Original monster concepts.

Caramia · Jun 22, 2009

Maybe not the best tag for the subject but it's the first thing that popped up, so went with it.

I'm by no means asking for someone to gimme a monster to use. I'm close to the finished idea, but this has been consuming my time too much when I should be writing.

Been reading about myths, monsters, and tearing the web apart and every art site in an effort to get ideas and make certain my concept is not already taken.

I have the basic idea in my head, but apparently there truly are not any similar creatures in fantasy to use as a base reference. This will leave me to desc'ing, which I overdo already and may be a bit paranoid about.

While I have devoted time to looking into it, I'm also a little concerned I may not have run across an established creature that is like the one I have in mind. I don't want to have something that is already done, but how can anyone be certain?

I need these guys ready by the end of the current chapter, they come on stage when the curtain opens on the next chapter. Starting to get a lil frantic maybe. Sorry for rambles, I shush now!

Added: I forgot to touch on the main purpose for the post. If you have created such creatures for your stories, did you find any tricks to make these concerns lessen? Any successes using bits and pieces of established monsters for your own recipe?

dclary · Jun 23, 2009

There are a few ways to do this.

First, how would you describe a cat to someone who'd never seen a cat?

"Cats are small, four-legged animals with usually pointy ears, long whiskers, and a taste for mice."

Maybe that description works for you, maybe it doesn't. It certainly doesn't explain a cat in full, but it's enough to give a mental image of something, and move on. You can add more detail later.

Tolkien introduces goblins in The Hobbit as looking like short swarthy men. He adds more details along the way, as the knowledge becomes necessary. (We learn that goblins can bend over and run nearly four-legged giving them great speed in the tunnels of Goblintown.)

Another tactic is what they used in Alien. Give us a piece at a time. Each piece by itself is terrifying, and by the time we see the whole alien, we're like "holy f**k!"

tarcanus · Jun 23, 2009

It has never really been too difficult to me to come up with monsters, and I think it's because I never think to start with something that's been created before. I feel like goblins, trolls, etc. have been so overused that I tend to start from scratch.

The way I go about it is, since I think monsters are just strange animals, I build strange animals from the ground up.

For instance, I wanted a monster that hunted with a long, sharp proboscis but was also made of rock. What I ended up with was a huge stone creature that stands over pathways (so it looks like an innocuous arch) and when something passes beneath, it spears it with its proboscis and injects it with some sort of paralytic. Then in bends down and picks the prey up in its smaller arms and keeps standing there, eating. I call it a Lair'Acanth.

Imo, you need to start from the ground up when it comes to monsters, and if you do that and end up with something that resembles, say, a vampire, then you may want to consider revamping the story so it involves vampires. I mean, if your creative juices build you a vampire, then maybe that's your subconscious trying to tell you something, lol.

Team 2012 · Jun 23, 2009

True. Who needs a knock-off monster.

Maybe the ultimate model here is "Alien". Totally original, ultra creepy, scary as hell.

They commissioned H.R. Giger to do it for them. Not writers, in other words.

So one tip might be to talk to the creeepiest artist you know and see if they can run up a sketch for you.

Study deep sea creatures.

One thing you notice in monster movies: most of the film the monster is only insinuated. Quick glimpses, rushed takes of horrible details, queasy movements, etc.

You don't even see their expensive monster until near the end, sometimes.

There's probably a writer's equivalent for that sort of tease.

Squids have been way overdone.

Cyia · Jun 23, 2009

Team 2012 said:
One thing you notice in monster movies: most of the film the monster is only insinuated. Quick glimpses, rushed takes of horrible details, queasy movements, etc.

YES!

The "best" monsters are the ones you have to imagine, because the imagination will make something a thousand times more terrifying that what the eye can see.

It can definitely be done in books (and with vampires :tongue

) Read Dracula from the beginning and you might be surprised at how much of the book the vampire isn't in. He doesn't make an appearance for a quite a while, yet by the time he's seen the reader already has information about him that contradicts his appearance because of the set-up in the book.

