Welcome to this week’s Marketing for Romance Writers 52-week Blog Challenge topic of, family, friends and pets I’ve written into my books. I’ve had people declare that they’ve identified someone they know in my books. Or they claim that I’ve molded a character around a family member or a friend. Others scour the pages, or request that they be included in an upcoming story. When they want me to validate their discovery, usually I smile and allow their imagination to do the rest. Because isn’t that what your imagination is supposed to do in a story? Besides, you won’t find yourself in my books. At least not exactly. You might notice a shared characteristic or two. One thing you will find is my pets and I’ll tell you why.
Pets Don’t Read
I’m always looking for unique or funny characteristics to make a character stand out. The kind of things that you realize 
about a person, but they might not realize about themselves—and they might not like it if you point it out. Not one bit.
So, to portray a character after a family member or friend, warts and all, might mean one less friend, or an estranged family member. Pets? They don’t care. Plus, they don’t read.
The people who want to find themselves in a book are often envisioning being depicted as the perfect hero or heroine and their ideal self. Well, those characters are no fun. We know that perfection doesn’t exist in reality. My stories love to embrace the quirks that make us exceptional.
Furry Family in my Books
My books almost always have an animal or pet included. They make wonderful secondary characters. They can help enhance my hero or heroine by displaying their compassion, vulnerabilities, or just the childish part of ourselves that animals tend to bring out.
A few pets in my books include:
Mozart from EVIL SPEAKS SOFTLY– In appearance, and name, he resembled the Lhasa Apso I saw two weeks after the loss of our beloved Bummy after almost 15 years. But the personality was all Bummy.
Juniper from THAT MAGIC MOMENT–He had the same name as my sister-in-law’s cat, but he shared some of his personality with my sister’s cat, Sassy.
Mulder from my WIP tentatively titled, HAIR, HOCKEY & HARD LIQUOR-I know you’re all wondering if Scruff has landed a role yet, but never fear, he is in an upcoming story graced with a name from my beloved X-Files.
The More the Hairier
I could go on to add the pets and animals I have included in upcoming stories, and others I have published, but I think you get my point. I love having animals in a story.
I believe that #pets make a #character much more human. #MFRW Share on XPlus, in one of my WIP, SISTER FROM ANOTHER MISTER (book #2 in the A Touch of Magicseries) things get even hairier, and more fun for me, when my heroine just might have a touch of shifter in her.
It’s a Blog Hop
Now scurry along and check out the other authors on the hop. Â See if they share my opinion about including animals over angry or annoyed friends and family in stories.
Very true about pets not reading. I’m actually excited to write in a pet in an upcoming WIP. I started it during NaNo last year and while I’ve stopped the story for now to work on other things, I’m looking forward to getting back to it and Ms. Priss.
good point that unlike people, animals don’t read.
“The people who want to find themselves in a book are often envisioning being depicted as the perfect hero or heroine and their ideal self.” That’s one good reason to avoid writing in real people at all, because we’d show them as the imperfect, warts-and-all individuals they are.