Greetings everyone!
Yay! Passed the 100 followers mark! Welcome, welcome! Ok, I'm done with exclamation marks now. I'm thrilled to meet so many new followers, many of you are fellow Crusaders and, if I haven't made it to your blog yet....I'm on my way. I feel everyone is still new actually as I haven't been blogging very long. Thank you all for dropping in, supporting, commenting and just being so blooming splendid.
So, speaking to pets in your story - My current male MC, Daniel, loves his dog Becket and, when you have a beloved pet, you talk to it, right? Now, I've been listening to myself talk to our cats, Sulis and Minerva and if I was to write the jibberish that comes out of my mouth I'd sound like a right banana. I have the gentle morning song to ease them into the day (they're not morning girls) and then there's the Twirly Whirly Girlie song (to the tune of Alouette, Gentille Alouette) at dinner time. The rest is much repetition in a daft voice.
My heavenly Daniel is a handsome, gold-toothed garden designer, I can't have him tickling Becket's tummy is a soppy voice, can I? So far I'm showing the affection with some softly spoken words and manly ruffling of the dog's neck. I'd love to know what YOU do. How do your characters interact with their pets?
Finally, something I have experience with. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI don't write a lot of animals in my books, though the one coming out in May, "Apocalypse Rising" has scenes with both dogs and horses.
The thing about a dog is that you just don't talk to him. You have conversations. The dog talks back with expressions, body language and vocalization.
When I talk to my dogs (big dog person here) I talk to them the way I would to someone I've known a long time, someone I could tease and use 'colorful' language.
So Daniel might rub Becket's ears, give some resounding pats on the body if he's a strong, beefy dog. They won't mind getting dirty together. And Becket's gaze will follow him zealously, all the while his ears are flicking, automatically processing for signs of danger.
Daniel will ask Becket how his day was. Had he flushed any squirrels or birds? Had he dug any new holes? (said with a warning voice)
Or Daniel might tell him about his day. (dogs are excellent listeners) It might give your character a chance to bare his soul, knowing his dog won't gab his secrets.
In short, think of your best male friend (or husband)--the person you can be most relaxed with. That'll give you an idea on what the conversation will be like.
Sounds exciting! Good luck!
Congratulations on passing 100 followers! And no alien critter pets in my story at the moment.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 100+!!!
ReplyDeleteThe characters in my nano novel have two rescue pets, but I haven't written in their interaction yet. You've given me something to think about....
As for me, well...my kitties are my babies and I talk to them like they're little kids. Sometimes, I catch myself waiting for them to answer me when I ask them what they want!
Happy Friday!
BTW, loved the 'right banana' bit, LOL!
Congrats on surpassing 100 followers! None of my characters have pets -- interesting that until I read your post, I never even really thought of that. But I have a dog, and everybody in our family talks to him at least once a day. The dog just sits there, cocks his head, and listens.
ReplyDeleteWell... my characters don't have pets...
ReplyDeleteYet.
;-)
Congrats on the 100 followers!
Congrats on the 100! No character pets but I have real dogs. Talk to them just like people, except they don't scream "Shut up" back at me :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
Congrats on you 111 Margo.... HOW fantastic!
ReplyDeleteMy first novel has many animals that are friends of Amber, my mc.
But remember one thing, Margo, even though Daniel is a macho kind of guy, they have a soft side when it comes to their pets or children. Give him some vulnerability.
Amber's uncle is very masculine, but when he's with his son, he's very playful.
Maybe have them wrestling around on the floor together. Or have him play tug of war with the rag in his mouth too. That sounds aggressive enough for a manly guy,
I hope that helps.
Michael
Yay for your 100 plus and growing followers!! Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteAwwww speaking to animals - oh dear!! LOL!! I'm glad only my kitty hears me speak to him like so!!
As for your GORGEOUS Daniel... all I can say is, lucky, lucky doggy!! :-)
Take care
x
Thank you all so much, I know there are many dog lovers out there.
ReplyDeleteMaria - you're right, dogs give back so much. I used to speak to my dog and *know* he was on my side. Great ideas there.
Alex - Aww, no Cassan kittens?
The Words Crafter - Sometimes I'm glad the cats don't reply, their expressions say enough!