Something to consider when your monster is a non-humanoid, is how it actually moves. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and make a quick sketch (stick-men are fine). You need to know how its muscles work. Does it walk or lumber? Erect or crouched? Two legs, four legs, more, none, wings, whatever. Try and picture how a skeleton and muscles would fit over your stick man. (If you have a copy of the Lord of the Rings movie with the extra appendices, look for the presentation on how they animated the cave troll. It's great information on how to make a monster seem real.

Wicked · Jun 23, 2009

I like to look for monster inspiration in real creatures. Most of the time Mother Nature can out-weird anything I could invent.

Like the alien from Alien. It seems her method of reproduction was pretty much modeled after the Pepsid wasp. To me she looks like a cross between an insect and a lizard.

This little guy is great inspiration for a monster. Personally I think he's cute as a button, but if he were the size of a german shepherd I'd probably change my mind.
Mastigoproctus giganteus, aka giant vinegaroon, or whip scorpion.

Kitty Pryde · Jun 23, 2009

Caramia said:
Been reading about myths, monsters, and tearing the web apart and every art site in an effort to get ideas and make certain my concept is not already taken.

I have the basic idea in my head, but apparently there truly are not any similar creatures in fantasy to use as a base reference. This will leave me to desc'ing, which I overdo already and may be a bit paranoid about.

While I have devoted time to looking into it, I'm also a little concerned I may not have run across an established creature that is like the one I have in mind. I don't want to have something that is already done, but how can anyone be certain?

Added: I forgot to touch on the main purpose for the post. If you have created such creatures for your stories, did you find any tricks to make these concerns lessen? Any successes using bits and pieces of established monsters for your own recipe?

1. Getting inspiration from art, mythology, and biology are all great places to start.

2. Wanting to be original is awesome, but there are a hell of a lot of books, cartoons, and video games out there and chances are something like your critter already exists in one of them. Don't let that get you down! Shoot, there are 500 Pokemon and 800 Digimon. Think of all the RPGs, Pokemon rip-offs, mythologies of dozens of civilizations, cheesy fantasy pulps from the 70s...your head will explode from the sheer quantity of monsters available to you. If you posted a description in The Sandbox, and asked if anyone had heard of anything similar, I guarantee someone will have. There are only so many ways to kill one's prey! It doesn't matter, just have a fresh take on an interesting critter and no one's going to stop reading because they've heard it before.

3. As far as description, describe it using what your character would compare it to when he first sees it. If your character is a nerdy AD&D player circa 2009, he's going to compare it to established RPG monsters. If your character lives in Ancient Greece, he's going to compare it to mythological figures he knows. If your character lives in a small, unimaginative fishing community on an island, he's probably going to compare to a sea creature.

4. For my own monsters, I take a biology approach. I look at the biology of megafauna, and the diversity of adaptations within a single genus. And I think about how certain new and more fantastical traits/abilities/parts could be advantageous and how they might have evolved.

Robert E. Keller · Jun 23, 2009

I use a process for creating unqiue monsters. First, I take a known monster--such as slime creature--and then I apply some odd feature(s) to it. I take the world around it into account when applying these features, because I want consistency and realism. I then ask myself what effects these features would have on the monster. If I can't come with anything interesting, I exchange the features for new ones and try again. Eventually, my imagination will open up and some new ideas will spring forth, giving me an original monster that (hopefully) ties in strongly with whatever world I'm building. In particular, I like monsters that have been artificially altered by science or sorcery and that have become "natural" by adapting to their surroundings. Terry Brooks had a great example of that in The Sword of Shannara with a beast that was merged with metal plating and had learned to repair itself (if I remember right, because it's been many years since I read that book).

