Are New & Novel Plants ever worth it?

[CannelleLapine]

When writing/reading a piece of fantasy, do you believe it makes sense to try and create an entirely new set of flora? I do get the need for novel creatures, the heroes need something to fight and if your protagonist can throw balls of fire, a brown bear isn’t an exciting foe. But when it comes to plants, outside of a single macguffin, is there ever a reason to create new ones?

I don’t even know if I have the mental facilities to create dozens if not hundreds of new plants, though i’m sure it would help the world feel alien and unique to the reader. What do you think? Would you rate a novel that went out of its way not to use any of the flora and fauna of our world, Higher? Lower?

For my fellow authors who have created gobs of new plants, how did you do it? What resources did you use to make them feel naturally occuring? How did you name them so that it didn’t sound like toddler-speak?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Would you rate a novel that went out of its way not to use any of the flora and fauna of our world, Higher? Lower?

I do not care about flora and fauna.

 

[quagma]

I do not care about flora and fauna.

i do. alien plants are some of the best parts of world building with access to fantastical energy.

 

[2wordsperminute]

Works well with Pokemon. Sometimes.

 

[quagma]

When writing/reading a piece of fantasy, do you believe it makes sense to try and create an entirely new set of flora? I do get the need for novel creatures, the heroes need something to fight and if your protagonist can throw balls of fire, a brown bear isn’t an exciting foe. But when it comes to plants, outside of a single macguffin, is there ever a reason to create new ones?

I don’t even know if I have the mental facilities to create dozens if not hundreds of new plants, though i’m sure it would help the world feel alien and unique to the reader. What do you think? Would you rate a novel that went out of its way not to use any of the flora and fauna of our world, Higher? Lower?

For my fellow authors who have created gobs of new plants, how did you do it? What resources did you use to make them feel naturally occuring? How did you name them so that it didn’t sound like toddler-speak?

so the secret to making cool new plants and animals, is that i never actually stopped making them. i've just got hundreds that show up in my head, and it's a struggle to write em all down. just make a whole crap ton of them, then pick and choose which ones are appropriate for your setting or not.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

i do. alien plants are some of the best parts of world building with access to fantastical energy.

Well, encyclopedia of various fictional stuff is cool, but it is encyclopedia. When it comes to stories I read them for the plot and characters. Would you read a generic, fantasy, isekai harem with adventurer guilds, ridicolous OP cheats, indecisive male MC, oh, and some of his harem memebrs are slaves, if it has lots of unusual plants and animals?

 

[quagma]

Well, encyclopedia of various fictional stuff is cool, but it is encyclopedia. When it comes to stories I read them for the plot and characters. Would you read a generic, fantasy, isekai harem with adventurer guilds, ridicolous OP cheats, indecisive male MC, oh, and some of his harem memebrs are slaves, if it has lots of unusual plants and animals?

... i might. you can't just walk in here and tell me i get to imagine cool creatures, that's like bribing a baby with a sack full of candy. i'll just ignore the plot like i usually do in those stories haha.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

... i might. you can't just walk in here and tell me i get to imagine cool creatures, that's like bribing a baby with a sack full of candy. i'll just ignore the plot like i usually do in those stories haha.

You do understand that I wrote generic fantasy isekai? Which means, even though it has lots of unusual plants and animals, they won't get any attention at all.

 

[HuaiChi]

When writing/reading a piece of fantasy, do you believe it makes sense to try and create an entirely new set of flora? I do get the need for novel creatures, the heroes need something to fight and if your protagonist can throw balls of fire, a brown bear isn’t an exciting foe. But when it comes to plants, outside of a single macguffin, is there ever a reason to create new ones?

I don’t even know if I have the mental facilities to create dozens if not hundreds of new plants, though i’m sure it would help the world feel alien and unique to the reader. What do you think? Would you rate a novel that went out of its way not to use any of the flora and fauna of our world, Higher? Lower?

For my fellow authors who have created gobs of new plants, how did you do it? What resources did you use to make them feel naturally occuring? How did you name them so that it didn’t sound like toddler-speak?

The best way to do that is to make a chimera prototype and then refine it slowly.

Water hyacinth is a plant that could float in water. And no matter how much clean a pond it will keep coming back. Now take the tenacity of water hyacinth and mixed it with the patience of bamboo. Bamboo grows undergrond for year before shooting out of the ground in just a few days.

Here you get water bamboo. You spread the seed in the evening, have dinner and go to sleep. Next morning you have the large water body covered with water bamboo that grew horizontally and can be used to cross the large body of river.

You can change it depending on xianxia or scifi. Name accordingly.

Name If it is sci fi: Dendro calamus (it is the scientific name of giant bamboo.)
Name of Xianxia: River splitting heavenly wand.

In fantasy/apocalypse setting you can add elements name with the tree.

