Recently I have seen an increase in urban fiction in which there is more than one fantasy creature featured. I see less books with just vampires or just faeries and see more books with vampires, werewolves, faeries, etc. What do you think of this? Does this make the book too crowded and should only one fantasy creature be featured, or does the interaction between the different creatures make the story more interesting?
I think that interaction between other creatures makes it more intresting and enables you to add a bit more to a story. the only time a book is too crowded is when every other word is another creatures.
Everyone wants to write the next epic, one with a vast array of races to get a foothold with many demographics. It's mainly a marketing move. Otherwise, there's no issue with having a myriad of mystical creatures in books. As long as said creature are few and far between, it won't seem crowded.
It's only feels overcrowded if the creatures/races/species seem forced into the story in a contrived way, just to get as many neato creatures in as possible. If the story is naturally and logically just a story that has a bunch of creatures in it, then shrug, that's what it is. Basically, how something is written and why makes the difference, not what is being written about.
Hi, Actually I just published Wizard at Law and its an urban fantasy with multiple strange races of people (I called them mythics since they're mythical races) including werewolves and gorgons. I put in references to other mythic races like vampires and minators, but didn't bother exploring them in any great detail. My thought was that I wanted to look only at two mythics in this book, but in further books, maybe look at some of the other mythics, maybe as they find themselves clients of my MC. Naturally to balance them I also had to throw in different types of spell casters (I just called them casters), such as wizards, sorcerers, druids, warlocks, but again focussed on only two, a wizard and a sorceress. My thought was that introducing them now, even if only as names, would allow me to bring them into later books in the series without it seeming contrived, while at the same time concentrating on only a few characters in the first book, would keep the story running more smoothly. Cheers.
The Sookie Stackhouse novels were kind of annoying like this. Okay, cool, so Sookie's a telepath. Fine. And we later find out about two other human telepaths. Then there are vampires. Good, that's fine. It is the Southern Vampire Mysteries after all. Then there's shapeshifters like her boss, who can change into any animal they want. Then we find out, but do not see, that there's also Weres and weres. Werewolves are the only "Weres", and all the other shifters can't use the capitalised form. And then there's a Maenad, an ancient creature. Also witches. Also demons. Also faeries, which are split into a sky and water, and probably forest as well. And there's all the other fae, like goblins and stuff, I guess. Werepanthers play a big role, and there's a weretiger, and they're extremely rare. There's also inbreds, but there's nothing supernatural about them. I mean, are you getting my point? Sooner or later, you get to the point where you're filling you're world up with a little too much. Harry Potter wasn't terrible like that. At least it makes it seem like most of the big magical creatures are in foreign, low-populated countries like Romania. Oh yeah, and Southern Vampire Mysteries also have inter-dimensional bodyguards. There's two of them, and they can turn invisible and they're basically ninjas. Definitely overcrowded, if you ask me. I liked the first season of True Blood where there was vampires, and Sookie was a telepath, and her boss Sam could turn into a dog, but that didn't come in much until the end. Personally, I loathe the whole, "Vampires and werewolves hate each other for no real reason" crap. It made some sense in Underworld, given the originals of the two species being brothers and stuff, but yeah... most others are pretty terrible. EDIT: I hope you spelled minotaur correctly in the book.
... Twilight, anyone? The werewolves hate the vampires, basically because, "We're alive, you're dead, so we're going to be prejudiced," and vice versa, basically. Sookie Stackhouse books, too. It barely even explains the contempt between most Weres and vampires in the Southern Vampire Mysteries. There are plenty more, but those are the big ones, not to mention the films. Yahahaha! =D I love you. So much. Sooo so much. =D
What makes a story interesting are premise, scenario, plot, and character development. If the multitude of character types are well written, the story will catch and keep the reader through to the last period. If not, then the first page will be Tartarus on Earth. PS: Consistency is more important than believability. If, like a first-grader, you keep changing the rules of the world the story present, you could again loose the reader. And, if the rules of your world are different from common folklore, make that clear. For example: I have a set of stories that include 'werewolves'. But, because my sense of what makes something good or evil is based on a foundation that is not Christian (Nature loves the lion just as much as she does the child he is feeding to his own children. What is evil for you is good for him.) They are just people who, because of genetic reasons some can change shape, looking like wolves. The real wolves will be happy to then teach you your nose and feet and laugh with you as you stumble along.