Robert E. Keller
http://www.scrollsofatlantis.com

dpaterso · Jun 23, 2009

“How the hell can these birds tell what they are voting on? They haven’t seen those three red eyes, and the blue hair like crawling worms. Crawling - damn, it’s crawling there in the ice right now!”
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell
http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbell/

By which I mean, simplicity and a couple of visual words often does the biz.

-Derek

Kris · Jun 23, 2009

Starting from the opposite end, what reaction do you want the monster to inspire?

The monster in Alien is horrific because it can't reproduce/survive without killing us, and because it's so ugly, so unrelatable -- insect-like, slimy, no humanoid face. People react to cues like decay, stench, slime, tentacles/ mandibles because we've evolved to avoid those things. They make us sick, make us die, etc.

Other monsters are creatures of the dark because we can't see in the dark, and we rely on our sight so we avoid it. Or creatures of the grave--the grave is the unknown, so we avoid that. Or formlessness -- we mistrust formlessness, fathomlessness, unknowability.

On the converse, humans have a pretty low threshold for finding non-human creatures cute, so a monster might also evolve that we'd want to pet ... and then really regret it.

There are a million other examples, but if you start thinking about what the monster has to do other than be scary, you might get more inspired.

Kris · Jun 23, 2009

Another big human fear-point is being assimilated-- I remember reading the Ray Bradbury story "Green Patches," where the alien takes you over and impregnates you and you don't realize it till your offspring are born with little green patches where the eyes should be.....*shudder*

Ooops, sorry, not Bradbury, it was Asimov. And it's a similar story to the one that you quoted above, dpaterso. S'creeeeeeepy.

Wark · Jun 23, 2009

The only 'monsters' I've designed were in an ethereal darkness world. The giant flea shaped, eyeless being had whale fins on it's side. The person it was carrying was a fluttery red ribbon with a teardrop shape on one end. The wolves, as the flea-whale named them, were only described as white paper and they moved in a fast, jerky way.

I never thought of making a real monster story. Hmm.

Caramia · Jun 23, 2009

What lovely replies to wake up to. *passes out the hero hats* Thanks so much! Great suggestions and tips. I so wish I could draw but well, unless it's a tree, a squiggly bird in the sky or a horse's head, not happening.

The monsters, which I have tentatively named Malibers (choppy latin to translate into evil child) are mentioned from the first chapter (as being capable of killing the Gods of this world) and cause destruction periodically. They are without a doubt the biggest threat to any settlement and highest concern of any race, 'cept the one race that act as their 'keepers'.

I like the 'bare hints' method but there will come a time, very soon, when they will be in scene fully instead of the POV coming in after they have departed the view.

I've been gathering little traits for them, physical and personality, since the story started and think it's pretty dern original but at the same time, I gotta fit these traits together in a single being, but sure having fun in the process. In trying to be too original, I'm a lil concerned it might be a lil too far out. But I'll toss a snippet from my notes up. I'm sure if it's utterly stupid (Or already used), someone will say!

Silver disc eyes.
Steel jaw with fanged ruby teeth.
Min Height: 9 ft, Max Height 12 ft.
Min weight 400, Max weight 700.
Snake(reptile)skin, tail, hiss with mouth agape (Gila monster lizard hiss).
Can walk upright or speed on all four.
Communication is limited to their own or the elder Jruids only. The language is not spoken but rather vibrations from their throat.

I work (volunteer) on a MUD (Role-playing text game), which is full of monsters, and I've made a bunch of them. So this is a little more than embarrassing when I have trouble creating this. I make the strangest things with 8 line descriptions to rave reviews there, but feel like I'm falling on my face here. Maybe I've made everything my mind is capable of there already lol.

Anyway, thank you all again so much for the great help. I will reread after I've finished fixin dinner and have some coffee

ADDED: Did I mention they have to be too adorably cute to destroy when they were little? *bangs head on keyboard*

FOTSGreg · Jun 23, 2009

Wicked, Yes! Mother Nature surrounds us with examples of "monsters" which, with only a little tweaking on our part, can be as terrifying as anything ever invented in fiction.

