What senses would you use, or need to invent, if you were writing from the point of view (POV) of a mythical creature?
If I was writing this scene from the dragon’s POV, I would write that it had the same organ some snakes have on their faces to detect heat. Would the dragon be able to see well in the dark? Would the dark look like dark to it? Since it doesn’t have ears made of cartilage sticking our from its head, maybe it doesn’t hear well. If it breathes fire, and your readers will be disappointed if it doesn’t breathe something, it could notice when heat is building up inside the organ that generates the fire.
What if you wrote from a centaur’s POV? I was thinking about that because I took riding lessons. My teacher told me that horses are nervous about their feet, especially the back ones, because they can’t see them. Perhaps a centaur can’t see them well either, and a back hoof got stuck in a trap, what he sense?
What mythical creature can you think of with an unusual sense?
now that’s an interesting question – very thought provoking. Considering i write fantasy too, it’s also something i should have taken a look at.
I’ll definitely do… but here’s one, i have a werepanther in the story and he’s sure footed, silent and can see very well in the dark.
That’s an intriguing character. When he’s human, does he still have his werepanther senses or is he completely normal? You could make comparisons between the abitlies and and limitations of each form. Werepanther is a cool variation on the werewolf.
in his human form, he still has hightened senses, but not as good as when he’s in panther form.
OOoh, I love the heat-sensing dragon idea! Hmmm, if I were writing a mer-person, would they have gills, and what would breathing feel like? ALSO, if they can do the “legs on land” thing, how would that change the feeling of breathing?
Those are really good questions! That’s the kind of details readers love to make the unreal seem real.
Now if I could just come up with a plot with WW2 mermaids… 😉