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Tips on Writing Your Own Fantastic Beasts

Give your beast relateable behaviors (without making them all “dogs”)

Have you guys ever noticed how many creatures are actually dogs in disguises? A dog in an alien body, a dog in a bug body, a dog in a dragon body, a dog in an alien body (because that happens so much). Everything is a dog! The cockroach from Wall-E, the alien from John Carter … staaahp!

I’m tired of seeing other creatures be really “dogs” dressed up. Let’s get imaginative, people. I mean, I get why filmmakers and writers do it. Dogs are very common pets, so we relate to them and their behaviors, often on a personal level. But THANK YOU J.K. Rowling for not giving us yet another dog -_- and giving us creatures with unique, yet still relateable demeanors!

And guess what? You don’t have to show a tail wagging or a scampering bow-wow to make a creature relateable. The reality is, we’ve all seen and encountered a variety of animals and animal behaviors. Nifflers love shiny things. Cool. So do most birds. Cockatiels will sometimes try to steal earrings or jewelry off you. Mine has pecked off all the sparkles on my sandals before I could wear them twice. But guess what? The Niffler wasn’t a bird in a Niffler body either. It had its own personality and body language.

I love when Newt tries to put Picket, the Bowtruckle, back on its tree, but it keeps moving from one hand to the other–how many times has that happened to us when trying to put a bug back on a plant? And Picket suffers from separation anxiety–like a lot of pets. But notice that no bug suffers from separation anxiety from humans. So the filmmakers put two different kinds of relateable behaviors in one creature, instead of making the creature a direct copy of one we already know (or, alternatively, a shallow, obvious combination of two very specific animals -_- ) Also, wasn’t the Occamy’s attentiveness with bugs something we’ve seen in animals before too? That’s a behavior I’ve seen with dogs (but again, the Occamy wasn’t a dog in an Occamy body like so many others.)

So you don’t have to make your beast a dog to be relateable. Dogs aren’t the only ones with endearing behaviors. Cats aren’t the only others. Brainstorm fresh but relateable behaviors and figure out how to implement them in your creatures, without making your creature an exact copy. It’s probably a good idea to also give them a behavior that is more foreign and alien. The Demiguise may resemble a monkey, but it can see into the near-future based on probability–no real animal does that. It also gives you something unique to play with. That, paired with their invisibility, make Demiguises very difficult to find and catch. Don’t forget that one of the draws of fantastic creatures for your audience is a sense of wonder (or occasionally horror).

Take advantage of animal behaviors and abilities

After you have some behaviors (and abilities), you’ll want to see how you can take advantage of them for interesting effect and possible conflicts. Fantastic Beasts did a great job of taking advantage of a variety of animal behaviors and abilities. I mentioned that in my review, but really, guys–really.

I talked about the Niffler and Bowtruckle above, but notice how each created a different kind of conflict? Chasing and trying to catch the Niffler is a nightmare! When Newt had to bargain with that goblin over Picket, it created a personal conflict of pain, because we knew how attached Picket was to Newt (k, am I the only one who totally fell in love with Eddie Redmayne’s rendition of Newt taking a moment to wipe his eyes and nose at that part, but soldiering on? It was perfection). But what would animals be without their whacky mating behaviors? We’ve probably all seen some weird ones on the Discovery channel. And the movie took advantage of that too, to create conflict. And of course it’s with an animal that can blow up. In fact, one of the reasons Erumpents are so rare is because the males frequently explode each during mating season.

The Occamy grows or shrinks to fit available space and Rowling took advantage of that too, having one grow to a huge size, which left the characters with the struggle of finding and getting it into something that would shrink it. The concept that certain animals grow to fit their habitat is nothing new, people claim fish and serpents do the same (which many argue against), so Rowling took that idea and brought it to the next level. And it had cool factor too.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget the one that was invisible.

Give your creature its own personality

Not all dogs have the same personality. Not even dogs of the same breed. Neither do fish. I keep an aquarium and I’ll tell you that even fish have different personalities. I had an algae eater once that was shy and would never want to go out and get food when all the other fish were eating it. The algae eater I have now is the exact opposite. It chases off all the other fish (and frog) from the food so it can eat it all. My parents have two dogs. One hates toys that have the texture of rubber. The other loves them. Picket is attached to Newt. The other Bowtruckles aren’t. When talking about the Erumpent, Newt acknowledges its own individuality. “Erumpent musk,” Newt says, “she’s mad for it.” Sure, all female Erumpents will be attracted to it, but his tone of voice suggests that perhaps this one in particular likes it intensely.

