to say just that.

Now, on to creation of monsters, which like so many things is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. Since the definition of a monster is based on function, it follows that monsters can individually be described in terms of their function. Orcs are numerous foot soldiers in Sauron's army. Trolls are shock troops, and heavy infantry. The Nazghul are command forces. Each one fulfils a function, and has been designed for a purpose. What do you want your monsters for?

If your monster is supposed to be fought and give the characters something to be afraid of, you will have to make it frightening. Evil countenance, dangerous natural weapons, something that prevents the heroes from even getting close to it, like a poisonous cloud surrounding it, all these things make a monster that will be difficult to fight and gives the heroes good reason to be afraid. Is your monster supposed to be more of an intellectual challenge? Then it needs to be on par with the heroes' intelligence. Are the heroes supposed to engage in a war of words with the monster? Then it needs to be able to communicate and have a reason not to just eat or rip up the heroes on first sight. Let the function help define the form.

Now, if you are stuck for ideas, there are lots of places to look for inspiration. Every culture has stories of monsters. Find a less well known mythology and draw ideas from there. Make changes as it suits you and your story. You can base your monster on things that scare you, or just irritate you. Do you have an overbearing boss who loves to belittle his employees? Translate that into a monster the heroes meet. It can be very therapeutic. Are you afraid of snakes or spiders? Base your monster on the things about these creatures that frighten you. Were you in a car accident recently? Maybe a monster that tramples its foes or just rams into them and pulverizes them would interest you. Like everything else, if you are going to make a monster, make it one that interests you. The more you can draw from your own experience, the more life you will be able to breathe into your monster.

That's all for this time, and having reached part 7, I think that is a good place to wrap up. If I have missed any aspect of world building that is of interest to you, please send a note to my email or the feedback section, and I will do my best to cover it. If you have any other requests for topics, those are also the places to send them.