Monsters are easy to understand as projections of the human mind, and thus as representations of some fear; however, the modern understanding of everything psychologically is a recent phenomenon. For most of human history monsters were taken at face value.
The secret to writing is having something to say. Seems simple enough, obvious really, but you'd be surprised how many people either don't realize this or willfully ignore it.
William Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time, in any language. While this may seem like a very controversial statement, it is so only through the eyes of fragile national, ethnic and gender egos.