Denver Pop Culture Con 2019: Building A Better Monster

Dragons, vampires, zombies, oh my! Face it, we all love monsters and want to see more of the monstrous in fiction and pop culture. Panelists discuss their favorite monsters in their stories and how they approach crafting the perfect monster in their own works. Panelists take monster-mania back to the basics and discuss the trends, tropes, how to use them, and how to create something new.

Building a Better Monster in Your Novels featured authors Drew Brockington, Amalie Howard, Paul Krueger, Tricia Levenseller, Emily Skrutskie, and Cat Winters. The discussion started off with the authors talking about their personal favorite monsters and monster types in film, TV, and literature, and why those monster personally hit for them.
Hannibal Lecter was mentioned, for his ability to blend in to polite society. That creepy “monster among us” vibe. Your neighbor could be a homicidal cannibal music nerd. Paul Krueger brought up the Amphibian Man from Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water, because the beast (portrayed by the amazing Doug Jones, who’s known for this exact thing) made him FEEL stuff. Emily Skrutskie likes Otachi, because she’s…a good mom. These answers all have a common theme. Basically, monsters will strike a much stronger chord with your audience if there’s something intimately relatable about them.

Some of the scariest “monsters” across all forms of entertainment media are those that don’t even look like monsters. This comes up in a couple different ways. There are humans that are so ridiculously evil, but who are very good at hiding it, like Hannibal Lecter and President Snow, and humans that start out on the generally “good” side of the spectrum, but creep toward pure evil over the course of the story, like Walter White and Daenarys Targaryen. (I know. I know. Too soon. I’ll own that. Booooooo!) Arguments can be made on the second set that they were always monstrous, and just needed the opportunity to let the monster show.
Some things to avoid when creating believable, scary monsters? Tricia Levenseller says you should really try to avoid creating bland monsters. There are so many directions to go that go much deeper than appearances. What are your monster’s powers? What’s the thing that sets this monster apart from every other monster we’ve ever seen? She used the example of the slow moving zombie trope. Zack Snyder had fast moving (and fast turning) zombies in his Dawn of the Dead reboot, and it turned the zombie genre upside down. None of the usual zombie nullifiers apply.

Some things to avoid when creating believable, scary monsters? Tricia Levenseller says you should really try to avoid creating bland monsters. There are so many directions to go that go much deeper than appearances. What are your monster’s powers? What’s the thing that sets this monster apart from every other monster we’ve ever seen? She used the example of the slow moving zombie trope. Zack Snyder had fast moving (and fast turning) zombies in his Dawn of the Dead reboot, and it turned the zombie genre upside down. None of the usual zombie nullifiers apply.
Drew Brockington points out that it’s really easy to kill off your monster, but it’s very difficult to resurrect them. There’s no reason to assume the monster has to die, and it’s often more interesting to find ways to thwart the attack an nullify the monster than simply (or not-so-simply) killing them.
Paul Krueger warns not to over explain your monster’s origin. There’s an inverse relationship between knowledge of a beast and its monstrous perception. I know I bring up Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day a lot when I’m talking about this point, but it works so beautifully. The sequel took every ounce of magic out of Il Duce, simply by giving him an origin. It was so bad. 
Let your monster maintain an air of mystery. The unknown is often far scarier than any explanation.