Another journal

For my current writing project I’ve been doing a specific kind of plotting/planning that involves a bit of having lists of things on hand. Basically a mix of Diane Duane’s outlining method plus an adaptation of the Moorcock three day method that I learned about at this a Ghostwoods post that isn’t working today so have a wayback link. I realised I needed some monsters, but for this project I don’t want to pull from my regular sources of fairytale and myth. So! Time for a brainstorm.

True to who I am as a person, I made a worksheet about it. I am pretty proud of it, so figured I’d share. A pdf is available here of the info I’m sharing below. I played this with my partner and it was a fun way to bounce ideas around with a structure that sort of warmed up the ol’ thinker, so that by the third brainstorm you can start connecting dots, even if the dots didn’t exist until five minutes before.

World Building Game: Let’s make monsters

Objective: Brainstorm monsters or creatures, alone or with a group.

Tasks include:

– Time-boxing playing with generators, to discourage over-thinking.
– Covering all bases for monster/creature types.
– Ending with more monsters/creatures than needed, so the best can be selected.

Resources: Fantasy Name Generator (generator library): https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

It’s really fun to think of monsters and creatures and beasts for games, stories, or just solo worldbuilding. Sometimes though, thinking of a creature on demand can slow up the play or the writing process. Having a list of possible ideas and words at hand, even if they’re just “sketches” of concepts, allows for smoother storytelling.

It’s better to have more monster ideas that are less “perfect” or filled out to work with later than have too few—plus, by not filling out all the details, it allows you to customise the attributes when you find out where it lives in your story or game.

By looking at three different ways to categorise monsters, creatures, and beasts, you can generate more possibilities that you can later combine, mix, and match as you further develop your world.

Tasks:

Look at some lists of, or just think about, your favourite creatures, monsters, and beasts from stories and games. Consider:
– Why do you like them in general?
– Do you have favourites (positive: you’re fond of them)?
– Do you have ones you admire (meta: they’re really cool, hard to beat)?
– Are there creatures that you dislike on a structural or personal level?

2. Set a timer (suggested time: 10 minutes). Select a name generator on Fantasy Name Generator. Try not to only use the monster-specific generators, as those are more about naming individual creatures, and just play around with several that look neat (example: Tree names). Also give the Species name generator a look.
– Write down your favourites.
– Try non-English language options if they are available in that generator.

3. Now, it’s time to brainstorm. If it helps, set a timer for each of the following worksheet pages. Remember we want more ideas, even if they’re silly. You can refine things later.
– Try to think of at least four ideas for each section. If you do more: amazing!

Brainstorm theme #1: by type

First, let’s just make some lists of animals, then get weird with it. “Normal” can be things like: bees, cats, snakes, moose. Then, make it weird: moose with electric hooves, bees with knives (remember, it can be silly). Now, do it again but with mythical creatures like dragons, or gnomes. Finally, with your brain all warmed up, just throw things at the wall and we will see what sticks later. Talking boulder that breaks open to reveal a geode belly full of attacking, smaller rocks? Let’s do it.

Normal

Normal, but weird

Mythical

Mythical, but weird

WTF is that

Brainstorm theme #2: by place

Even monsters have homes they live in. So now, let’s focus on creatures (real or pretend) that live in specific places. You can re-use ideas from brainstorm theme #1, but don’t limit yourself—here’s where you can think of more things. You can figure out where all the creatures from the first exercise live later.

River

Forest

Plains

Desert

Mountain

Underground

Cities

Brainstorm theme #3: by size

As anybody who has played a game (or thought about the circle of life) knows, there should be several sizes of creatures. First: because your player, or character, should encounter a different level of stress or difficulty of opponents as best suits their skills at that point in the story. Second: because it can also be fun to think about what eats what. Don’t let biological sense rule you, but think about what might compete for the same space in a world (think about all the big toothy guys fighting for territory in something like Jurassic Park).

Big

Medium

Medium (distance attack)

Small

Small (swarm)

Now that you’re done:

– Start mixing and matching the results from the three brainstorms. Maybe your desert creature could get blended with what you thought of for small (swarm) creatures!
– Start pairing names from the starting generator sessions to some of these beasts. Remember! You can make adjustments to what was generated to best suit your world, the creatures, or your ability to pronounce them.
– If none of the names work, play around with generators some more, or just call it something that describes what it is (ex: “snake-dog”). If you think of something better later: great. If not, plenty of monsters in games and actual animals are named that way.
– Oh no, did you think of something later? Well, actually, that is great! You’ve got the ol’ brain juices going about the ideas of monsters and beasts, so you may keep thinking of them well after this brainstorm session. That’s great! Just add them to your lists.
– Keep your lists and brainstorm sheets handy when you are worldbuilding so that you can pick a beast (or the idea of a beast) when the story or space has a place for it.