Attached Link: http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/going_to_the_dogs.htm

Jane Kozak ... 'believes that giving a character a pet can be a shortcut to creating reader empathy. "It adds an element of humanity to a character, and gets people invested in them," she explains. In her debut, Dating Dead Men, a ferret named Margaret figures into a plot involving stolen diamonds, the mob, and a woman's quest to date 40 men in 60 days. While the ferret isn't central to the mystery plot, it nonetheless tugs at the reader's heartstrings, especially as it is the beloved pet of a temporarily mute child.'

Find out more about tips about how novelists incorporate animals into their stories and why: http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/going_to_the_dogs.htm

Brenda Scott Royce is the director of publications for the Los Angeles Zoo and editor of the Zoo's award-winning magazine, Zoo View. She has written for Writer's Digest, Women's Circle, Movie Marketplace, and many other magazines. Her debut novel, Monkey Love, in which a stand-up comedienne becomes the temporary guardian of a mischievous monkey, was published in February 2006 by NAL. Visit her website at: www.brendascottroyce.com.

Good find Dialyn.  Anything we can do to make our protagonist "different" helps.  And the empathy pull doesn't hurt.

Dick

Cats and dogs are also useful for drawing a character out.

 A lot of people talk to their animals. This gives the writer the chance to let their character verbalise an argument or opinion. You can note temper or reflectiveness of the person as they speak . The animals attentiveness, or not, can also influence how the person finishes the one sided conversation.

The death of an animal can create the opportunity to define a character. If the protagonist shows a negative attitude to the death of the main characters pet is defines differences between them. If they show a positive attitude, it can be used to soften the character and increase the impact of their later actions. A person that likes animals but beats people up indicates a certain mind set.

Hey, I agree totally,

I gave one of my knights [the one going insane -- the knight not the dog] a  puppy :]

As to the death of a pet in a novel. ALL cats die in horror or mystery novels. Sometimes the dogs live, but not often.

Dee-Marie

Cats don't always die. There are several mystery series where cats are the detective's pets and continue on from novel to novel to help solve crimes. "That Darn Cat" was an FBI agent, who survived, as I recalled.  And there is a very strange but rather fascinating vampire movie where the cats save the day against a particular vicious mother-son duo. 

Cats get rather a bad rap because they aren't dogs; but that's also why cat lovers adore their felines.  In a story, you might get a very different emotional response from an audience who discovers the detectives pet is a tarantula rather than cat; and the death of a rat might be less emotinally wrenching than the death of a puppy to some people. But a pet, whatever it is, does show an ability to love and attach emotionally to something outside of the mirror, and that may be the strongerst reason for allowing a charcter to have that connection.

 I find stories / movies / television shows that have no animals in them to have no reality. The difficulty is with dealing with the pet when you need to let your character move around (your hero can't abandon a dog for a week to follow a case unless you want your hero to be arrested for animal cruelty), but how he or she handles the responsibility can make the audience sympathize or become disenchanted with the character. 

The problem is the same one as having a child or another dependent involved in the life of the hero.  It is easier if everyone is beautiful and young and healthy; but there is not a thread of reality in such a story, and, frankly, I lose interest fairly quickly if no one has responsibilities outside of the plot line. 

Every wonder what people work at in movies and television to be able to afford pent house apartments?  How do they hold a job that apparently that has impossibly flexible hours? Ever wonder how emotional remote they must be to have a different lover every week, and no real family, and no relationship with any living creature except "friends" as shallow as themselves?  Boring, boring, boring.

I read a somewhat mystery recently about a man and the dog whose speech he could understand but no one else could. The man was a yawn---a creepy gambler who managed to bed gorgeous women for no good reason than he was the main character.  The dog was funny and insightful, and I wish the novel had been about him instead.

And the dog did survive, by the way.

Just because I rarely remember the name of movies, I need to write this one down while it is still on my mind...the one with the mother-son vampire duo is "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers" (1992). 

