I've always been fascinated with mythical legends, including the fantastical creatures they involve, so I have no issues exploring different creature ideas to incorporate into stories - that being said, I don't envelop my entire story around one 'new' mythical creature and try to give it the same properties of, for example, a 'werewolf', simply to use a different mythical creature in an effort to look original. I think it all comes down to how you portray them, and why. As in, a book about a boy that transforms into a 'chimera' when the moon is full is still using the idea behind the 'werewolf'. I dunno, I guess the use of werewolves and vampires is just a popularity thing?
If you look through say Romanian folklore and legend. You will find many species of vampire some much more powerful then others. A lot of Native American mythical creatures are not even used. Besides maybe the skinwalker and the Wendigo which is my personal favorite. As it has a lot of grotesque and macabre elements to its myths. Like canniablism and it's always starving for human flesh so there are many gothic elements in its folklore already.
Wizards aren't mythical creatures. They are men that can perform magic (duhh) The most underused mythical creatures are your imagination! Might sound silly but I think one should not try to search around for a super special mythical creature that everyone's turned a blind eye to. Make up your own, I have.
Hahaha we have a similar creature in Brazil, except it's more akin to a dolphin. You can invent but remember most of the creations take inspiration from something else.
That mythical creature that looks like a human but has no face, and all it's fingers are penises. Never seen that in a book yet. *hint hint* Someone should add that into their story about Harry Potter.
Cockentrice An important and under asked question (in my opinion) concerning mythical creatures is: What does it taste like?
I think with some they are a one off within a folk lore tale, such as grendal. Everyone knows that he is in Beowulf. And to taking that singularity out sometimes doesn't work well within another story. Most creatures of myth are like this, born of a poem or story entwined with a specific hero. Werewolves vampires etc. have a wider range of folklore and stories and not really attributed to one. Dracula was A vampire, not 'the only' vampire.
