Animals in Books

You will always find an animal as a secondary character in my books. I don't intentionally do this, they just show up. I suspect that it's just a basic component I feel some subconscious need to add.

In "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" I have a little rat dog I call a poodalo (a cross between a Poodle and Buffalo) named Igor. In "The Dance" you'll find an Andalusian horse named Sueno. In "The Gift Horse," the equine star is a show horse named Gabriella. Gabbie sees things happening in the barn and knows who the perpetrator is if she can only get those stupid humans to listen to her. I'm guessing that a tabby cat will show up in the next book.

I love writing animal points of view because they usually see the world in more simplistic terms and how it relates to their comfort and security. They don't concern themselves with legalities or other's opinions.

I've been reading lately that one of the big trends in publishing is animal points of view. In non-writer terms that means that scene would be written as if the animal were seeing it and relating their interpretation of what's going on. I find that amusing because The Gift Horse originally had several short scenes in the horse's point of view. I was told by more than one published author friend that unless I was writing for children the animal POV's had to go. Reluctantly, I removed them. Now, they're back. ;)

In fact, I'll be blogging at Title Magic next month about writing from a horse's POV so I don't want to give too much away. When it comes closer to the date, I'll remind everyone to check out my post.