1--what pets do you have and how, if at all, do they impact or influence or relate to or distract from or whatever your writing?
2--do you ever use pets (not "super-animals" or magical animals, necessarily, just regular animals) as characters in your stories, as "sidekicks" of sorts for your other characters? (I can think of a few stories with horses as characters in the stories, but what about other, smaller animals as "pets?")
edited to add: not both cats at the same time, however
For the second question, in my WotF finalist story, I used a white cockatiel; and in my first sale to Marion Zimmer Bradley, I used a mongoose. (Neither of which I have had as a pet, though I think I would like having a mongoose.)
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited July 21, 2008).]
Cats often work their way into my stories, it's one of the ways I seek to humanize the somewhat sterile space environments I put my characters in. I also believe that if any animal were to adapt to changing gravity conditions, it would be cats since they already seem to defy gravity on a regular basis. There's no other explanation for how my almost 20-lb monster of a white cat is able to catapult himself onto the ledge of the pedestal sink in the powder room to catch drips from the faucet.
Sidenote: my kids and I have recently finished listening to the Golden Compass on CD (I highly recommend - it's performed by a whole cast rather than read by one voice talent, which was great for holding their attention and I liked it a lot.) The kids decided that the white cat is my daemon, seeing as how wherever in the house I go, the white cat follows. Apparently I'm a witch, though, because I can traverse long distances away from my daemon without being in pain, LOL.
[This message has been edited by KayTi (edited July 21, 2008).]
See http://www.munsil.net/images/sheridesme.png for a 100-word story in which my cat stars.
I write with a laptop, and mostly they get very jealous of it. As soon as I sit down they rush to take their place on my lap before the laptop ends up there. Sometimes they try to walk all over the keyboard or will try to take hold of my hands. Eventually they'll settle for sitting by my side.
The keyboard on my previous computer kept jamming, and when I cleaned it I uncovered all this cat hair. Yuck!
I don't use pets necessarily, but animals play a role in almost all my stories. One woman loves birds, one male MC is driven to do things by his pet cats.
During my foray into modern (non-spec) fiction I gave my main characters (siblings) cats who they projected human traits on (like thinking the cat was impressed with their wardrobe choice, or disliked the woman next door) but really didn't humanise the actual cats in reality.
Then again making dragons (of all sizes, including parrot sized) characters is common for me. And once a giant spider who wore a pink bow.
Grant
[This message has been edited by Grant John (edited July 21, 2008).]
When I did have a dog back in 03 she would inspire some of the canines in my works.
Like how she acted, how she rolled on everything, how she would get attention etc.
Now being in the army I cant have a dog or any pets unless I get off post housing, and
That costs a arm and a leg.
RFW2nd
I've only one piece that features a cat, a 2000-words "literary/mainstream" story that I sent to a local publication's writing contest. I made it to the final round of judging. Didn't win.
[This message has been edited by ChrisOwens (edited July 21, 2008).]
I haven't really included any animals in my stories yet. I think it is more trying to make my humans believable first. I do have some ideas of a story that would have a race of animals as well, but it is still in the rough idea stage.
Loki joined my family just a few months ago. He always seems to know when I should step away from my PC to realign my thoughts, and has a large collection of balls and sticks for me to throw to him in the back yard.
Black Labradors are not normally known as guard dogs, but Athena has joyfully taken that role. Nearly every time I sit down to write, she plops herself down on the floor near my feet, ready to protect me from the distractions of my own kids.
As far as animals being primary players in my story...I did write a dog's POV story many years ago, and I currently have a deer story in the hands of a magazine. I should consider writing more animal stories.
S!
S!...C!
As far as writing animals...seldom. My problem is that every time I try, it seems to come out like someone else's animal character.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited July 22, 2008).]
Speaking of pets, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a great book. It's from a dog's POV.
I've never had any animals in my stories. I've never really considered it.
My Waxy dragon is based heavily on cats. She is basically a "fire breathing" cat with wings and a child's mind. She is also the size of a cat.
My cats are constantly turning on the printer, walking between me and the laptop on my desk as I'm trying to write, or laying on the keyboard, pressing all sorts of keys and doing things to my desktop that I never though could be done, which leaves me with half an hours work trying to figure out how to undo what they did.
While down at floor level, if one of the rabbits isn't licking my feet, the other one is biting my ankles, and that's just the good days!
As for pet influence in writing, I did once write a short story about a harrassed mother that accidently made stew out of the pet rabbit (written in the name of fun, of course ) and a lot of my charatcers have cats.