Your creature characters shouldn’t function as mere tools or possessions. Even the Swooping Evil, which is used awesomely and cleverly as an object, exhibits its own loyalty to Newt in choosing to listen to him over its yearning to eat brains.

Consider giving your creature a “factor”

I touched on this earlier, but with made-up creatures, it can be a great idea to give them a cool factor. The Swooping Evil is freaking cool. It’s like a yo-yo pokemon butterfly with a skull (by the way, notice that complex contradiction? A butterfly creature? With a skull head?). But it also creates a sense of wonder or horror in that it likes to eat people’s brains. I sometimes talk about the cool factor on my blog, but the reality is you can have other “factors” too. Frank the Thunderbird has a cool factor, but it’s kind of more of a “wow” factor. It’s a creature that audiences watch with a sense of awe. Not only is he gorgeous, but he’s majestic too.

You can have a cute factor. The Niffler is a perfect example of this. I saw the movie twice opening weekend, and both times the audience squealed over its cuteness, and online people are talking about how they wish they could buy one. You can have a horror factor. While this one didn’t technically come from a beast, the Obscurus had a horror factor. You could give one to a creature too. Just look at Aragog. Basically a factor is a strong feeling that your creature elicits. If it’s cool, it needs to be really cool. If it’s wow, it needs to be really wow. If it’s cute, it needs to be really cute.

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Promises 2: First Sight

Dark!Morpheus x (female)reader, fantasy/medieval AU, 18+

Master List

Dream of the Endless had been promised a bride.

I was serious about trying to update every other day! They will be short chapters, but whatever. At least for the first few bits. NOT EDITED. PRAY FOR ME, LOL Would you like a bardcore song suggestion to go with each chapter? Let me know in the comments. Enjoy!

First Sight

She walked into a golden scene of candle smoke and gilded lilies with mud on her boots and one stubborn myrtle leaf in her hair.

Hardly fine court attire, but folk she cared for called her in fear, so she rode in haste from the far side of Meiren, and she’d lost any need to impress the court a long time ago. She’d survived the worst they could do before the current king assumed his father’s throne, and it never hurt to remind them all that she was not part of their games or under their thumbs. So she didn’t stop to comb her hair, or dig out the myrtle leaf, or even shuck her stained green traveling cloak.

Hard as she rode, she didn’t arrive before the festivities began, and she spied the king sitting on the high dais beside his honored guest, for whom a second throne had been crafted. Clearly in haste. Probably merely the queen’s old seat altered to be less feminine. It looked cheap and small beneath its occupant.

Dream of the fucking Endless. King of Dreams and Lord of Nightmares.

He sat above the glittering host like the darkness behind the stars. Ethereal, unknowable, frigidly beautiful as only untouchable things could be.

Even seeing him there, in the flesh, she struggled to believe it. She couldn’t believe their fool king would go so far.

The King of Meiren didn’t hide the festivities’ goal in the invitations (threats and demands) he sent to his people. Dream would find a queen among the best and brightest of the kingdom, and the chosen would gratefully accept the honor.

Only ignorant fools courted the attention of the Endless. Her mother had been one such fool, and she only dared befriend the kindest of the seven. Dream of the Endless was far more terrible, and he sought more than a friend in the king of Meiren’s court. Yet mothers shepherded noble children dressed in their finest silks and velvets, the softest, sweetest things welcoming a stranger’s wondering caress. Family heirlooms dripped from ears and gleamed around fine throats, daring the eye to wander lower. Girls smelling of flowers and boys scented with fruit and musk turned the hall into a stinking hell of vanity and hubris.

Then there were her folk – the wiser birds with drab plumage clustering in the dimmest corners, away from the dances and merrymaking. Parents who wanted their children to live. Grandparents who understood some risks simply weren’t worth taking. Young lovers who were bound in heart and mind but not yet by law. The king’s greed would spare none if the Endless chose them. Though she had not received an official invitation, several families who knew her of old called for her help. Officially, she belonged to no fewer than five noble houses’ retinues for the event, but the guards wouldn’t have barred her entry even without their help.

No one turned a bard away from a party.

