Just what the title says. What are your favorite monsters and monster stories? I'm creating a 'journal' or sorts. Think John Winchester's journal. It's just something fun for me and maybe later it will serve as a sort of database and guide for my characters. I want to have a nice variety of entries, so let's hear it
I don't think you can be dragons tbh, as boring as that sounds. They seem pretty simple at first but there's such a wide variety of iterations, and different mythologies on them.
Personally, I really prefer the kind of "monsters" where you don't actually see what it is. Things like Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monsters, local monster legends, etc. are all so popularized that they almost seem like friendly mascots, rather than actual malevolent entities. Same with the other typical monsters: with vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, etc. we already know 1) what they look like, 2) what they do, 3) what they want, and 4) how to kill them. This really takes out the suspense and creep factor. I'm far more fascinated by the type of monster where you know just enough to know that 1) it's something that's proven to be unnatural/nonhuman, and 2) it's after you/wants something, with 3) small hints about what it might be, but only in REALLY vague terms, like just enough info to get a person's imagination gears rolling, but no more. I"m thinking about stories like the Blair Witch Project, the Ring (before the mystery is explained toward the end), and the urban legends about Slenderman, the Hat Man, and shadow people. With these, you know that something is out there, and that it's from a malevolent dimension and has threatening intents. But you don't know more than that. This, for me, will always be scary, because you just don't know. Show details and explanations, and in 99% of cases, the scariness/intrigue is gone.
It depends entirely on what you want from your creature. You yourself can have something inside your head but not reveal it to others, just give the essence of them, rather like what mallory said, these sort of creatures, no matter what you choose can sometimes be the most haunting, as your giving the reader the opportunity to create their own demon but with the personality you wanted. Now if your going to have a specific creature, I personally love the older versions of all "monsters" Which would actually include elves, fairies etc. You can have any creature a monster if you wanted you could turn vampires cute and pixies evil (please don't though cute vampires just don't sit right on the pallet) You should also think that monsters tended to just be something that was horridly disfigured grotesque to look at. You can create many things from that. BUT to choose a specific species, if your going for unseen, Troll-maras are good, they attack and kill when people are sleeping, they also have an obsession with teeth and curse a child whilst killing their mothers during childbirth (that is exactly what the myths of maras is but I twist it to make it more interesting). for a creature that is seen I do love a good ole troll. They're adaptable to what you need them to be with many different perseptions on how they should look, modern day makes them ugly, old days generally they where just bigger humans but with tails (mostly cow tails) so adaptable.
Baskilisks, zombies, werewolves, redcaps, will-o-the-wisps, sphinx, gorgons, nagas, kappas, chupacabras.
If you are talking mythology/folklore then the Loch Ness monster. If you count movies as modern day folklore equivalent then the Xenomorph from Alien.
As cliche as it is, I´ve always been fascinated with dragons. Every nation/society of humans on the planet, who had no communication for thousands of years, all independantly came up with more or less the same creature; A flying lizard that may or may not breathe fire. That´s too close to be coincidence. But, Dragons aside, I´m a fan of creatures who aren´t plastered on everything. Bigfoot is cool and all, but everyone knows what Bigfoot or Sasquatch means. I like the critters not many people know about, like the Ahool.
I've always been fascinated with pirate lore. The Flying Dutchman, spanish gold, galleons, mermaids, krakens, leviathans. The first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies pretty much nailed it. Too bad they kept making them I think the Goonies is probably responsible for this.
I’m a huge fan of Lovecraft and anything inspired by Lovecraft. Grotesque beings from other realities that our minds are just too simple to comprehend. Pennywise the Clown is probably one of my favorite monsters. King did a great job with how he made its description vague enough that it’s clear we’d never be able to understand it while at the same time actually having chapters narrated by the monster. I hope the next installment of the movie goes into the trans dimensional now that we have the cgi tech.
The Dark Eldarr, Chaos, and Tyranids from Warhammer 40K. The main antagonist from the Hellbound Heart, and possibly Julia. Clive Barker cooks up some strange and disturbing stuff. The T-800 from The Terminator. The Thing. Xenomorph: enough said.
Not nessucarily monsters, but I quite enjoy Japanese mythology. From foxes being shapeshifting yokai (spirits/enlightened beings), to a creature called the Baku feasting on nightmares. I’m learning the language and I’m fascinated by the culture. Also vampires. Vampires are badass.
I quite like human monsters, like werewolves or vampires. There's a lot of stuff you can potentially do with them. Exploring the simultaneous humanity and inhumanity of 'higher order' beings like demons, gods and angels is cool too.
I'll sound like a bit of a normie here, but I love eldritch Gods and creatures of that nature. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, the Old Gods of the Warcraft franchise, the Druthulidi from UndyingNephalim's fan Legend of Zelda series, and a lot of the darker Chaotic summons in Dungeons and Dragons. The Unknown is a pretty scary thing for us Humans, and the idea of some enormous cosmic terror lurking beyond sight makes me feel like I'm looking at one of those pictures of the small person swimming in the ocean, completely unaware of the horrific entity lurking below them. You guys know those pictures?
Right now - I'm sure my answer would change with moods and whatnot- but horror is on my mind and I am thinking of how tired I am of all these phycological horror movies as of late. I don't like those. Give me a hocky mask mad man or a killer doll or a wise crackling villian with claw gloves... so many to choose from, so many to love.