As far as pets in stories. I have a vampiress who has a giant spider for pet/mount, named "Deeohg" thats D-O-G. The story has yet to be told. My other pets have morphed their personalities into dragons and horses that my MC's can't live without. But no true lap cats like the ones that fight over my lap while I write, although in my current novel, one of the characters does have a snow-leopard who comes close, and like my cats only cuddles on those hot miserable humid days, go figure.
Two dogs - an abused black lab/wolf mix that wandered on to our property 7 years ago - she's fine as long as [i] you [/b] don't try to pat her. If you do, you might lose a hand. She's called Blue Eyes because, well, she has ice blue eyes. The other knuckle head is a 6 month old "puppy" that's nearly as big as the lab. He's a boxer/pit bull/ great dane mix. Lots of energy but NO brain.
Four cats - Aristophanes ("Toffee" because the vet techs couldn't say the real name, Benedic - our scared cat - rescued from drowning - only one of his litter to survive it, Mystery Kitty (wandered onto the property to die 3 years ago and failed (after a grand in vet bills), and Poppy (the only girl, a diffuse calico).
Two Horses - Appy/QH mixes - Taffy and her son, Pips.
Two fish
The total animal load is somewhat less than IB's but I can't say we've had pigs, goats or chickens. We just visit our neighbors farm animals.
Taffy is Tessa in the Falcon stories. Blue and our Malamute that died of a stroke last December is in the vampire story I play with every once and a while. The cats are, in part, a model for cat behavior in a WIP. Although that cat isn't a "side kick" he's a MC.
[This message has been edited by kings_falcon (edited July 22, 2008).]
They constantly "help" with my writing.
The horses not being pets thing--I'm hard put to define the difference. But in my mind, they're different.
Oddly enough, my latest story involves a pet dog, in a way, but I usually don't have animals of any kind in the story. (A lotta plant life, not many animals besides human beings.) But the idea emerged, practically full-fledged, and I've got to run with it.
posted July 17, 2007 05:24 AM in the short stroy feed back
I started it off in a dogs POV, Point of View, not privately owned vehicle.
Cheers to me
RFW2nd
I'd be interested to know if anyone has actually succeeded in getting a pet cat to let them bathe it.
When Sissy was a kitten she used to enjoy the warm water and purr when we washed her. Now she just sulks a bit; drying out makes her itchy, but she never gets mad or tries to get out.
Washing once every two weeks is enough. More than that and you can cause the cat's skin to dry out. So Saith The Vet.
Mainly horses are in my stories, either in robotic form or in the form that everyone knows.
But I do have a cat who likes to sleep against the computer tower when I am writing late at night and sometimes in the early evening she will meow her way to where I am and rub against my leg and go to the tower, rub against it and then lay down next to it and sleep.
But I never have put my pets personally into my stories.
Beth
Ooooooh! Don't tell miniatures horse owners that. Some minis are trained so they can come right into the houses of their owners.
The main reason horses may not be consider pets (at least here in the states) is that they are legally considered livestock instead of pets. That's probably where the difference is.
But then, I also had a cat who walked on a leash and played
fetch.
Mike/ Satate, there's also a product you can get at the pet store that are dander wipes to help with the allergies. Like baby wipes but for cats. It will keep you from needing the full bath as often.
Our cat also plays fetch. She'll do it for hours, as long as it is a mousie and it is orange.
We rescued our kitten and she didn't even know how to do her business. She would sit up on her hind legs, leaning against the back of the litter box with a grimace of intense concentration on her face. Of course, she'd smear her hind end in the process. That's when I started washing her, as she wasn't washing herself well enough.
She is the most good-natured cat I have ever seen and loves to ride around the house on my shoulders.
Recently had to say farewell to my oldest cat, Griffon.
They all help me write by pressing keys for me. A number of them have made it into various WIPs. Baby, a chocolate-point Himalayan with a surly face, was renamed "Worf" and is the MC's cat in my main WIP.
A former cat of mine, Gateway (thus yclept because of his black-and-white cow spots) was renamed Gatwyck and was the pet of a character in a novel that's done and has been roundly rejected by all representatives of the industry who've seen it. Griffon was embodied in a tavern-cat in that story as well.
Nicodemus and Kyree figure into another of my current WIPs; Nico rather more centrally.
So, yes, my kitties get into my writing quite a bit.
-G
I've used pets at background characters but not anything close to central characters.
Lynda
[This message has been edited by RobertB (edited August 07, 2008).]