Creating Monsters

For some reason over the last week I’ve become hooked on River Monsters.  I was very sad when I watched every available episode on Netflix.  Several days after I finished this show I started a few different shows, Man vs Wild, Swamp People and one about twin doctors in Africa.  Since I’m world building for a new book I want to write I started thinking about monsters and creatures that will inhabit my world.

While spacing out, as I do so very well, it occurred to me how alien and strange some of the creatures on these shows had appeared.  There is an honest to god creature called the Sloth Bear.  So why can’t you take inspiration from some of these real life monsters?

Some of the fish that were pulled out of the rivers featured on River Monsters were unbelievable.  With a little creative flare they would be the stuff of stories.  In fact, most of them have so many myths wrapped around them they are living monsters.

You can create such depth by wrapping past and present together.  A lot of times in River Monsters the host will go find local people to tell him stories and myths about the river animals he’s hunting.  It creates a huge mystique about them so when he catches the fish he’s after it’s like you’re seeing part of another world.

I want to try to duplicate that in my urban fantasy.  It makes me excited to brainstorm some of the ways I can incorporate some of these real life monsters.

Science of Evil

What makes a person evil?

National Geographic did a documentary digging into what makes a person evil.  In one instance they featured a group of normal people in a research setting where some were dressed up as cops and the others as inmates.  They put them into a controlled environment.  Within 36 hours these normal people had begun to identify with their role and violent instances of hazing and brutality occurred.

Later on they looked at some of the violence in Africa.  And then in gangs.

So are people born evil?  Or are they a product of their surroundings?

It sounds like a big nature vs nurture argument.  I don’t have the answers, but it makes you question people around you.  In a sudden disaster who around you will turn on you?  And who will help you?  It’s scary.

China’s Lost Girls

I watched a documentary about the social climate in China and the practice of abandoning young girls.  China has the largest population in the world.  One out of every five people in the world are from China.  A one child policy was put into place years ago.  Because male children are valued for carrying on the family name and traditionally take care of their parents, people abandon or rid themselves of female children.  Socially this has had a few very important impacts.  One, it has curbed the growing population boom in China.  Two, there is an imbalance between boy and girl children.  Three, families abandon girl children.  Four, it’s illegial for a doctor to tell families the sex of their children.

Not too long ago I challenged myself to watch documentaries to pull inspiration from real world events, social issues and history to make my stories more real and layered.  The simple issues of having too many people and valuing boy children over girls is going to create a future situation with far reaching implications.

In the future, women in China run the risk of being kidnapped and forced into marriages and prostitution as there won’t be enough women to marry all of the men.  Socially, this is going to wreak havoc on the country in the future.  Wherein right now there is a population boom, in a hundred years how many people will be left?

Using this in my writing is going to be easy.  I’m working on a new project and I really want to use this situation in advanced stages as a background for my story.  Well, that’s what I’ve been working on this week!