Sea Monsters

TheIT · Feb 9, 2009

I'm looking for a sea monster, real or imagined. What I need for my story is something which is a threat to a sailing ship, can be killed by a sailing ship's crew, and has teeth large enough to be used for scrimshaw. :e2teeth:

If necessary, I'll make something up. The only ones I can think of are krakens and leviathans, but those aren't quite right.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

sirensix · Feb 9, 2009

I am actually looking for the EXACT SAME THING - it's what's holding me up in my WIP right now, heheh. I'll let you know if I turn up anything and I will watch this thread eagerly.

Shadow_Ferret · Feb 9, 2009

I had to look up what a scrimshaw was.

Have you googled seamonsters and sailing myths?

nevada · Feb 9, 2009

Ummm maybe this seems rather obvious, but you're writers. Make something up.

TheIT · Feb 9, 2009

Yes, I probably will end up making something up. By asking the question, I'm hoping to spark some ideas.

For example, I've been thinking the monster was something large enough to destroy the ship, but now I'm toying with the idea of something small enough to get onboard. Fighting a monster in a cramped space like a ship has got to be terrifying.

Fenika · Feb 9, 2009

We are making something up. Together. Or maybe we'll bastardize what someone else made up (like a myth).

I was gonna say you could use the original version of my namesake, but a giant fish isn't that monstrous. And it's epic large...

There's the megalodon, often touted as secretly hiding somewhere in the vast ocean (and written about in Meg)

GeorgeK · Feb 9, 2009

merpeople

archeteuthis

megalodon

crab people (ok that was South Park)

Kitty Pryde · Feb 9, 2009

Here you go:
All the water monsters: http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Category:Water

PS my favorite is the nix.

semilargeintestine · Feb 9, 2009

There's some crazy creatures on this site that you can probably draw inspiration from.

Diver · Feb 9, 2009

How about a pack of small monsters that can get onboard?
You could play with something like: the first wave of the attack consists on monster scouts killing and maiming, planting and setting up the final assault. This way you could build momentum and the crew would have time to kill some of them while preparing a strategy.

just a passing thought in a stormy night.

Fenika · Feb 9, 2009

Oh, that reminds me. At least two episodes of Walking with (Prehistoric) Beasts by the BBC have ocean bound 'monsters'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Beasts

A walking whale would be great fun, fantastical or historical.

semilargeintestine · Feb 9, 2009

Aw, I love that show.

jmascia · Feb 9, 2009

I would use the Leviathan, it is an ancient sea monster that is actually used in the bible. It is typically seen as a giant sea snake or dragon, but it is always associated with the sea.

Gynn · Feb 9, 2009

TheIT said:
I'm looking for a sea monster, real or imagined. What I need for my story is something which is a threat to a sailing ship, can be killed by a sailing ship's crew, and has teeth large enough to be used for scrimshaw.

If necessary, I'll make something up. The only ones I can think of are krakens and leviathans, but those aren't quite right.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

How about a giant wyrm? A long, snake-like beast with a dragon's head and great scaled fins. It could wrap around the ship to try to crush it while the sailors spear it.

KosseMix · Feb 9, 2009

Use a magical leopleurodon!

Thomas_Anderson · Feb 9, 2009

How about a siren? In traditional myth they were usually hot chicks who lured men to their deaths by making them crash into rocks. In recent stories I've seen though, they take a more...direct approach to killing men. That's if you want something small enough to fit on board. Otherwise, I don't know. How about a giant shark?

Chinese myths have the longwang, which was a water dragon that can grow to be a couple miles long.

TheIT · Feb 9, 2009

Thanks for the input, everyone! I think I've come up with something which will work for my story. sirensix, did you still need ideas?

tehuti88 · Feb 10, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
Here you go:
All the water monsters: http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Category:Water

PS my favorite is the nix.

*browses page*

No Mishupishu or Mishiginebik or Nebanaubae! I object.

geardrops · Feb 10, 2009

I know of a horrifying monster from the deep, one rarely discussed.

(For serious though, google and make stuff up. There's a wealth of sea monsters out there, and there's real enough animals that look like monsters.)

FOTSGreg · Feb 10, 2009

Google Bernard Heuvelmans, considered one of the fathers of cryptozoology and whose extensive book and research on sea monsters is well worth a read.

sirensix · Feb 10, 2009

TheIT said:
Thanks for the input, everyone! I think I've come up with something which will work for my story. sirensix, did you still need ideas?

I always need ideas. Always.

I know I'm going to use some sort of sea serpent... just trying to figure out exactly what it should be like and give it some verisimilitude. Even though it's not a real animal I want it to feel like something that COULD exist and swim in this world.

khajidu · Feb 11, 2009

oh you could also use placoderms...

Feidb · Feb 11, 2009

Any icky bug is good icky bug, as far as I'm concerned. If the world is based on reality, you should probably stick to something vaguely real as in real dinosaurs or at least standard sea serpent legends. Otherwise, if it's sci-fi or fantasy, who cares? You can make it a lizard with fins and a yellow VW bug body strapped to its back. You can make it a translucent snake with thirty barbed arms growing out of its back. You can make it a large fish with a monkey face. The possibilities are limitless.

sirensix · Feb 11, 2009

Feidb said:
Otherwise, if it's sci-fi or fantasy, who cares? You can make it a lizard with fins and a yellow VW bug body strapped to its back. You can make it a translucent snake with thirty barbed arms growing out of its back. You can make it a large fish with a monkey face. The possibilities are limitless.

Wow, this is the first time I've heard SCI-FI lumped into this particular fantasy myth, heh heh. I figured even non-fans knew that sci-fi was incredibly rule-bound and logical.

But since I do this EVERY time someone says this, I'm going to protest once again! Just because something is fantasy (and certainly sci fi applies!!!) that does NOT mean you can make up "anything you want." Good, dare I say *publishable* speculative fiction is based on a firm set of rules. Sure, you can make the RULES whatever you want, but you can't make one individual creature "whatever you want," it has to make sense within the world you created. In mine, for example, a VW bug with fins wouldn't make even the slightest amount of sense. Fantasy and science fiction authors have just as much work to do (if not more) than writers of any other genre. They don't get to just dream up whatever they want and lump it together in one story (unless you're writing a Xanth novel, and even that world had certain rules - just really stupid ones.

).

I'm going to make a drinking game of sorts out of this... From now on, I'm keeping count of how many people say "it's fantasy, you can do whatever you want." Because literally, it's been about a half dozen in a week now, usually when I'm trying to get a solid answer to a difficult research question... *flail*

Feidb · Feb 11, 2009

Sirensix is right. I should've qualified my statement by saying "Who cares, as long as it makes sense in your world." The key is "make sense." Yeah, the VW monster is a little out there, but it might not be in a Douglas Adams book. His "rules" are in a genre by themselves.

If you are writing sci-fi or fantasy, you should know the basics before you start. You could be a rebel, and push the boundaries, but then you'd have to face the consequences. If you push them too much, no agent will touch you. Then there is finding an audience...

Whatever sea monster you create, it has to have a reason to be there, and make sense to the reader. I don't think it has to be a clone of some standard monster that has been written about a million times. Just keep your creation within reasonable expectations.

Am I making more sense now?

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