I Play a Writer on the Internet

By no means does every fantasy story have these imaginary critters running around, but plenty do. It seems like there’s no end of discussion about whether to use the old standbys, the elves, the dwarves, the orcs, the vampires, you know who they are; or to create brand new breeds with brand new names.

Yeah, those guys

Personally, I don’t especially care. If the story sounds interesting, then I’m not turned off by those familiar names showing up. Though certainly I’ve heard people express that once they see ‘elf’ or ‘dwarf’ on that back cover, they’re putting it back. They want something more original.

Vampires, of course, are showing up everywhere these days too, but I suspect they are a bit different. This stock creature of the night is typically inserted into real world settings, so I don’t think you have the same sort of stigma of being a ‘standard’ fantasy world because you see the name.  Maybe it’s a difference audience as well.

To me the tone of the work makes a difference as well. I think using those stock fantasy races will play better with a lighter tone than a more serious one. If you are trying to develop a fully realized world with intricate detailing, those stock races might feel like a bad photoshopping job. Whereas someplace more played for fun can benefit from those familiar pieces being used with perhaps a twist or two to spice them up.

I’m musing on it since my first novel “Dead Mountain” went the route of new races and “Cog” is going the route of familiar names. It seemed natural to go the different ways in each case.  At least natural to me.

Credit where credit is due: you can click on that graphic above to see the DeviantArt page it comes from.