Though the long trestle tables had been ferried away by an army of servants to make room for dancing, the ghosts of a feast remained. The king planned the celebrations like a royal engagement. Seven wedding feasts. Seven days to inspire a force of nature to grow a heart and stitch it to another. She smelled grease from venison and partridge, the first victims of the king’s folly, and she hoped the only sacrifices. Better a thousand lambs, ducks, and cows than one of the young folk all dressed up for the fire.

She didn’t dither or ask for her charge’s insights before approaching the dais. Truth would always out. The king was not clever, and she trusted her own opinions of an Endless over any courtier’s.

Striding up to the throne, she waited on the verge of the crowd for the chamberlain to announce her. Her name. A few meaningless titles. Finally her occupation. She liked it best when the king was reminded she was a bard. That she carried an ounce of authority in any royal circle.

Neither king really needed any of it, of course. The Endless knew all, and she’d plagued the King of Meiren’s nightmares for decades. But manners were manners, and politics demanded performance.

She sank low, graceful as a willow frond, angling her face so the king would see the barest hint of her smirk. Not entirely mocking. But knowing. Far from a loyal subject’s easy smile or overwrought frown. The smirk made a game of her courtesies, drawing the king low to meet her, even as her knees brushed the floor and he remained in his throne. No threat. No demand. She asked for nothing. She told him what she was, where she stood, and how little power he wielded over her that she did not choose to give.

As a boy he watched his father’s men draw and quarter her. Now he must suffer her freedom in his court.

“Majesties.”

“I hope you do not bring trouble to my court.” The King of Meiren glowered down, playing the dread king. He wasn’t even a dying candle compared to the sun-bright force at his side. Not that he’d ever been a great power even before he dared weave himself into the story of an Endless.

She sprang up as lithely as she bowed. “Your majesty must think very highly of me indeed to think I could bring anything grander or more concerning than an Endless to your throne room.”

The human ruler tensed, but the eldritch ruler at his side…shifted. She’d sparked his momentary attention, and unlike the first king’s attempt to intimidate her, Dream’s look chilled her until it burned. His gaze, however, did not focus on her like a mortal’s would. His starry eyes saw too much for that. They swallowed her, washing her in the loneliness of the night sky.

Unfathomable. Incredible. Cold as stone and livelier than a sea breeze. Entirely inhuman and everything that led a soul to dream. That gaze made her ache for a shield to lift against him.

 So. She offered the smallest, polite smile in recognition and returned to the mere human on the throne.

“A shame the years haven’t blunted your tongue,” the King of Meiren said, struggling to reclaim the authority she’d so neatly plucked from the conversation.

“I prefer to think of them as a whetstone, majesty.”

“I do not recall issuing an invitation in your name.”

“And yet I found my place through the names of others. Several houses requested my attendance in their support.”

Gods, he looked so petulant. But she’d laugh later. He wasn’t above sending a guard to run her through in the hall, and while she didn’t fear death, she didn’t enjoy pain. Or ruining good clothes. No need for more drama in this fraught production, anyway.

The best he could do was insult her clothes, eying the mud and bracken. “Clearly you came in haste.”

“But of course, your majesty.” Wide eyes and an innocent expression couldn’t bury the implicit insult entirely – she had not come for him, her very presence was a kind of defiance, and she would never ride so hard or long without care for her appearance to preserve him or his honor – but they did well enough. A little simpering would stay the blade, and any words said sweetly must be born, even if they soured the king’s stomach.

After all, she would outlive him and his kingdom both. She’d carry what stories she chose to the generations that came after, and no threat or sentence in his power to levy against her would give him back control of his legacy. At least he was smart enough to understand that much.

“Perhaps you should retire for the evening, then.” The king looked pointedly at her boots, reminding her they did not belong on his polished floors. She, in her rough clothes and wild hair did not belong. But she’d worked hard to ensure she never entirely belonged in places like these, always a step out of line, a loose thread that escaped the warp and weft of society’s patterns.

Othered and free for it.

“A most gracious suggestion.” Another, shallower, curtsy. Her eyes dipped to the floor but didn’t linger with any kind of reverence. “I take my leave.”

She moved back through the crowd, unable to disappear between the fine people in their fine clothes. A dark look touched her, stayed under her skin as she passed through the doors and turned down the hall, and she refused to name its owner. There was no time to fear him. Or – if she was very careful – reason to. She had plans to make and riddles to solve, and what was she to an Endless?

Her patrons would request her advice in the morning. She did, actually, need to wash the road off her gear. And her lute was in need of tuning. She retired to her work.

No Lights Allowed by Ben J

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