Ah, there’s nothing like a pet. Advertising professionals will tell you puppies and kittens sell products, just like babies and small children. If that’s true, then perhaps many writers are losing a valuable opportunity by not including a pet in their novels.
I am an animal lover, so you’ll usually find a pet in mine unless the hero and heroine are in the middle of a dystopian world. I couldn’t stand to hurt a pet in the middle of battle and chaos. In my latest release IT’S MAGIC (from Crescent Moon Press and co-written with L.J.DeLeon, November 2010), the heroine has an aging Chocolate Labrador Retriever. Here’s an animal I know something about. My husband and I have owned three, all with very different personalities, but each one lovable, people pleasing gremlins who think they’re far smaller than they are and want to sleep on your lap. Murgatroid, the dog in IT’S MAGIC, is fairly easy-going except when someone invades his territory. He has a habit of s***ting in shoes if annoyed, as the hero finds out, to his discomfort.
In a true fantasy where the majority of the characters are magical, what types of pets should there be? In my Book of the Beginning series, yet to sell, the heroine of the first book, Honey Blood Draper, has a dragon, thankfully only a miniature breed, who will only mature to about one hundred plus pounds. Cinder is a comical feature on her own, as she trails after the heroine just like a dog will. But, beware if she sneezes, fire in the hole! In my second book, the heroine has a pigmy pterodactyl named Pee-wee. Protective just as Cinder is, Pee-wee makes a high pitched noise when warning his mistress and grows exponentially when he needs to protect her.
What animals are in my angel series, WALK RIGHT IN and WALK RIGHT BACK will be released in fourth quarter 2011 and January 2012, respectively by L&L Dreamspell? Well, in the second book, my heroine has a Siamese cat named Merle. Merle is a magical angel kitty who can speak and is a member of Ms. C’s (Ms. C is the Creator) Feline Intelligence Agency. She can disappear Cheshire Cat style, and the kitty-angels have a guardian angel protector, CATerine.
Authors are only limited by their imaginations by the pets they can make up in their fantasies. I’d love to hear about some critters you’ve read about or any you’ve invented as a writer. Please weigh in.
Bye for now,
Daryn
I love my pets and I've put animals in my books. They're always fun. I chose to write werewolf stories because I like dogs so much. We have a papillon mix that my dh picked out at a rescue place and she loves to sit in our laps even though she's grown as large as medium sized dog. My dh thinks she's too big for a lap dog, and he'd love to have a lab. :-) Little does he know.
ReplyDeleteWishing you many happy readers!
Jeanmarie
Thanks Jeanmarie for your comment. Will have to check out your werewolf series. Cinder, the dragon, sits on people's feet all the time (like my Lab). Caroline is still talking about that. :)
ReplyDeleteWe own a chocolate lab ourselves, and a Pittie who is a rescue :)
ReplyDeleteMy fantasies tend to be somewhat more serious in nature but that hasn't precluded pets, particularly for human protagonists. The heroine in my current wip has recently lost her old dog (like you, I could neither endanger the animal or allow her to simply abandon it), and she makes a riding companion of a giant insect-like creature once she journeys off-world.
Having pets adds another layer to your world-building.
I really enjoy books that include pets, fantastic or otherwise. Sounds like you've got a great imagination! My favorite fantastic pets are Jayne Ann Krentz's futuristic fantasies that feature the dust bunnies. They steal the show from the heroes and heroines of the romance series.
ReplyDeleteI've owned everything from fish to iguanas and pets are hard work and fun. Of course my favorites are felines and lupines of any variety.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why my novels have shapeshifters or aliens with feline/lupine characteristics.
--L. Spletzer
I love pets so love them in novels--as long as they don't get harmed. I stopped reading one mystery author who had her villain nail a cat to the heroine's front door. NO! I do love Cinder, and am happy you are continuing pets in your series. We had a golden lab for 13 years who was a sweet dog. We couldn't let her sleep with us because she snored so loud. She was three when I stole her from a neighbor who beat her, so she lived a long time for a large breed.
ReplyDeleteI love, love all these wonderful stories you folks have about the pets. This confirms how much people like them and I plan to continue introducing them.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all the commenters!