Help me Brainstorm!

Well here's my completely uninformed opinion, feel free to take with a grain of salt, but if you want to do something like vampires or werewolves that has literally been done everywhere then if you're an unknown you're going to work have to work harder to stand out.

Personally I have never seen the allure of creatures of the night as heroes or heroines so I tend to go with the less dark beings. But if you're captivated by idea, go for it. Just because its been done everywhere doesn't mean it can't be done again.

Sure, there's a glut of vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc, etc, etc.
If you have a different take on the genre, then go for it. Otherwise, you may have a difficult time selling what you write.
Just a thought...why not make up your own baddies/goodies/race. There's plenty of room for imagination in fiction

When i was brainstorming my novel I was worried about it being too much like other stories because of supernatural aspect of it. Now im learning that it only matters if i like it, and the rest will transform with time.

I'm not sure there's any such thing as 'overdone'. I won't refuse to pick up a book on the basis that it's about vampires or werewolves (or whatever). I will put it back down again unread (or barely started) if your character is boring. If your character is a vampire and you care about him, make him interesting enough that he's himself first and his race later.

druid12000 said:

Sure, there's a glut of vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc, etc, etc.
If you have a different take on the genre, then go for it. Otherwise, you may have a difficult time selling what you write.
Just a thought...why not make up your own baddies/goodies/race. There's plenty of room for imagination in fiction

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I agree somewhat. Sometimes writers get so wrapped up in calling a fire breathing lizard everything but a dragon I get annoyed and wish they'd just call it a dragon instead of a whatzig and get on with the story. Because in my head I'm calling the damn thing a dragon anyway.

To me, character trumps all. Show me a vampire with all the usual traits but make him working class instead of insanely rich. Or maybe he's blind in one eye with a fake leg instead of a perfect physical specimen. Or he's still carrying a torch for a flapper he knew in the 20's who's now 80-something and suffering from Alzheimers. Maybe he's not distracted by fresh young 20-something because he's 120 friggin' years old and considers her a child. (Whew! Felt good to get that off my chest. )

Sobel, if you're looking for inspiration for supernatural creatures try looking outside the Western world. Southeast Asia, the Carribean, Africa, etc. There's a heullva lot of mythology out there to play with.

If you're looking for some underused magical beings, there are quite a lot of options. Here, have a random selection of some.

Gorgons
Sirens (The original bird kind, or the mermaid modification)
Harpies
Phoenixes
Giants
Satyrs
Sphinxes

Maybe you could combine some of those creatures...a werewolf angel perhaps? No?

I would go with akaria's suggestion and look to other continents/countries for influences and new creature ideas. Or maybe use different kinds of were-creatures besides canine and feline. Were-monkey? No? Though were-foxes would be cute.

golems
homunculi
genies
gargoyles
jiangshi (Chinese or hopping vampire)
dryads

Actually monstropedia.org has articles about lesser known monsters and creatures.

Now that urban fantasy and paranormal romance are separate subgenres, virtually every supernatural being has been overexposed: vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, angels, elves, and all their variants and non-European equivalents.

The trick isn't finding unused creatures: It's creating an interesting, original story no matter what creatures you use.

I think you've been given some great ideas about how to make yours different, and I love the idea of using supernatural beings from other cultures. Interesting how many, like, zombies and vampires, are common to many cultures.

From what I've read, in a market that has tons of supernatural stories, yours would have to have to be different somehow. It goes without saying it would have to have engaging, compelling characters. Every novel does!

Personally I don't do the vampire thing. Love to read about them, can't write about them to save my life. I do however thoroughly enjoy researching lesser known myths to find a supernatural being(s) that strike my fancy. Witches are my main theme the majority of the time because I love using them in various times and places to see how they adapt to their settings, but generally the antagonist is some off the wall creature that you wouldn't normally expect.........well, when the witch is behaving herself for a change anyway . I just find it's more fun, for me anyway, to do the deep research and throw in a being that the reader may not expect, or to change a more well known being into something different from the "norm". You have to do what works for you, but experiment with it, have some fun and create a creature/being that's something new. That's the beauty of Fantasy in my opinion, you have to quite a bit of room to play around.

I absolutely always make up my own creatures and myths. Sure sometimes there are similarities (there are only so many good ideas, and most of them are taken!) but I never have an "off the shelf" beastie.