A detective series with cats in the lead are authored by  Lilian Jackson Braun, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, and others.  One funny aside is that mysteries featuring cats are sometimes called "cat cozies."  For the few of you who don't know, cozie mysteries are Agatha Christie type where murder is off stage, and the focus is on the puzzle. 

Lucky Dog (Paperback)
by Mark Barrowcliffe

is the book about Reg, the dog who talks to his dim witted gambler owner who claims to be honest but manages some very dishonest activity during the course of the novel.

Reg is by far the most interesting character in the book, for my money (but then I didn't buy it; it was loaned to me).

I will say that other people found this book very funny and highly recommended it.

I had my main protag find a dog.  It's gonna mess up his way of life somewhat cos he's a neatness  freak, and this dog is ill...

Quote - A detective series with cats in the lead are authored by  Lilian Jackson Braun, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, and others.  One funny aside is that mysteries featuring cats are sometimes called "cat cozies."  For the few of you who don't know, cozie mysteries are Agatha Christie type where murder is off stage, and the focus is on the puzzle. 

Ah... do you still class a murder as "off stage" if it happened earlier but on a stage and the body tips over into a birthday cake below - all on a stage/in a theatre that's been converted to a pub?

Lol!

Yes, I guess that would be the ultimate off stage murder.  :b_funny:

Off and on-stage murder maybe?

It's the beginning of my second book - the crime story that is.  (series maybe? uses same police characters)

I'm also halfway through... or maybe a third... or a quarter of the way through - a fantasy novel.  Depends on how it goes really.

(but it's been on the back burner for a while now)

Blogging?  Yes, the perfect form for most of the pieces posted in the Gallery.  Blogs, from what little I've seen, are personal reactions to the world.  RE-Actions.

But I digress.  Renderosity, in my opinion, has evolved into a house of claques.  I praise you, you praise me = gush.  Not good.  Claques don't think, they RE-Act.

Writers need original and objective critiques of their work.  Claques drown out chances for valuable critiques.

And, Dear Friends, that is why many writers have left.

Dick
drace68@yahoo.com

Some writers need that, I agree, but not all, and there is no reason-fits-all that explains why a forum goes quiet for awhile and then bursts into activitiy.  I have been on forums a long time...they ebb and flow over time as the nature of things.   People go on with other things in their lives, and have no time to play.  Writing is writing. If I choose to write about my boring little life (yes, I agree it is a boring life), at least I am still writing.  I'd rather do that than write my very bad poetry (yes, I admit it is bad and no amount of critiquing will ever make it good, because I have no talent for it), and I am not in a mood for fiction these days (forgive me for finding real life more interesting than my own dull imagination).   I know some people who used to post here who have gone on to new projects, and some who have had severe health problems, and others who find their lives too full with new relationships to spend time here.

The reason I took down my gallery, and I never allowed comments on it to begin with, has nothing to do with the reason you posted; and the reason I blog has to do with wanting to get back into the habit of writing every day.  Whether anyone reads it or not matters not to me...it is a goal of mine ot get back into the habit and the blog is a visual representation of meeting that simple goal.  The reason I go silent on the forum for periods of time is that I sense no one is very interested in what I have to share.  There's nothing wrong with that. The current forum members appear to be more interested in the poetry challenges than anything else, and that's fine with me.  On a forum, people should be able to focus on what most appeals to them and ignore the rest.

That's what I do.

Miss Dialyn,

My apologies for posting my Aug.1 reply above in the wrong thread.  It should go under TallPockets' thread about "Where Have All the Writers Gone."

Dick
drace68

Miss Dialyn: It seems I've once again gotten you into trouble. WINK.

I read your comments with much interest. I always read yours and all others when I  get to this site as I am able to do so.

I operate on the philosophy that if and when I can make it to this most wonderful site, I will most always try my utmost to respond to others here who have given their time and effort to their own uploaded works.

I feel uncomfortable posting my own works and not commenting on others who have given as much or more of their most valuable time and efforts.

This is termed the writers gallery/community. As in the real world, the community is usually only as well represented and good as the totality of the efforts each in said community invests in one another over time. Just my simpleton thoughts. Consider the source. SMILE.

My best, kind lady. T.P./brian.