the creatures of urban fantasy
Sep. 25th, 2016 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliWas contemplating the creatures of urban fantasy.
There's the witches/wizards/humans only sort. And then there's werewolves-and-other-animal-shifters/vampires/zombies/fairies. The last being more recent that the first three but by now another cliche.
So I was think what other sorts of creatures might appear. . . .
And thinking of fairy tales -- talking animals.
To which my first reaction was, that would really generate some different plots from the paranormal romance that predominates so much. And talking animals, particularly bears, lions, and wolves, but foxes too, would find hiding among humanity interesting. Mind you, they have some advantages -- a fox can trip merrily across a lawn at daybreak without notice -- but some serious disadvantages too. True, a lot of the fairy tale ones are really transformed humans, but they don't have the power to switch back freely. (Otherwise they would fall under the "shifters" category and have your standard issue problems.)
As for the chimera animals, gryphons, manticores, what have you -- forget it. They might manage in a rural fantasy -- more likely a wilderness at best. (Notice how dragons usually become "shifters" in urban fantasy.)
Yeah, most urban fantasy creatures (particularly under the masquerade, but even without it) are going to be human-ish. It helps when you want to live in cities. Human cities at least. And while a city of talking cats might be fun, it's likely to leave the genre.
There's the witches/wizards/humans only sort. And then there's werewolves-and-other-animal-shifters/vampires/zombies/fairies. The last being more recent that the first three but by now another cliche.
So I was think what other sorts of creatures might appear. . . .
And thinking of fairy tales -- talking animals.
To which my first reaction was, that would really generate some different plots from the paranormal romance that predominates so much. And talking animals, particularly bears, lions, and wolves, but foxes too, would find hiding among humanity interesting. Mind you, they have some advantages -- a fox can trip merrily across a lawn at daybreak without notice -- but some serious disadvantages too. True, a lot of the fairy tale ones are really transformed humans, but they don't have the power to switch back freely. (Otherwise they would fall under the "shifters" category and have your standard issue problems.)
As for the chimera animals, gryphons, manticores, what have you -- forget it. They might manage in a rural fantasy -- more likely a wilderness at best. (Notice how dragons usually become "shifters" in urban fantasy.)
Yeah, most urban fantasy creatures (particularly under the masquerade, but even without it) are going to be human-ish. It helps when you want to live in cities. Human cities at least. And while a city of talking cats might be fun, it's likely to leave the genre.