This seems like a good week for this topic. After watching the first season of ‘Delicious in Dungeon’, I started wondering why monsters aren’t eaten more often. Nobody in any of these worlds thought of making griffin wings or selkie pot pie? They just kill them and move on. Sometimes, parts are taken for spells or trophies, but there’s rarely anything taken for food. Why?
Well, I guess the most obvious reason is that monsters tend to be ugly and magical in nature. Authors didn’t put them in the world to be eaten, so they aren’t made to look or appear edible. This is enhanced by real world animals existing such as cows, chickens, and pigs. If a person is going to choose between killing a cow or a minotaur for steaks, they’d go with the safer choice. Not only in killing, but the idea of eating a monster with magical or ‘dark’ energy can throw a person off. I mean, we don’t really eat the poisonous animals and plants of our world. Some people do, but it involves a lot of prep and is considered a delicacy. Looking at you, pufferfish.
Food preparation is another issue, which ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ focuses on. The only reason the characters can eat the monsters is because they team up with someone who knows how to make them edible. It’s shown to be special knowledge, which is easy to believe since he lived in the big dungeon for years. Nobody else would learn this since they get food from the city above. This means that preparing monsters for food would be done out of necessity instead of desire. If you’re staring and only have these creatures to eat, you’ll give it a try. This means it wouldn’t be common, so any character with this skill set would need a creative backstory.
All that being said, I really do wonder why authors don’t do this more often. I’ve done it a few times with civilizations that live in the wilderness, which is another ‘eat monsters out of necessity’ thing. All of those creatures were designed to be eaten too, so it isn’t like I made them ugly and magical. I made them look like something that one would want to eat even if they had fur or feathers. For example, I designed a creature called a ‘bog hare’, which was a bulbous rabbit that bounced around. It was harvested for water and meat as if it was natural.
Maybe that’s another factor. If we write a story where characters are natural about eating monsters then it won’t phase the readers. ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ made this activity bizarre, so it was shocking for me to see it unfold. Yet, I don’t think I would have been confused if they simply at monsters without bringing attention to it. For me, that would mean it’s what is done in that world. Eating a dragon to them would be no different than us having spicy duck, but with scales to get through. Probably closer to alligator, but I wasn’t a fan of that when I tried it. Guess personal preference is something to take into account too.
Personally, I think I would like to see more fantasy stories with monsters being used in recipes. Maybe they’re out there and I never noticed. Yet, I don’t remember it being done in most of the big ones. Is this just something that authors without gigantic fandoms do for some reason? Probably not. It is interesting though.
So, what do you think about a fantasy story where people eat monsters?
It’s a strange holiday in my opinion. We are supposed to celebrate the unique talents of ourselves and others. No judging or harming. Just applaud and give out positivity to what makes us all unique . . . Then, we return to the grind tomorrow where 99% of the population puts their unique talents back into the box for at least the weekdays. A shame we don’t live in a world where people can easily discover, nurture, and thrive with their unique talent. Everyone would certainly be happier.
Well, I got to do a little mall walking in the morning before work. It’s okay when I can’t make it to the park due to the weather. Quite a few people are doing it, but they’re doing circuits while I’m wandering weirdly designed Pokemon routes. There are also two robots cleaning the floors and I couldn’t figure out if I should get out of the way or they’ll move around me. One of them sounded like it had a smoker’s cough too.
I did manage to edit 1.33 chapters this week, which is unusual. Only reason it happened was because I woke up Thursday feeling like someone shoved a cinderblock in my sinuses and my stomach . . . You don’t want to know. I had to call out of work, so I got editing done while I rested up. It was the rainiest day of the week, which kind of worked out and allowed me to do a chapter. The 1/3 came yesterday when I had a free period and nobody around me. A similar situation might occur on Tuesday, but I should be able to edit on Thursday since I don’t get my son for Thanksgiving until Friday. With any luck, I’ll be able to type in the Darwin & the Demon Game edits over the holiday break and print out the next volume before the end of the year.
This weekend won’t be author friendly for a few reasons. First, it’s a big Pokemon Go event that I bought a ticket for, so I’ll be out in the cold for the morning and part of the afternoon. This would normally give me time to edit while I have lunch and after I get home. That’s going to get tricky since I’m cooking and baking for a few work events coming up. Penne with homemade vodka sauce needed for Tuesday and 3 ice cream breads for Wednesday. Can’t make them Monday due to work and promising to cook dinner for the family. So, it’s all going to be done over the weekend. If I can get chapter 13 done then it’ll be a victory.
Does this mean I’m developing some hope? Not really. I know it’s going to be years before I can get anything solidly consistent going. Might use the 2 week break to check out publishing options, but money is getting tight. I no longer have a few sources of extra income, which covered a few small purchases or at least copays for all of the appointments that come up. Wish I knew of a good and feasible side hustle since selling books is no longer thing. Not that I have the time for it, but it would be nice to find something that brings in even an extra $100 a month. I’m sure many people can relate to this issue these days.
Can’t think of much else that happened this week since it was always going to be really busy. Next week isn’t as bad. Only 3 days of school and 1 of those days is an off one for students. Free time at home will be cleaning for Thanksgiving, but that can be stuffed into Thursday since we aren’t having company until Friday. All I have to do is the bathroom, vacuum the floors, and clean the stove top. I’m staying away from the home cooking though because my parents always have a plan. We can’t be tripping over each other when dinner is on the line. Not that I’d be upset if the turkey had to be replaced with a couple pizzas.
Television-watching has been limited outside of my sick day. Finished ‘Cobra Kai’ in spite of Netflix repeatedly making the picture like smeared. Thought they only had issues during the ‘Paul vs Tyson’ dance-off, but I guess it carried over to everything that came out recently. This means, I need to avoid going near ‘Arcane’ until the excitement has died down. ‘Legend of Vox Machina’ will keep me occupied for a while, especially since I won’t be getting many episodes in per week. I pause things a lot when my mind wanders too, but I’m not in any rush.
That’s really it. I met about half of my goals and even used the exercise bike one day. It was a brutal 20 minutes because it’s been a while. Need to use it on days I can’t go walking around though. Didn’t do any blog posts for February either, but I do have a list of posts to set up. January is going to see an experimental one, but I’m not going to make any more unless they’re successful. It’s posing scenarios for people to respond to as the noted character type. Curious to see how it goes.
So, what are these weeks goals?
Cook and bake this weekend.
Edit at least 1.66 chapters by next weekend.
Stay warm while catching Pokemon this weekend.
Spend time with son when he’s here.
Bring hot chocolate when I go out.
Contemplate how the weather went from warm to freaking freezing so quickly. Dread the worst case scenarios.
Since basic skills can change from person to person, I figure I’ll open the floor. Got my hands full today as well. Keep in mind that I’m talking about the skills authors and readers don’t think about. We take them for granted because we assume everyone will have them. If they’re removed, it’s for plot or character development reasons since they’re foundational.
What are 3 skills that people take for granted?
Which basic skill do you think would be the most debilitating to lack?
Which basic skill do you think people assume is easy to learn, but really isn’t and why?
Legends of Windemere 