magical creatures

[beaulolais]

i believe there has come to be a problem concerning the appearance of magical creatures in works of fiction.

the traditional ones have been written of so often that even a really wonderful treatment can begin to seem old hat.

"Oh, another dragon yarn? *yawwwn*"

i enjoy Robin McKinley very much but when she wrote of winged horses in her book Pegasus I was disappointed. why? maybe because there is only so much one can say about winged horses.

so i try to invent new creatures, but they seem unconvincing, like a mish mash of different things scrunched together, a winged blue pig that blows bubbles, a giant ant that plays the fiddle, and so on.

so what is the answer to this conundrum?  

[Xanaduhaz]

I think a bit of both, yes some magical creatures are over done, but when written into a story well still works.

I think the main problem with using existing magical creatures is that some people can get annoyed if the creature isn't done 'correctly' in their mind.

I haven't had the need personally to come up with new creatures in any stories I have written, though I imagine it to be very hard.... all I would think to do it to think what is the purpose of the creature and what adaptations would fulfill that purpose, I doodle so though I dont intend to create made up creature I have alot of pictures of them though none are named.

As for the fiddle playing ant, I can imagine that working I like things such as bugs taking on human traits.

I dont think there is an answer there are too many different opinions none are wrong.  

[beaulolais]

your reply makes me feels authorized to be creative! biggrin

thanx