I highly recommend the World Wildlife Federation's Field Guide To Insects & Spiders (if only for the glorious photographs) and almost any book on deep sea creatures (there's some really WEIRD stuff down deep in the oceans) for inspiration.

dclary · Jun 23, 2009

Caramia said:
Silver disc eyes.
Steel jaw with fanged ruby teeth.
Min Height: 9 ft, Max Height 12 ft.
Min weight 400, Max weight 700.
Snake(reptile)skin, tail, hiss with mouth agape (Gila monster lizard hiss).
Can walk upright or speed on all four.
Communication is limited to their own or the elder Jruids only. The language is not spoken but rather vibrations from their throat.

Eyes and reptilian look/sssss instantly remind me of sleestak.

Your min/max are for adults? Or are babies born 9 feet long and 400 pounds?

Jruids? The phonetic pronunciation here seems so subtle as to be indistinguishable from druids, doesn't it? Say them both out loud, one after the other.

Team 2012 · Jun 23, 2009

Or maybe they are lawyers. Running for office.

Caramia · Jun 23, 2009

dclary said:
Eyes and reptilian look/sssss instantly remind me of sleestak.

Your min/max are for adults? Or are babies born 9 feet long and 400 pounds?

Jruids? The phonetic pronunciation here seems so subtle as to be indistinguishable from druids, doesn't it? Say them both out loud, one after the other.

*grins manically* The jruid/druid thing is indeed intentional! Love that you caught that!

These monsters will have two stages of development, in the first stage, they look nothing like what they will after they go through their transformation. It's quite like a cute fluffy bunny compared to a saber tooth tiger (Which is a creature I have always adored ) So these are only for their second stage, sorry for confusion. I only tacked on a small bit, to spare you folks. Their file is quite long.

Caramia · Jun 23, 2009

And googled sleestak. Thanks for that reference! I wouldn't have thought of those guys. Will mend a few things maybe to add more of a difference.

Ruv Draba · Jun 24, 2009

Take something familiar and comfortable and exaggerate it or make it perverse. Something people don't generally notice.

E.g. How to Turn a Shoe into a Monster.

First, describe what a shoe does: It encases and protects the foot. It gets dirty. It runs, stomps, kicks. It sometimes pinches and squeaks. Sometimes it stinks.

Now, describe what sort of personality a shoe might have. I think of a shoe as having a sad, gaping mouth and six beady eyes. If it's a pointy lady's shoe it might have a spikey chin. A workboot might have a steel toe-cap. But I'm thinking of a man's lace-up shoe, and unlaced, it looks like a mournful mouth with a moustache and six beady eyes.

Now think of where the object might be found, and think about how a predator might act the same way. Shoes are often found hidden under things, or at thresholds. So let's see if we can use that.

Now take those images and describe a beast or a person. Exaggerate it and make it perverse. Pick a name (I've chosen 'sapata' -- which is Portugese for 'shoe').

The Sapata is a long, shapeless, sack-like creature about a head taller than a man. It has six beady eyes and a huge, stinking maw covering half its body. Twin, moustache-like tendrils convey food into its mouth. Its skin is shiny and brown, grey or black. It is strictly carnivorous, devouring flesh and bone indescriminately, and with a mild preference for carrion. The Sapata normally shuffles but is capable of great leaps. It strikes its foe down with a hard, bony head.

The Sapata has no teeth. It simply grips its foes in leathery folds of flesh and lets their flesh rot and fall away into its stomach. Its prey can survive for days or weeks, squirming in its mouth before succumbing to exhaustion, dehydration or starvation.

Sapatas hunt individually and in pairs and can be found under rocky ledges, on the banks of streams and rivers. Ambush predators, they have been known to lie patiently in wait for their victims outside the doors of remote dwellings. They breed in musty, dark caves, with litters of up to four.

There. An original monster inside 3 minutes, based on a humble shoe.

