Beyond the Ordinary – Creating your own Creatures

One of the great things about writing a fantasy novel is that you are not limited to the creatures of this world (such as cats which I wrote about last week) or mythical creatures (such as dragons which I wrote about three weeks ago). You have the freedom to create any type creature you want. And why stick to unicorns, dragons, fairies, elves, griffins or vampires when you can create your own unique creation.

Throughout my The Elemental trilogy I have created numerous creatures in addition to the unicorns, dragons and talking cats (called STACs). The wizards (referred to as Learners) in my world also created a few beasts to do their bidding.

GUNN – This was a creature designed to do for protection. It is a huge beast with arms and legs as wide as tree trunks. It has black thick hair covering its entire body and an impenetrable hide. The Gunn has sharp black claws, fangs and yellow eyes. From its mouth, it shoots light-green venom which kills (quite gruesomely) on contact.

DAKOS – These creatures were originally the messengers of the Learners though have proved quite deadly in battle with their razor sharp claws and aerial acrobatics. They are small cat-like creatures with long thin wings and dark-green hides. Their faces are almost feline and their eyes glow red.

COGNOVOT – This creature was created to guard the Learner’s home. A seemingly innocent creature that is slightly smaller than a horse with a thick, dragon-like tail. It has a broad, flat face and white shaggy fur. Two long horns protrude from its forehead and curve backwards. When it attacks, it swells to the size of a dragon and sprouts additional arms.

One particular Learner also created a creature called Quietus and that is the name of the second book in the trilogy. Since I don’t want to give away anything from that book, you will just have to read it to find out what type of creation Quietus is. (Yes, a shameless marketing attempt.J)

One way to create a new creature would be to combine attributes from other mythical creatures. (Check out this website that lists over 3,000 mythical creatures.) But my way of doing it is to decide what my creature needs to do in my story and then let my imagination run wild.