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Old 03-07-2012, 10:46 PM   #1
elizabethwrites
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Creatures created for stories
I created a creature for book 3 of my series, The Chronicles of the Empowered. I call it a Changeling. It's really creepy and cool. If I get a reply to this post, I'll post a teaser for book 3 in which the Changeling is introduced.
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:06 AM   #2
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Actually, I'm going to discourage you from posting a teaser in this forum. You can tease on your blog, and if you're looking for critiques, you can post your excerpt in SYW after you reach 50 posts.

However, if you would like to discuss creating creatures in YA novels, this is a perfectly fine thread.
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:28 AM   #3
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A changeling is an actual creature (in folklore, not in real life). I don't know whether you know that or not, so I apologize if you already did. I think I would consider a different name (changer? shiftling?) because I think keeping it would be like creating another creature and calling it a unicorn.
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:47 AM   #4
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It's actually pretty hard to come up with brand new creatures. Certain qualities inevitably match up with some mythological/fantasy creature somewhere and suddenly you haven't come up with anything special. It's just a "vampire that eats emotions" or a "muse that inspires trouble" or a "hippogriff that farts fire"

*makes stuff up... well, the last one*
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:51 AM   #5
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It's actually pretty hard to come up with brand new creatures. Certain qualities inevitably match up with some mythological/fantasy creature somewhere and suddenly you haven't come up with anything special. It's just a "vampire that eats emotions" or a "muse that inspires trouble" or a "hippogriff that farts fire"

*makes stuff up... well, the last one*
I think Hagrid would LOVE that last one.
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:54 AM   #6
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I'm with Callista on this one. Changelings are well established in existing lore, with pre-determined characteristics for the species. If you advertise a story with a Changeling, and then it turns out to be something other than the established creature, you're going to get a lot of book tossing and eye-rolling.

Google is your friend on this. Make sure your names don't already belong to porn stars (unless that's what you're going for), and make sure your inventions are already accepted devices.
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Old 03-08-2012, 01:16 AM   #7
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It's actually pretty hard to come up with brand new creatures. Certain qualities inevitably match up with some mythological/fantasy creature somewhere and suddenly you haven't come up with anything special. It's just a "vampire that eats emotions" or a "muse that inspires trouble" or a "hippogriff that farts fire"

*makes stuff up... well, the last one*
heh, I essentially have that. But even though they walk in sun and aren't immortal, aren't strong or fast, or really anything that a vampire is, I'm pretty sure someone will call them vampires.

I guess any creature living off of anything that comes from humans is going to be called a vampire?

There should be one that lives off of human tears.
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Old 03-08-2012, 01:24 AM   #8
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There should be one that lives off of human tears.
Someone has to write this. Actually, I might.
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Old 03-08-2012, 01:29 AM   #9
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The tear drinker could work well in tandem with a (now non-existent) custom wherein men would carry a small bottle to store their tears. The belief was that a life hadn't been lived until you cried 1000 tears, filling the bottle.
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Old 03-08-2012, 01:29 AM   #10
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heh, I essentially have that. But even though they walk in sun and aren't immortal, aren't strong or fast, or really anything that a vampire is, I'm pretty sure someone will call them vampires.
Oh, they definitely will. The first non-"to read" shelf Love Sucks was put on was "pnr-vampires". It's also not a PNR, lol. This person might be surprised.
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Old 03-08-2012, 01:54 AM   #11
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The tear drinker could work well in tandem with a (now non-existent) custom wherein men would carry a small bottle to store their tears. The belief was that a life hadn't been lived until you cried 1000 tears, filling the bottle.
Ah yeah, I've seen those little jeweled bottles they used to catch them. So cute and sentimental.
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Old 03-08-2012, 02:26 AM   #12
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The tear drinker could work well in tandem with a (now non-existent) custom wherein men would carry a small bottle to store their tears. The belief was that a life hadn't been lived until you cried 1000 tears, filling the bottle.
This alone inspires stories for me
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Old 03-08-2012, 11:00 AM   #13
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Someone has to write this. Actually, I might.
Someone did - The Tear Collector came out in 2009.
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Old 03-08-2012, 11:10 AM   #14
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Someone did - The Tear Collector came out in 2009.
Okay freaked out about this for a good ten minutes but then read about it and it's nothing like what I have.

::clutches manuscript to chest::
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Old 03-08-2012, 12:22 PM   #15
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It's actually pretty hard to come up with brand new creatures. Certain qualities inevitably match up with some mythological/fantasy creature somewhere and suddenly you haven't come up with anything special. It's just a "vampire that eats emotions" or a "muse that inspires trouble" or a "hippogriff that farts fire"

*makes stuff up... well, the last one*
Oh lord that's pretty much the creatures I have.
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Old 03-08-2012, 08:47 PM   #16
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There should be one that lives off of human tears.
LOL I actually have that. BUT I'm also pretty sure an existing book has it as well, I just can't remember the title. It was a YA paranormal from the past two years.

EDITED: Never mind, I see someone else found it! LOL.
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Old 03-09-2012, 07:10 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Sage View Post
It's actually pretty hard to come up with brand new creatures. Certain qualities inevitably match up with some mythological/fantasy creature somewhere and suddenly you haven't come up with anything special. It's just a "vampire that eats emotions" or a "muse that inspires trouble" or a "hippogriff that farts fire"

*makes stuff up... well, the last one*
why is everyone focusing on the tear drinker? I would TOTALLY read a book based on a hippogriff that farts fire. Maybe he could be the only one with that particular abnormality. it could be a touching coming of age story...
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:39 AM   #18
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It annoys me when writers tack on names of established creatures onto their own creations. I know my opinion isn't exactly god's word, just thought I'd mention it. If they're not like changelings in lore, I'd change the name.

I made up a creature for a story when I was younger, but, well, they were ridiculous. In the most recent reincarnation of that story they are not so much new creatures, but magical "humans" who can mutate their bodies from prolonged exposure to certain kinds of magic.

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it could be a touching coming of age story...
I'd read it. He'd be teased for supposedly having dragon decendents, but in the end it turns out that his mother just ate too many Naga Jolokia chillis when pregnant.
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