Hi, I'm Paranormal Romance Author Sarah Raplee.
(This blog was first posted on the Mid-Willamette Romance Writers of America Blog in 2011.)
Okay, I admit it; I’m a sucker for animals. Growing up
in suburbia, we always had pets: dogs, cats, a cottontail rabbit, parakeets,
guppies, horned toads, turtles, a duck, ground squirrels, coconut crabs, and
for one glorious day, a turkey named Jim that my father won in a contest.
I was the kid who read all the books in the school
library that were written from the animal’s point of view, the ones that
described the life of a beaver or an owlet from birth to independence (and
sometimes on to parenthood.) As a young teen, I wanted to be a wildlife
biologist. And the first book I wrote was a non-fiction children’s book about
osprey (fish hawks.)
Not surprisingly, animal characters appear in my
stories. If you haven’t written an animal character who is more than a walk-on,
give the idea some careful consideration. Statistically speaking, most readers
own or have owned pets. Pets and their owners are easy for readers to relate
to, care about and to root for.
Writing animal characters is more than a gimmick. Remember
the Lassie books? Or The Cat Who… mysteries? Books like Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth
Stein were on the bestseller lists for ages. In both books, animals are
major characters. In the second book, Enzo is the narrator.
In my books, most animals are true secondary
characters who serve important roles: mentor, foil, mirror, scene antagonist,
catalyst, ally, family, window into hero/heroine/villain’s character. My animal
characters’ actions affect the plot as well as the tone of a story (often
providing comic relief.)
A word of caution: do your research, and remember that
animal characters have instincts as well as their own Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. If your animal’s behavior is
atypical for the species/breed, you’d better have a convincing explanation
woven into your story.
Do you write animal characters? Do you enjoy reading them in a Romance?
Copyright 2011 Sarah Raplee All Rights Reserved
