Writing Blog

20231027 Monster Dictionary Q&A

October 27, 2023, 10:00am

Thanks to everyone who commented on the monster dictionary.

To answer questions:

1) Are you looking at illustrations? Yes... but... 5000+ pictures? Okay, say we only have one dragon, one giant, etc. (as those creatures are listed under the overall heading), that is still over 4500 illustrations. My daughter (a budding artist) and a friend have said they would, but that is a lot of work. And AI is useless. Don't @ me - AI is pathetic when it comes to true creativity, finding real information, selecting relevant items, and anything really. Nothing AI does has worked for me. So, pictures would be good, but...

2) Have you looked at [insert culture here]? So... I used my connections to get a number of Indigenous Australian legends. I found a few online friends who helped with Indigenous Americans, and found a couple of old books looking at northern American Indigenous peoples (Northern USA, Canada). Another online friend is a teacher and she got me a heap on Native USA peoples. South American came from books. African I found a fantastic book from the 1930s. There is an issue though - modern books (say, post-1960) about these beliefs are clouded very much by sociology and religion. Christianity has destroyed the true origins of beliefs in so many cultures, demonising traditional belief systems. I have done as much as I can.

3) Have you included [insert monster here]? Yes. Yes, I have. We are now heading for truly obscure ones.

4) What about Slenderman [or other Internet meme]? No. Works of fiction are not included. Lorelei, Creepypastas, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, etc. are not true creatures of legend. Just because some stupid kids at high schools think Bloody Mary is real does not make it a true belief; they also think Justin Beiber is talented.

5) What is your definition of cryptid? Excellent question! I am using the zoological definition of a creature that could have evolved and developed naturally on Earth. Some creatures classified cryptids do not conform to that definition - extra-terrestrials, mothman, flatwoods monster, et al. - and so I do not call then cryptids either. They are in the monsters of legend section.

6) What about demons? I have a general entry for demons and another for devil, but not individual entries. I do have a list of the 666 demons the Medieval Church recognised, and I know there are a few more on top of that, so it could end up being a second work, but not one I am currently interested in pursuing.

7) Will you get it published? I'd love to! But a publisher will need to see a market for it and recoup costs. I was thinking of creating a website, but that is self-publishing, and the way the Internet works at the moment, I do not trust putting something like that online. So, once I have gone through to correct spelling mistakes (did you know that after a certain number of unrecognised words, MS Word stops telling you spelling mistakes?) I will start to submit. Maybe.

I think that answers everything.

Thanks for the feedback and support!