Writing Our Furry Friends

I recently decided to stop being so anthropocentric and incorporate a dog into the cast of my protagonists. This took a bit of courage, because a) animal characters can be cutesy and maudlin, and b) all the animals in books I read as a kid got killed in the course of the story, and I can’t take any more, OK?

But, used correctly, the animal character can be just as powerful a presence as a human. If the temptation to have one of your personages walk on four legs has ever pulled at you, here are some things to consider.

Revealing Who We are

The way a human interacts with animals tells a lot about her. It can show without telling that a character is cruel or kind. It can humanize a villain or make a milquetoast a hero. (Did you see the news story about the young woman who drowned trying to save her drowning dog?  She goes straight to heaven.) Mostly, we modern Americans love animals. They become members of our families. That’s especially true of children and/or people whose lives are otherwise hard and lonely. Pets always offer a sympathetic ear to our tales of woe—and what a great way to reveal things about your protagonist’s suffering without saying “He suffered!” Let someone who otherwise keeps her own counsel spill her intentions to the cat.

Jerking Tears

Often, animals are smaller than we are, and so they evoke a protective tenderness. We might think of wild animals or mistreated domestic ones as victims of human evil. In short, we’re emotionally invested in them. When something bad happens to one, readers will react powerfully (see first paragraph). I give you Old Yeller or The Red Pony or Black Beauty or The Haunted Hound. As you perceive, the novel in which the death of an animal wrings the reader’s heart is a long tradition. Is such a book necessarily bathetic? No. It can be as deep and genuine as any purely bipedal tragedy, because the real story is the pain the human characters feel. Look at the irony and pathos that can be layered on in an example like Old Yeller — the dog has been infected fatally with rabies in saving his human owners from a rabid wolf. Read it without tears in your eyes—I dare you.

Adding Humor

Sometimes animals are noble tragic heros, but sometimes they’re adorable and just plain funny. They’re so above our petty human concerns that they keep it real in the earthiest sense. There’s a whole genre of cat-centric cozies, but there’s also Stephanie Plum’s hamster. And Sancho Panza’s donkey, Rucio. I can see a wise-cracking parrot as a comic sidekick, can’t you? They can participate in solving crimes, winning true love (chick magnets, every one), or finding adventure. Animals have personalities as strong as human beings, and readers will become just as attached to them, if not more. Let them play off their people and infuse your story with warmth and fun.

All Animals, All the Time

This is another category of animal story—the one in which all characters are (usually anthropomorphized) animals. Think of Wind in the Willow or Watership Down or the many works of Felix Salten. There are some beloved classics of this sort, not to mention all the wonderful children’s stories like Charlotte’s Web. They can be lyrical or gritty, but they harness our feeling for animals to draw us into another world. They may motivate us to take better care of nature or simply teach us something about ourselves.

So, there are a few ideas. Maybe they’ll spark an animal character in your next book. Or encourage you to read or reread one of the oldies I’ve mentioned. (Disclaimer: my cats made me write this.)