Have you used pets or other animals in
your stories? What function do they perform in the story? Do they need to have
a function? Can they be a character?
Rhobin, you’ve
picked another interesting topic. I’m a writer who likes to have a pet in the story.
I’ve used a Scottish terrier; wolfhound; Australian sheepdog and a mutt in my
books. They don't usually play a major role in the story, except for my wolfhound in Death Awaits. But I like the feel of adding an animal as a pet. It often helps develop the character and can show some of their positive attributes. (as in show - not tell). And they're fun to write into a scene.
In my books they
aren’t a character, but I see no reason why they couldn’t be one. They don’t
have a specific function, although they may have. I’ve had a pet all my life. I
had a hamster; goldfish (who always die); cats and dogs. Because I like animals
and feel they add a lot of love and caring to our lives and to a story I
include them in my novels.
And I love books
where the animal is a character. Maybe in my next book. Do you like pets or
animal in the books you read?
Check out what our other authors thinks about pets in their stories.
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.webs.com/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Margaret Fieland http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
Check out what our other authors thinks about pets in their stories.
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.webs.com/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Margaret Fieland http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
I've had all those pets and more, so I love animals and I love their presence in stories. You are so right, they give strong indications of a human character's true personality.
ReplyDeleteI gathered from your post you've had lots of animals. I've stuck to the traditional dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs and fish - but they always died. So are you getting the goats?
DeleteHi Beverley, I think that's a thread coming through strongly - that the way a person treats an animal shows character. anne
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Wasn't it Ghandi who said a country is judged by how it treats it's animals?
DeleteI totally agree with Anne. Both in books and life the way people treat animals says a lot about them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. My one dog thinks everyone should stop and pet her and tell how lovely she is. She'll stop in front of people and wait expectantly. Pet people oblige and pet her. Non-pet people walk by without a glance and then I try to explain it to her. People are funny.
DeleteLove to see folks with pets too. Maybe I need to check out that wolfhound though...
ReplyDeleteActually I loved the wolfhound. I was thinking of getting one and then I heard they are hunting dogs and could hunt small pets. I decided not to get one, but I still think they're great dogs.
DeletePets warm the story. I've had therapy dogs who heal main characters and one who was the third of the main characters. My daughter, a pet lover, told me when I fist began writing to always have pets in the books and she was so right. Thanks for a lovely post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Charmaine and I agree with your daughter. Therapy dogs who heal the main character sound like awesome characters.
DeleteI've used pets in my stories; in fact, Joey a chocolate Labrador Retriever is not only a character, he is the protagonist in my recent book, DOGS DON'T LOOK BOTH WAYS. He's also the narrator, although NOT an omniscient narrator: Neither he, nor the readers, nor the secondary characters know what's going to happen next, so he pulls the story and the readers along - although he does ask the questions. (He never has human characteristics but he does share information about dogs etc. a dog would not "know" for narrative purposes and also to help educate the reader.)
ReplyDeleteDo pets need to have a function? I think every character introduced in a book needs to have some function. Even inanimates, like scenery and weather, have functions.