100 Things #62 What to do when you can't just find the right baddie.

[jana_denardo]

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}



So I'm working on my prospective story for Project Fierce and I decided to find an American supernatural instead of finding something European (though the good guy is a Welsh version of a Brownie). I dug out a huge encyclopedia on it (paper, i know Old school) I noticed several things. 1. It's very apparent why Vampires, Faeries and Shifters were chosen by urban fantasy writers when they moved them from bad to good. The others are just too ugly.

2. That many of these things were either to scare little kids into behaving (the nursery bogies), the explain why waterways were so dangerous and no one likes snakes (poor snakes).

3. I decided to eliminate the European American 'fearsome critters,' anything that was a big scary animal which took out a lot of birds/snakes/dragons and honestly I wasn't too excited by giants. I also eliminated anything Inuit, which was sad since they had some really COOL monsters, but it would take far too much research time I do not have for what will be a charity story if accepted (i.e. free)

4. That many of them existed for the legendary hero to have something to be heroic about. I didn't use any of the ones that were killed off in legend.

So at the end of the day I wasn't left with much but let's look. Help me decide.
A. Apotamkin My source doesn't agree with the wiki (and the wiki even quotes the source). They have this as a humanoid which is what I want. The downside, it might be a nursery bogie, the upside, I've been in Passamaquoddy territory (I have a purse made by tribesmen). A good friend lives there and Maine going cold would strike the right chord with a homeless youth.

B. Asin (can't find online) a cannibal female. Downside, the northwest coast is one place I've not been and again I'm not sure I have the research time

C. Flying Head Big Head, Kanontsistóntie. A giant flying cannibalistic head. That could be fun, right? Upside - I used to live in the Hudson Valley. Downside...well there isn't much of one

D. Split-faced being Wry Face, Dehotgohsgayeh. (and I had to find this under the native name. OMG WHY are there so many videos of people splitting their faces open? Who is watching this??) Upside -it's ugly and scary Downside - giant.

E. Fsti Capcaki Upside, there are fisty cupcake jokes in this. Downside, I've only been on Oklahoma once. I suppose I could move it to the Florida Seminoles but I'm not happy with FL right now.

F. Skatene upside, hey an owl shifter. That could be interesting. Downside I'm not as familiar with the Choctaw area, too hot for me. (I need a cooler temp for me and for my story)

G. Stikini upside, they're just creepy cool. I've used them in a fan fic somewhere (looking at you Angel and Buffy...I think) downside, again with the Oklahoma Seminole....and they were used in final fantasy apparently.

I suppose if a Welsh Brownie can come across the ocean one of the more southern things could move north....

thoughts? opinions? I'd love to hear them.

Comments

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

... FLYING HEAD. That is the best thing ever. The third book of my (unpublished) urban fantasy series deals with Hudson Valley/upstate New York folktales, and I absolutely HAVE to work a flying head in there somewhere, if only in passing.

I do feel a little ... weird ... about the idea of having the baddie be a creature from Native American legend while the good guy is from European legends, if only because there's an unfortunate history of Native American folklore being taken out of context and used badly.

That said, I like the idea of using lesser-known folkloric creatures (I am sick to death of the glut of vampires and werewolves in fantasy). And I think my vote would be for the Stikini, which sounds wonderfully weird and creepy.

I can't see any reason why a creature from one area might not migrate to another.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

good point. I hadn't thought of that. I could work in a good spirit from the Americas IF I could find one. There aren't many. Technically the good guy is a human boy. The faerie is merely helping him.

the Stikini are creepy

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Hard to believe there are no good spirits in Native American mythology... of course, some of the ones I think of immediately are somewhat benevolent, but also tricksters (like Raven and Coyote). Mmmm.

Anyway, I also like the Flying Head. It's different and sounds really cool.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

There are but most seem to be more the legendary hero type (also not likely to make the monster lists, maybe your google fu is better than mine). I'm not looking for that.

The Flying Head could be interesting

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was trying to find some info on the Shalako, whom I know is benevolent, but most of the info seems to be mostly about the Shalako ceremony over the kachina itself; sometimes when I'm researching American Indians I find Google to be much more useless than for other things...

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

we're at the mercy of whatever's been uploaded. Sometimes you just can't replace old fashioned books but my books are about the EVIL things so...