the monster mash
Jun. 28th, 2023 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliOne thing that helps with the unity of a setting is a certain unity of monsters.
Perhaps this setting is rife with human/animals shapeshifters, and that one with monsters consisting of combination of different animals. Perhaps this one has lamias, minotaurs, sphinxes, hydras, and other Greek monsters, and this one has bears, dragons, giants, lions, and other monsters from the European chivalric romances.
This unity needs to be supported by the other elements and the theme, and the style.
I've noticed this particular with the Monster Mash: all sorts of monsters typical of B-grade monsters. Especially when you throw in a vampire, a werewolf that's a hairy man, a mummy. You either need to put in the world-building to make them plausible, or else write a wild-romp in the B-grade style where the ridiculous randomicity of the monsters is part of the joke. It's less if you have fewer of them, but even just throwing in one of the pop-culture ones needs support one way or the other.
Perhaps this setting is rife with human/animals shapeshifters, and that one with monsters consisting of combination of different animals. Perhaps this one has lamias, minotaurs, sphinxes, hydras, and other Greek monsters, and this one has bears, dragons, giants, lions, and other monsters from the European chivalric romances.
This unity needs to be supported by the other elements and the theme, and the style.
I've noticed this particular with the Monster Mash: all sorts of monsters typical of B-grade monsters. Especially when you throw in a vampire, a werewolf that's a hairy man, a mummy. You either need to put in the world-building to make them plausible, or else write a wild-romp in the B-grade style where the ridiculous randomicity of the monsters is part of the joke. It's less if you have fewer of them, but even just throwing in one of the pop-culture ones needs support one way or the other.