Animals in Your Fantasy World

Imbroglio · Aug 5, 2011

So, I've been thinking about this for some time now, because I have no idea how I want to do it myself.

If you're writing a fantasy novel that takes place in a different world, do you keep all of earth's animals just for simplicity's sake? Or do you invent all new animals for the sake of authenticity? If you know what I mean.

Obviously world building is already sort of a strenuous task, so I figured I would just leave in most of earth's animals as they are and edit their lifestyles and whatnot according to what was necessary in the book.

For example, if I added my own fantasy creature, obviously they'd have to feed on something, and it's certainly possible that they feed on squirrels. As such, I'm sure the squirrels would respond in some way, and as a culture, people would recognize that squirrels have this relationship with this fantasy creature, but for all intents and purposes, it's still a bloody squirrel.

So how do you all handle this in your own work? What do you like in other's works? What seems to work best?

emmyshimmy · Aug 5, 2011

I like to use a combination. In one of my stories there are animal-people but there are also horses and pets. I think it all depends on your story and how you want it to flow.

Oberon89 · Aug 5, 2011

Don't forget BUGS! Easy way to lend your world some realism and verisimilitude while also being creative with coloring, wingspan, number of legs, etc.

Hallen · Aug 5, 2011

Don't call a rabbit a smeerp.

This comes up often, and it's a good question. Search on Smeerp or or look up the list linked above.

Do what you want, but if it's a squirrel, call it a squirrel

Imbroglio · Aug 5, 2011

Hallen said:
Don't call a rabbit a smeerp.

This comes up often, and it's a good question. Search on Smeerp or or look up the list linked above.

Do what you want, but if it's a squirrel, call it a squirrel

That's an interesting idea, haha.

Although, I think I've subverted, because even the magickal animals that don't resemble anything very earthly still get attributed to some sort of earthly category.

An example would be this big flying thing that is, honestly I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it's got wings and a beak-ish thing, so people call it a bird.

Ardent Kat · Aug 5, 2011

Aww, Hallen beat me to the the "Don't call a rabbit a smeerp" advice. It's about function in the story, I think. If the animal is important to the story and it serves a function that a mundane animal couldn't fill, it makes perfect sense to have one or two that are original (Star Wars transport animals come to mind.) Reinventing the entire animal kingdom would just be annoying, though, especially if the animals exist for no other purpose than to be described in passing.

It also adds flavor to keep the basic name of mundane animals, but make a new species. In my first MS, I invented the "harlequin snake" for my desert wasteland. Its venom is psychotropic and had intense drug-like effects, resulting addiction problems in certain towns. Being a snake makes it familiar, the name is easy to remember, yet its effects are original and second world.

Liosse de Velishaf · Aug 5, 2011

For some sci-fi, maybe, such as in PERN, where Earth animals can't survive on the planet. But for most SFF, I think a majority of Earth animals and a few special ones works best.

Darkshore · Aug 6, 2011

Oberon89 said:
Don't forget BUGS! Easy way to lend your world some realism and verisimilitude while also being creative with coloring, wingspan, number of legs, etc.

Heh good point. I'm seeing a lot of bug type creatures in the beginning of Sanderson's The Way of Kings and I can definitely see what you mean, it adds a uniqueness to the world right off the bat without having to toss the reader into it entirely by introducing horse creatures, dog things, and all sorts of other oddities. Bugs are a simple start.

Filigree · Aug 6, 2011

I stocked my world with a mix of really dangerous bugs, semi-sentient large predatory reptiles, and mammalian and reptilian grazers. Human colonists brought dogs, cats, sheep, goats, and cows. No horses. Because it was a very, very bad world for anything trying to go feral, and because there already was a cat-analogue (with poison), cats didn't survive and they aren't remembered. Native species that looked deer-like were called 'deer', and domesticated as draft and riding animals.

When I need to introduce a native animal, I do it as low-key and matter-of-factly as possible. It helps that the POV is first-person, told as the autobiography of a major character.

DeleyanLee · Aug 6, 2011

Everything you introduce that's totally original takes words to introduce and explain what it is. That's words you can't spend on characters, events, plot, or anything else.

Sure, it's great and cool and fun, but is it effective for the story you want to tell? Do you get the most bang for your buck spending it on explaining the inventive riding animal you've created? If so, do it and enjoy. If not, then use a horse, goat cart, oxen or something mundane, and spend your words where you need them.

Filigree · Aug 6, 2011

Unless it's part of your worldbuilding, and ultimately tied into the story arc.
A well-designed world is going to have enough familiarity that readers can submerge themselves into it, and enough difference to make it interesting.
Odd animals and environments can add to that flavor.

There's a fine, fine line between economy of narrative, as DeleyanLee so wisely points out, and plain old writerly laziness. It's from the latter that we get so many carbon-copy Western European Fantasylands, each with oxcarts, peasants, and stew. Lots of valid reasons for oxcarts, peasants, and stew -- but lots of budding writers never bother to learn anything deeper about the cultures they're appropriating.

Miriel · Aug 6, 2011

I think it's mostly a matter of how it's done. Way of Kings, as noted, has a lot of new critters, but they're introduced smoothly. They're cool. Chulls are awesome.

I also think it's a matter of balance. You can have new languages, clothes, food, etc., but I think you can't devote 100% to all of these. Take Tolkien. Very, very detailed languages. If he'd gone into the same detail with food and clothes, the book would drag. Instead, we just get seed cakes, lembas, and some waist coats and cloaks thrown at us. There's world-building and flavor there, but in the text it doesn't take up much room. Similarly, Redwall spends a lot of time on food (the books make me drool), but they all speak the same language (dialects notwithstanding).

I actually think it can be really nice to have a deep level of detail on one thing (like the food in Redwall). It makes everything else in the book feel more real because it's tied in with something highly detailed that feels very, very real and specific to that world.

Rachel Udin · Aug 7, 2011

Filigree said:
I stocked my world with a mix of really dangerous bugs, semi-sentient large predatory reptiles, and mammalian and reptilian grazers. Human colonists brought dogs, cats, sheep, goats, and cows. No horses. Because it was a very, very bad world for anything trying to go feral, and because there already was a cat-analogue (with poison), cats didn't survive and they aren't remembered. Native species that looked deer-like were called 'deer', and domesticated as draft and riding animals.

When I need to introduce a native animal, I do it as low-key and matter-of-factly as possible. It helps that the POV is first-person, told as the autobiography of a major character.

Dogs have gone feral before. Look up dingoes. However, dogs are a great "testing" animal. Probably how humans ended up with dogs that will eat about anything, despite wolves being mostly carnivores. And in turn, humans got tons of varieties of food to eat that are often related to poisonous plants.

I also have a strong belief that rats, mice, cockroaches would also make it. Maybe some other pet types, like pigeons (called flying rats in cities), doves, snakes, hedgehogs (for the cockroaches.), etc. Think outside of the box. Since you need roughly 2,000 people to colonize a world safely, those 2,000 people can't have the same taste in pets. (though a starter group can be 500 (breeding population) until they genetically engineer the other 1,500.)

But yeah, glide over it. Figure out something general and then choose say two or three specific things and then move on.

Animals in Your Fantasy World

Imbroglio

PERPETUAL EXISTENTIAL CRISIS VICTIM

emmyshimmy

Oberon89

The Druid you're looking for

Hallen

Mostly annoying

Imbroglio

PERPETUAL EXISTENTIAL CRISIS VICTIM

Ardent Kat

Kill your television

Liosse de Velishaf

Darkshore

Stranger

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

Miriel

New kid, be gentle!

Rachel Udin