Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Animals in Fiction


I'm a sucker for novels that feature animals as one of the characters. Heck, they don't even have to play a main part, but just the fact that the main character has a dog or a cat or whatever can reveal a lot about that person. Children's books abound with animal characters and I gotta say, I'm a sucker for a lot of them - particularly the Bear Snores On and other books in the same series by Karma Wilson who, incidentally, kindly responded to my gushing email about how much I loved the Bear books.
One of the best books I ever read featured a Golden Retreiver as one of the main characters - Dean Koontz's Watchers. It remains one of my favorite books to this day.
My next book will have a character who has a pet - and it will undoubtedly be a dog. But I'm a dog lover and thus, it's a natural thing for me to want to include dogs in my novels.
How do you feel about pets in fiction? Like or dislike? And are there any great books you've read - adult or children's - that have prominently featured animals as the main character?

4 comments:

  1. OH! Melissa! Watchers is one of my favorite books of all time. I love it! Anytime I find one in a used book store I buy it. Then, if I find someone I think might like it (i.e. dog person), I give it to them.

    Love Einstein!!!

    I also read an interview Koontz did once and he said whenever he signs books, he's most often asked about Watchers. Now that's a book that spoke to us dog people! :)

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  2. Anissa - Einstein was so incredibly awesome. I read that book in a night and a day - and he gave me a love for Golden Retrievers, too.

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  3. Have to say, a springer spaniel sneaks its way into a few of my books :o)

    My December release, 'The Doctor's Very Special Christmas', is all about a search-and-rescue team. So I had to have a dog. And my office dog did the big sad eye thing... so the fictional dog is very like the real-life counterpart!

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  4. My first young adult novel has critters all through it. I'm a veterinarian, so for my first book it was natural to "write what I know!" Also, I wanted to write a realistic portrayal of a veterinary hospital, since I've sure never read one.

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