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Blog 33: It's a Dog's Life!

Updated: Aug 27




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Hello there, and welcome to blog no. 33! Yep, I have been coming to you for 33 weeks, well 30 as our lovely Shannon has done three of those. You have probably noticed that I use prompts myself to give me inspiration for new topics. The fact that every day of the year seems to have numerous celebrations has been very useful, sparking ideas of what to write.


And this Tuesday it is (drum roll please) International Dog Day. Now, you probably know by now that I am a cat person. I have never owned a dog, though we almost did, but that’s quite the long story. Anyway, for those of you who do, I hope you enjoy celebrating the day with your furry little friends. It seems funny how a lot of people seem to be divided into either cat or dog people. The two species have separate personalities, and offer unique pet experiences. It is said that cats have autism and dogs have ADHD. I’m sure you would agree that some qualities of autism can be seen in cats, perhaps the aloofness, wanting to do things their own way, and wishing to have time alone. Dogs, on the other hand, with their endless energy, impulsive behaviour, and lack of boundaries, definitely give an ADHD vibe.


This got me thinking about writing animal POVs. I have read a brief stage play about a dog, which was incredibly funny and captured its personality as it was playing fetch with a ball. The hyper canine was frantic when its toy went missing and even began asking the audience if they had it. To be able to capture an animal’s POV looking at their specific behaviours, is one of the ways to bring those characters to life. I thought we should have a look at some well-known animal stories to help us discover how best to approach these types of characters.


Can you think of any animal stories? Well, neither could I, but Google is a marvellous tool and reminded me of two very famous examples: Animal Farm by George Orwell and Watership Down by Richard Adams. Let’s have a look at how these authors captured the personalities of the animals.

Animal Farm, as the title suggests, is about numerous animals on a farm. There are pigs, horses, donkeys, chickens, dogs, sheep, a goat, a raven, and a cat. So, how has he set these animals’ personalities apart to make them interesting and memorable characters for the reader? And we still need to be able to connect with them in human terms to find them relatable.


For those of you who are familiar with the story, Orwell based it on the Russian Revolution and used his experiences from the Spanish Civil War, demonstrating themes of corruption of power, the dangers of totalitarianism, and the betrayal of revolutionary ideals. The pigs convince the rest of the animals to seize the farm with the intention of making it a better place to live, but then become worse tyrants than the farmer. The characters that represent different types of people in society are:


Napoleon - the pig dictator


Squealer – the pig propaganda of the media


Other pigs - politicians


Mollie – a horse who represents the middle class


Boxer - the loyal horse, is the working class


The dogs - the secret police or army


Other Animals (sheep and chickens) - the uneducated and easily manipulated.


Orwell has quite cleverly used animal personalities to portray people within society that we can relate to. We have guard dog personalities that are disciplined and trained to carry out orders, separate from our usual loveable companions. The horse is an excellent choice for the hard worker, as these four-legged friends have worked with men for centuries, pulling heavy carts and making people’s lives easier. You can also clearly imagine the uneducated people as animals, such as sheep and chickens, large groups of animals that get steered into a certain direction, not really knowing what is going on, and just agreeing with whatever they are told. We can see that finding suitable and believable personalities for our animal characters is a major thing to consider when planning these types of stories.


However, Watership Down, seems to delve further into the animals' specific traits and behaviours.  For those of you who may not know, this story is about a group of wild rabbits who have to leave their warren and are faced with dangers and challenges when out in the world, trying to find a new home. There are themes of survival, community, and leadership. 


This differs from Animal Farm as it goes more deeply into the rabbits’ natural behaviours to take the readers into their world.  It does this by including:


Fears -  of predators, such as foxes and owls


Senses – smell and hearing


Traits - like burrowing, their speed, intelligence, and their connection to nature


Social structure – they have a hierarchy system for survival


Of course, Adams still makes that human connection in the way the characters speak to each other as we would, and has elements of mythology and leadership. But we certainly are able to see into the world through the eyes of the rabbits.

 

The two examples show us that writing from an animal perspective is quite different from the way we would write a human one. This is because animals' mindsets are set apart from ours, and therefore, to write these characters successfully, we need to think about: -


  1. Senses – animals experience the world through what they hear, feel, see, and smell, which determines their actions. Get into their skin and help the reader feel what they do.


  2. Behaviour – you need to include natural behaviours, such as their habits and what they eat. This may include researching so you are able to find all the qualities to enable you to portray them realistically.


  3. Environment – find out how and where they live.  What do they need to do to survive? This will help you find the conflict and motivation of your character.


  4. Personality – don’t forget your characters still need to stand out from each other. This is where the human element comes in. What specific traits do they have? Just like us, they need flaws, longings, wants, and needs.


  5. Description – remember you are looking through their eyes. How would they describe what they see around them? Use what would be familiar to them. In Wings of Fire by Tui T Sutherland, the characters are dragons, and they use descriptions of what they know from their world. For instance, if you had a snake character and it heard a clicking noise in the jungle, it wouldn’t compare it to someone tapping the keys on a computer keyboard; it would perhaps think of the sound of an insect or several branches breaking from a tree.


It may be useful to read a few examples to give you some more idea of how to approach this, such as: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and The Bees by Laline Paull.


Writing Exercise


It is animal POV time! You can be totally committed here and go get yourself a costume to really get into the headspace of your character, go around the house on all fours, and experience it as your animal would. Or you could just research and observe animals: read, watch documentaries, make your pets suspicious by stalking them around the house with a notepad and pen to get all their traits and behaviours. However you decide to do it, have a go at writing from an animal’s perspective and have fun!


Happy writing, and see you next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

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