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SnowySMT In reply to Droemar [2009-09-17 07:18:35 +0000 UTC]

It's about time I did some art, right? But, I have an excuse: I'm working more on the actual story. Not so much writing (yet) as all the stuff leading up to writing. I've got this handy little pocket notebook that goes everywhere with me now so I never miss a brainstorm or thought-provoking question. It's been wonderful (and has resulted in many changes, all hopefully for the better).

Hmm, some things I've stumbled upon that help me with animal characters are:

1. On a story level, the characters can't be human because, if they were, it'd be a completely different book.
I've found this to be especially true of thematic or symbolic elements. For example, in Nocturnum, I've got human and non-human characters; that the human protagonist (Ander) has to go to non-human characters (Vim, Barys, Magnum) for help says a lot about prejudice and social stratification beyond what might have been possible if I only used human characters.
Similarly, Northern Nights would be a very different beast if the characters were human (my brain hurts just thinking about it). Heck, it would be a very different beast if I swapped the wolves out for some other group-living species. And while there's nothing that requires that the grieyleyweh be winged cats, they can't be a real-life species, either. (It all has to do with an underlying mythic structure I realized Northern Nights has. Not that I had intended it to have that structure; it just sort of happened that way. And it works. Happy accident.)

2. Remember that the characters are not human.
Individual species quirks, behaviors, physiology, etc. should be kept in mind, even where artistic license is used. Research, even just a little, helps to convince the audience that these characters really are the species in question.
Now, for me, I find artistic license with regards to behavior more forgivable than just about any other kind of species modification. Lion prides that are ruled by monarchies? I'll believe that. Lions that howl and wake up drenched in sweat? Not so much, and odds are it'll throw me out of the story. (TLK fandom, I'm looking at you. With love, of course, but still.)

3. Going along with that, I like to at least attempt extrapolating psychology, morality, etc. from the basis of the species.
Going back to Nocturnum, let's take the issue of predation, because it potentially affects everyone: Vim (a fictional big cat species) is going to have a different viewpoint than Barys (a Barbary sheep), who is going to have a different viewpoint than Magnum (a crow), who is going to have a different viewpoint than Ander (a human). It's sort of a case of, given this species' ecology, how would it likely feel about *insert item here*?

4. Even though the characters aren't human, they have to be human enough to be believable and sympathetic (or unsympathetic, as the case may be).
Well, unless you're going for a complete lack of anthropomorphism. But that's a different can o' worms entirely. So, let's take Ng'rea as an example. She is, of all my characters, one of the least human (and intentionally so). Despite trying to give her a mindset different and distinct from the wolves (all more relatably human, to varying degrees, than she is), she still has facets that are understandable -- in particular, her anger at having her home invaded and occupied, and her vengeful protectiveness with regards to her offspring. Both are carried out to extremes that would be pathological if she were human, but they help to ground her character so that the less human aspects of her personality remain believable. Or, at least, so I hope.

5. What makes a good human character is often the same as what makes a good non-human character.
I've been reading a lot of books on writing of late and, believe you me, it's been educational, even if most (all?) of the stuff on characterization is geared towards human characters. If you've got a character that's interesting and believable in his/her own right, it won't matter that he/she's not human.

Hopefully there's something in all that that helps.

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Droemar In reply to SnowySMT [2009-09-21 01:20:35 +0000 UTC]

Indeed! Quite a bit. All stories have to have the human hook. I think sometimes I have a problem keeping purely animal characters interesting ... there's always a very difficult balance between dramatic/story stakes and animal stakes. A human might push the ante to the very end, but an animal would honestly react with more common sense and retreat. The only exception I can think of is in life or death, eat or be eaten, but that's difficult to tie to emotional story stakes.
The opposite is when I feel like I swing too far into emotional stakes and the story becomes a literal "talking animal" story. While the characters become more emotionally dynamic and available, I feel it's at the expense of their animality.
Feh! Xenofiction isn't as easy as it looks.

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SnowySMT In reply to Rafica [2009-09-17 07:36:16 +0000 UTC]

He is a fluffy one. Don't know why, but Orreon's always been the thick-furred, bushy, fluffy type. Maybe he's channeling a lion or something...over his entire body. XD

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Rafica In reply to SnowySMT [2009-09-18 03:55:40 +0000 UTC]

he's one of the alpha's, right? he looks like one, to me anyway. alpha's seem to be the biggest *snoogles his floofiness*

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SnowySMT In reply to Koeyohte [2009-09-17 07:37:44 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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