posted
This ought to be a simple thing to decide, and yet...
I've got a story (mid-level chapter book) that has two cats in it. The cats become characters later, but when my POV character encounters them they just appear to be normal cats. So- should I refer to the cats as "it" until the moment where they first speak and then switch to "she" and "he" or should I do that from the get go?
My initial thought was that using "it" made the cats more anonymous at first, since they do appear to be normal, ordinary cats at first. Now I'm thinking that identifying them with a 'he' and 'she' from the beginning makes it easier to remember which is which when we learn their names two chapters later.
One thing that I like about The Cat Who books is that they have genders and personalities etc... Koko and YumYum aren't generic cats. They are cats with personalities, and the reader gets to know the cats in addition to Qwilleran. - and I know that I feel that they primarily do cat things, but of course those things *seem* more than they really are, because they almost seem insightful for the situation.
Also, I think that it will be harder for your reader if they cat is a generic, not really noticable cat, and then shows itself as a doppleganger and becomes something else. If you get the attention with this cat - as a cat who later starts talking for what seems like no reason, and people understand him, you have the rapt attention of the reader.
posted
More than that, most cat people would not call a cat "it" so using this would actually call attention to there being something weird about those cats.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Not knowing your story I'm making some assumptions here. But most people who are not cat haters usually give some form of name to cats when they see them more than once.
As an example, there are several stray cats in my neighborhood. One of the smallest of them is the meanest of them and we just refer to him as "the yellow one" since that is he main colloring. Then there is a beautiful long haired black and white one which we refer to as "the black and white one'...Then there is the 'friendly' one because it is the only one that will come up and allow us to touch it. So although not inventive real names, they do serve as a reference to which cat one of us is talking about.
So it might even help to give them some form of identifing lable so they will start becoming more substantial to the reader and then when names are really given you can associate the label to the name and make an easier transition into them being real charicters.
posted
Thanks. I already refer to them as 'the gray one' and 'the black one'. The time between when they appear and when we learn their names is about 1 hour by the character's time, but two chapters for the reader.
I'm into the polishing phase and that was one of those things that made me go "Huh? Why'd I do that?"
posted
I agree that not having names for them would lead one to question it, but I have to make a comment about the idea of non-cat people not calling the cats something. My husband, who is by no means a cat person... or much of an animal person that I can tell, does indeed have names for the cats... and not just the ones that I call them.
However, that said, my mothers cat, who was a stray that showed up on the patio one day and never left has been called "cat" since that time... about 1993. - we did have an offical name for him at the vets, but over the years that has been forgotten, as he tends to respond to "kitty" or "cat" anyway.
I think that it is human nature to name things. If for no other reason than to give an association to a specific item. If you see a couple of cats, and you are trying to tell someone about one of them then having a name for that cat helps to differentiate them from another animal. - just like having names for your friends differentiates them from others as you are telling a story.
Granted, I don't think the original question was about names, but rather gender. - though again, as Christine said, if you have a cat person reading your story, and you call the cat "it" you are going to have people think something is wrong... unless of course it is known that the cat was fixed. - but even then some people might get offended.
[This message has been edited by mags (edited August 08, 2003).]
posted
If for some reason the POV character is seeing the cats from a distance and can't tell much more about them than that they're cats, or if you're making the point that a character is NOT a cat person, then "it" may be appropriate, at least for a while.
Otherwise, "he" and "she" will probably go unnoticed by all but rabid cat-haters and will gratify cat-lovers (from what I see here).
TRhough they are not the main characters, my milieu contains many self-aware robots which speak and think. In the first version of my story I referred to all robots using the pronoun "it." When the critiques came back the verdict was unanymous: everyone hated my robots. Typical comments were "your robots are too flat" and "you need more description of robots."
So I gave the robots more vivid personalities and very detailed descritions of their bodies, but still called them "it." The critiques complained that the robots were awful, even disturbing. That was when I realized how important gender is to reader comfort. So I threw out all that needless fluff and started referring to my robots with random gender pronouns he, she, him, her.
My writers group loved it.
The moral of the story: gender identity is so important to people that genderless characters will always make them uncomfortable. HAL 9000, Rooter, and even R2-D2 all needed gender identifiers. Without them readers will be disturbed.
Uresula LeGuin knew this when she wrote The Left Hand of Darkness.
posted
in reference to Maccabeus... think of all the times that one names a pet something like Pat or George, thinking the animal is male, only to find out the opposite - usually because of birth of an unwanted litter. or because someone decided to look. Posts: 142 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Several years ago my family rescued a starving kitten when an elderly neighbor complained that her cat was being bothered. The kitten was so malnourished that despite examining it we were convinced that it was male for a couple of years. Then it became pregnant.
posted
Which raises an interesting question - it can be quite difficult to tell the gender of cats without performing a thorough examination, so how does your POV character know the cats genders?
Unless you're writing in an omniscient POV this could be an issue that needs addressing...
posted
Ha! Thank you Jules. I think that's why I had kept them gender neutral at first. How about this... what if I keep them gender neutral in narration at first, until my POV character refers to the cats as male or female. Then let my narrator voice make the switch as well.
(This is edited down from the actual, so it reads a little odd.)
Kennedy was just trying to decide what to do, when he heard the smallest of sounds: another door opening.
It was Marie’s door, and through it slipped another cat like a large shadow. It was black all over, except for a few white hairs on its chest, with eyes the color of buttercups. The cat turned and looked at the door through which it had come as though waiting for someone to follow. Kennedy’s sister stepped into the hallway.
“You have one too,” he said, pointing to the black cat sitting at Marie’s feet.
She nodded. “I don’t know where he came from.” She held up a tiny piece of paper. "He had this tied to his collar, but I can't read it."
“Me, neither.”
“They probably belong to one of the other tenants.”
The two cats were sniffing each other gingerly, then the black cat said, “Mrrouw, memeooowrww, rrooorrw.” He looked at Marie expectantly and said, “Mewrouuw…...."
posted
Well, if they were seen outside or they weren't real well behaved, male cats do spray. They don't hike their legs like a male dog but they do tend to mark their teritory all the same.
Posts: 807 | Registered: Mar 2003
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