Trisha - sounds like your dog is a fully integrated family member!
Misha - ;-)
Jules - Our girls have been known to use very bad language!
Michael - Great tips, I have Daniel talking to Becket about his feelings for Phoebe - and something that turns him off his ex (who is on the scene) is her dislike of dogs. I want readers to adore both Daniel and Becket :-)
Old Kitty - thank you! Yes Daniel is super scrumptious. I have to make my romantic heroes people I could be a little in love with too!
ReplyDeleteMargo, congrats on your 100 followers!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy current MS doesn't have any pets involved, but that's a really interesting quetsion. Usually you can really get an inside look at a person's personality from how they interact with their pets so I love this topic. Have a great weekend!
Congratulations on 100 followers! Yay! I'm a dog owner, but I think i'd talk to my cat the same way. I started a novel and the MC had two dogs. I discovered as I wrote it that she spoke to her dogs. Asked them questions and assumed answers based on their body language. Since I do the same thing with my own pets, I guess that's realistic. However, my husband interacts with them differently. He talks to them less than I do. He's more likely to play with them on the floor and give them a scratch behind the ears. At night when we go to sleep, he snuggles with her in the bed. It's cute.
ReplyDeleteThe only character I've ever had own a pet was Jen, and she had a horse. It's a really sneaky, silly horse so she kind of has witty (one-sided, lol) banter with it. It's fun to write... until she doesn't have the horse anymore :(
ReplyDeleteI had a character do that, and my daughter couldn't wrap her mind around it. "Is he talking to his dog?"
ReplyDelete"Yeah, you do it all the time."
"Not in books."
Made me chuckle. The scene actually got cut in my edits, but it was fun.
Welcome to the cursade
I just made it past 100 followers too. Anyhow, I'm your news crusading friend. My blog is www.idevourkidbooks.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteLois
Hmm, I haven't had many characters with pets per se yet. I've had some that had horses they love. My current male MC, Jayden, a scout with the Leogard Intelligence Organization, is very in tune with his horse, Trick. So much so that Trick understands how to be stealthy and even helps him solve cases at times.
ReplyDeleteThe next novel I'll write involves a girl who is a dragon caretaker, and her "pet" is a talking lemur-like creature called a "snippet". I can't wait to start on that one :)
Congratulations on reaching 100 followers! Time to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your many followers :)
ReplyDeleteI don't have any pets in my current WIP
My heroine in my contemp. romance novel has a pet goldfish who is one of her best friends, and her closest confidant :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm, why don't you focus on what the animal is doing, and then have your MC respond to the animal's actions? This is what I'm doing withh my MC and her horse. A bit different than a dog or cat... but horses are still wonderful to talk too :)
ReplyDeleteHi Margo. I see we're fellow group members in the Crusade!
ReplyDeleteHave to say the most memorable 'talking to a pet' treatment I've seen by an author was Georgette Heyer in Arabella; she had her hero Beaumaris expressing his feelings about the situation with Arabella to the mongrel dog she'd convinced him to 'adopt'. I remember it was very well done...
making crusader rounds. Nice to meet you, now following!
ReplyDeleteNikki
Hey there...I'm finally getting over here to say hello. I'm a fellow crusader and am in group #18 with you. Looking forward to getting to know you!
ReplyDeleteAs for pets? Hmm, I haven't had any in my books. Maybe something to think about in the future!
I dropped in to say "You've been gifted with the Stylish Blogger Award." and I see that someone beat me to it! lol.
ReplyDeleteI love animals and have two fur-babies of my own. I haven't written a story with a pet owner, yet. Now I'm wondering why.
Have a great weekend!
~k
Congratulations on 100+ Followers! :D
ReplyDeleteI don't often write characters who have pets, even though I love them. But out of the ones that do interact with pets, most of the time it's just stroking, murmuring a word here and there, or resting next to them.
Hi Crusader! Congrats on the the follows :-)
ReplyDeleteHello fellow Crusader! Congrats on 100 followers.
ReplyDeleteGood question. I have pets in my books, but I don't have my characters really talk to them. I could see how in a different book I might have to deal with that, though. I agree, it would sound pretty silly if my characters said to their pets what I say to mine. :)
ReplyDelete