Where are the Creatures

Swords of Fire contains plenty of mythical creatures. Unfortunately, Book I contains none of them. There are dragons. I even have a couple of dragon stories. But they are not part of the main Saga. Same with Unicorns, Gryphons, and other such creatures.

It's a pity, because I like these creatures. But putting cool creatures into a story simply because they are cool creatures only ruins the story and anything the writer wishes to say about the creatures. They have to fit. They have to be part of the story and, unfortunately, they aren't part of Book I's story. In fact, it's hard to bring them into the Saga at all.

I've seen movies where this is done. The hero/heroine comes across one unusual creature after another, but none really moves the story along. It's almost like little museum stops along the way. Say, boys and girls, look at this dinosaur. You thought they were extinct, but here is one alive. And look at the flying lizard/bird/antelope creature. I bet you never seen or heard of one of those again. Oh, well. Back to the story.

It's kind of like infodump, only worse, because the information has nothing to do with the story. At least with background information the reader learns why characters behave as they do. They're completely bored, but they know.

Mythical creatures are cool, and when they are part of a story they can make an interesting story even more intriguing. But when they are not part of the story they should be left out. They won't mind. They have their own stories.