Choose the character you need make one. Bro there are literally tree that can trap frogs and insect. You have tree that can survive even if you cut the main stem of the tree. You can make anything

 

[quagma]

You do understand that I wrote generic fantasy isekai? Which means, even though it has lots of unusual plants and animals, they won't get any attention at all.

oh, never mind then

 

[CannelleLapine]

so the secret to making cool new plants and animals, is that i never actually stopped making them. i've just got hundreds that show up in my head, and it's a struggle to write em all down. just make a whole crap ton of them, then pick and choose which ones are appropriate for your setting or not.

Oh! That’s kind of incredible. You’re incredible. ?

The best way to do that is to make a chimera prototype and then refine it slowly.

Water hyacinth is a plant that could float in water. And no matter how much clean a pond it will keep coming back. Now take the tenacity of water hyacinth and mixed it with the patience of bamboo. Bamboo grows undergrond for year before shooting out of the ground in just a few days.

Here you get water bamboo. You spread the seed in the evening, have dinner and go to sleep. Next morning you have the large water body covered with water bamboo that grew horizontally and can be used to cross the large body of river.

You can change it depending on xianxia or scifi. Name accordingly.

Name If it is sci fi: Dendro calamus (it is the scientific name of giant bamboo.)
Name of Xianxia: River splitting heavenly wand.

In fantasy/apocalypse setting you can add elements name with the tree.

Choose the character you need make one. Bro there are literally tree that can trap frogs and insect. You have tree that can survive even if you cut the main stem of the tree. You can make anything

?

Also as someone who’s never read Xianxia, “River splitting heavenly wand” sounds way too cool for a simple plant! Like I’d treat that as if it was King Arthur’s excalibur.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

oh, never mind then

I don't get why people are so focused on worldbuilding. What's the point of having thousand of plants, if you write generic romcom? Unless the story is about world, there is no reason to have hundreds of original plants and animals. ESPECIALLY, considering how it is always the same stuff above ground over and over again, or something from space.

Just use underwater setting, and you already have hundreds of non-fictional animals and plants that are not used at all. Heck, fictional creatures, mermaids are a rare sight in a non harem novels, and what about hippocamp? Have you seen hippocamps often? Move your story into underground or cave setting, and it's the same thing again. Hundreds of various insects, crustaceans, animals, and so on.

 

[CannelleLapine]

I don't get why people are so focused on worldbuilding. What's the point of having thousand of plants, if you write generic romcom? Unless the story is about world, there is no reason to have hundreds of original plants and animals. ESPECIALLY, considering how it is always the same stuff above ground over and over again, or something from space.

Just use underwater setting, and you already have hundreds of non-fictional animals and plants that are not used at all. Heck, fictional creatures, mermaids are a rare sight in a non harem novels, and what about hippocamp? Have you seen hippocamps often? Move your story into underground or cave setting, and it's the same thing again. Hundreds of various insects, crustaceans, animals, and so on.

You’ve made me google what the heck a hippocamp is, lol.

Very neat!

 

[owotrucked]

weed:
mana weed:

OP is right about designing their own monsters instead of brown bear. No problem with designing a plant, but a whole flaura might be a waste.

Any monsters that affect the plot are basically characters. No one is going to name the 1500 people of a village that is featured for 2 chapters

The essential parts of design are: what are its strengths (how it threaten) and weakness (To what it dies and what it takes to statcheck it)

No need to give it a scientific latin sounding name, because it wouldn't make sense for adventurers to give fancy names to basically pest weed to be killed

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I focus mostly on the story, plot, and characters, but in one novel I did invent new fauna and flora. They aren’t a focus but a nice touch for anyone who likes world building. If I do world building it is simply background stuff. Maybe a character will briefly mention it in passing? After all, on Earth most people take the plants they walk past for granted. Natives of another world would do the same.

 

[HuaiChi]

?

Also as someone who’s never read Xianxia, “River splitting heavenly wand” sounds way too cool for a simple plant! Like I’d treat that as if it was King Arthur’s excalibur.

Nah! Those are some generic name.

 

[greyblob]

why would you create new flora when no one even knows the normal one?

sprinkle some fantasy mutated flora if you need to otherwise don't bother. Unless your novel has heavy focus on world buidling, like dungeon novels, and you want to do something extraordinaire.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

why would you create new flora when no one even knows the normal one?

This is why you are a legend sir blob the tyrannical. It took me multiple paragraphs to phrase it, meanwhile you used one sentence.

 

[2wordsperminute]

Actually I did do this, I just forgot. I introduced a plant specifically so I wouldn't have to worry about how my characters would get food.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

why would you create new flora when no one even knows the normal one?

sprinkle some fantasy mutated flora if you need to otherwise don't bother. Unless your novel has heavy focus on world buidling, like dungeon novels, and you want to do something extraordinaire.

You could literally use the name of obscure Earth plant, and it might as well be a fantasy plant.