Pepper · Jun 24, 2009

It's getting late, so forgive me for not reading the other posts. Hopefully I don't repeat anyone. ^_^

Check out the forums at conceptart.org. There are weekly games revolving around a concept. For example, "Heart Breaker". Then all the artists sketch up designs of creatures based on that concept. Some of the veterans of that site come up with some very unique, inspiring stuff.

I read an article on illustration of unique creatures. I can't remember where it was, but the gist was basically that one should study the anatomy, habits and habitats of real life creatures. A habitat will dictate what creatures live there (for example, cutting down a forest will eliminate all the tree-dwelling animals). A creature's anatomy will be suited to its habitat (fins for swimming, claws for climbing). A creature's habits will depend on its anatomy and habitat (a chimp can use tools to draw bugs out of a tree log because of its human-like hands. A chimp can only make a habit of drawing bugs out of tree logs if there are logs and bugs in the chimp's habitat).
Think about your monster's habitat. What anatomical traits will the monster have that will make it suited to its environment? What habits has it developed that suit its habitat and anatomy?

Kinda vague, but hopefully that helps.

Ugh...... my brain's fallen asleep already........

Euan H. · Jun 24, 2009

Caramia said:
These monsters will have two stages of development, in the first stage, they look nothing like what they will after they go through their transformation. It's quite like a cute fluffy bunny compared to a saber tooth tiger (Which is a creature I have always adored )

When I was much younger, I read an SF novel that had similar boogies in it. I can't remember the name of the novel, but the boogies were called 'Dopey Joes' in the beginning, and were (AFAIR) basically like stoned rabbits. After a while, of course, they turned into ravening methamphetamine-crazed killer rabbits.

And then there's the swimmers/grendel thing in Return to Heorot. Same thing, kind of. Only without the cuddliness.

[sidetrack]

And . . . why are you spelling 'druid' as 'jruid' if a jruid shares qualities with a druid? Why not call them something else?

[/sidetrack]

Caramia · Jun 24, 2009

Euan H. said:
[sidetrack]

And . . . why are you spelling 'druid' as 'jruid' if a jruid shares qualities with a druid? Why not call them something else?

[/sidetrack]

Jruids are one of my races. I think of druids as more of a profession, religion or choice basically whereas this is a firm race with distinct physical traits. The main underlying similarity is that they are attuned to the creature and can control/tame them.

Plus dangit, I just didn't wanna use the term druid on a race that is gonna have some real nasty characteristics. I do understand some druids of the past are credited with some rather nasty habits, but not all of them. There are still some folks in the world that revere the druids of ancient times and though not widely, they do still exist. I have a respect for them I guess, and would have trouble painting them in such a dark light. This, I hope, will allow me more freedom to make them as I wish, while still incorporating some attributes of druids to them, without saying everything is written to echo them and their history.

Hope that makes sense. Sometimes it's a bit difficult to explain my thinking clearly.

As for the other creatures you mentioned, will look em up, thanks a bunch!

Nivarion · Jun 24, 2009

Cute and cuddly as babies? You mean like this?

The creatures sound mean enough. You know, it sounds almost like, uh what was its name, RipJaws from the Ben 10 series. Only, you know, not nice or controlled by a ten year old.

DLDouglas · Jul 14, 2009

Ruv Draba said:
E.g. How to Turn a Shoe into a Monster.

Try this:

small axe · Jul 14, 2009

There are no 'monsters' but only what we humans see as 'monstrous' ... and a thing is 'monstrous' because it touches upon human (the writer's, the readers') fear.

As others have already said: Nature provides us with the weird and the scary and the disturbing. But none of these creatures would see themselves as evil or monstrous, would they? The parasite eating you from the inside out ... might see only sacred Beauty in the process.

So: perhaps approach it from What Is the Fear? you wish to instill ... then create the monster that makes that fear real?

Not just makes it real ... Personifies it. Thrills at it. Lusts to inflict it upon you. That could be a 'monster'

Original monster concepts.

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