Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Fantasy Tuesdays: Creatures

Bookworm with the uni-horned dragon(?)
One of my favorite things about fantasy worlds is the creatures. To list all the creatures in such worlds would probably be near impossible. There are too many to count. Some of the more well-known creatures that appear in fantasy are:

Dragons
Elves
Trolls
Goblins
Fairies
Phoenixes
Winged Horses
Centaurs
Basilisks
Unicorns
Merpeople

Seriously, the list could go on and on. One of my favorite books that includes fantasy creatures in them is Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling). As a fantasy writer, I love using well-known creatures as well as lesser known and even made-up ones. In the Phoenix Trilogy, I have dragons, phoenixes, centaurs, griffons, woodwoses, karshiptas, hippocampi, and more. In the Foxwick Chronicles, I have dragons, phoenixes, and unicorns. In my Gravity series (space fantasy romance), so far I have daimons, pegasiflies, and the draken to name a few.

I'm not sure which would be my favorite fantasy creature. I'm probably leaning more toward dragons, since I'm very fond of dinosaurs.
What is your favorite fantasy creature? If you're a writer, what fantasy creatures do you use in your stories?

8 comments:

Susan Fields said...

I've used a dragon and a tree nymph before, both were evil and fun to write. I don't know if I have a favorite - too many to choose from!

Christine Rains said...

It's hard to pick one favorite fantasy creature. I've used all sorts of them in stories. I love using them in urban fantasy. Seeing such fantastic creatures in a modern setting creates such a magical image in my head.

Nicole Zoltack said...

Oh I couldn't pick a favorite! Maybe a pegasus. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a flying unicorn?

I've written about trolls and dwarves and selkies and dragons and ibex and centuars and hippocampus and drow and icythocentaurs and loads more. In one of my most recent stories, there's an enchanted jungle which is home to all kinds of fantasy creatures.

farawayeyes said...

My Far Away Series is Merpeople with a twist. I have my own creation story and they are not exactly what you think. So, not conventional Merpeople. (That phrase made me smile.)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Dragons are always a favorite. I've not tackled fantasy yet, but I still have all of my D&D creature books, so I bet I could load it with some unusual ones.

Cherie Reich said...

It is neat to see a fantasy creature in a modern setting. :)

Unknown said...

I loved what Philip Pullman did with creatures in His Dark Materials Trilogy... having a shape shifting animal for each child to represent their youthful soul... it was really brilliantly done.

Anonymous said...

Such a hard question... I love them all...hehe. I'm particularly fond of the darker ones:)